For a second straight season, the New York Giants are sitting at 1-3 with another disappointing campaign looking to be on the way. While the defense has stepped up and played much better after a rough beginning, Big Blue's offense once again has been anemic. After scoring five field goals last Thursday night in their loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the Giants have tallied just six touchdowns in four games. Plus, for the second year in a row, The Giants have failed to get into the end zone at home in their first two games. Unreal.
There certainly has been a fair share of blame around everyone on the Giants' offense from Daniel Jones' inability to make deep throws downfield, key drops by wide receivers and even questionable play-calling by Brian Daboll. However, this alarming stat for New York's tight-end core is almost hard to fathom:
#Giants tight ends Theo Johnson and Bellinger have five receptions on 10 targets.
— The Giant Insider Podcast and Newspaper (@GiantInsider) October 2, 2024
This has to change, especially in red. Daboll has to scheme up these two more.
The lack of targets for Giants tight ends is simply unacceptable
When Darren Waller announced his retirement after just one disappointing season in New York, the Giants thought they were confident with the core that they had with third-year tight end Daniel Bellinger and fourth-round draft pick Theo Johnson. That surely has not been the case, as both Bellinger and Johnson have been no-shows four games in.
In just four games, the two tight ends have had just a combined five receptions on 10 targets - that is so hard to believe, but it's true. Bellinger has had just two catches for 20 yards thus far and the rookie Johnson has made just three receptions for 37 yards. Unacceptable.
Daboll must figure out a way to get his tight ends involved the rest of the way if they want to score fewer field goals and more touchdowns on scoring drives. Especially in the red zone, which is where you can get your tight ends most involved in scoring situations, so Daboll as the play-caller must realize that. Even though the Giants have exciting wideouts like rookie Malik Nabers, Darius Slayton and the sudden emergence of Wan'Dale Robinson, the fact that Bellinger and Johnson have a combined five catches for 57 yards is hard to believe.