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| Ask any Giant fan, pundit, reporter or casual observer what the Giants' biggest roster need is, and a good portion of them will respond: "Offensive line." But the reality is the Giants' offensive line is not as bad as the public perceives. The website FootballOutsiders.com ranked the Giants' line 11th in overall run blocking and sixth in pass protection in the 2015 season. But it is the failure to land a top offensive tackle this offseason that has left many with doubts. Last year, the Giants played the entire season with a rookie, first-round pick Ereck Flowers, at left tackle and a little-wanted journeyman in Marshall Newhouse on the right side. They will return this summer as starters along with center Weston Richburg and guards Justin Pugh and John Jerry. Pro Football Focus is ranking the Giants' offensive line 20th overall going into the 2016 NFL season: |
As one of the former Giants OL(name escapes me) said recently, how can a person who never played one second on the OL in their life, accurately assess any OL? Oh wait, "there are metrics they can use."
If they can be better in short yardage and allow Eli to have more deep drops for down field passing it will make a world of difference this year.
If I know, he knows...😜
You're probably right. Major cover-up. Fold the franchise.
If they can be better in short yardage and allow Eli to have more deep drops for down field passing it will make a world of difference this year.
We would be better on short yardage if they didn't telegraph who was getting the ball by putting Williams in. Jennings didn't do to bad in short yardage last year.
second reason is it's a young line on the left with flowers, pugh, and richburg so an additional year experience should help all of them considerably
third is say what you want about john jerry but he worked his tail off this offseason and should be better than he was last year
fourth is solari should help this unit improve
this doesn't make it a top line in the nfl by any stretch but it should be better than last year
As one of the former Giants OL(name escapes me) said recently, how can a person who never played one second on the OL in their life, accurately assess any OL? Oh wait, "there are metrics they can use."
You know Kevin Gilbride works for PFF as a grader and many teams are using PFF stats right ?
I'm no expert, but you see zero push most times, and a ton of penetration.
Watch the OL from 2005-2010 block.
They got push.
As one of the former Giants OL(name escapes me) said recently, how can a person who never played one second on the OL in their life, accurately assess any OL? Oh wait, "there are metrics they can use."
I'm not disagreeing on PFF but there are a ton of people who have never played sports professionally who can make accurate estimations on play based on metrics.
It is a mixed bag; to boot the link in the OP contained this stat, which maybe because it was not commented on is widely known here, but not to me:
Newhouse is a weak link, but we need the notion attributed to Westburg by some writers that Flowers is unwilling to take coaching and vet advice to be either i) not true or ii) attributable to his inability to work with PF.
It's a big year for him in more ways than one.
Aside from the obvious issue of depth, we really need Flowers to pick up his game. He's a top 10 pick and the team appears all in on him despite his rookie struggles.
The wild card is Hart. I really liked him in the few clips I've seen of from college. If he were to overtake Newhouse and prove to be a decent starter, I would have a very different outlook on this group. We didn't see any signs of this in the spring, but camp will be the real test. Seems like a bit of a long shot as we stand though.
Second of all, this is one of those cases where I don't think it is hyperbole to say, "let's wait until the games start." Whatever the OL is, this will be the first year the 5 guys as a unit will have played together as a unit. Last year was a rookie season at LT, a first season at LG, a first season at OC. So, it is still premature to have any realistic expectations for these guys outside of what we hope for. there just isn't enough history. As for RG and RT, we still don't know who will start there.
If it's Jerry and Newhouse, I think they are veterans who, while not great, are not as bad as made out to be. That said, I would love to see at least one of those positions upgraded. But, I would also retain both of those guys. They are each a high quality backup at multiple positions.
I am really very interested to see Hart at both positions and I'd love to bring in a vet that gets cut loose. But, the reality is, there is a very good chance we won't end up with someone better than Jerry and Newhouse. That may still be OK and better than most will allow for.
perfectly said
All you Flower haters, need to realize he was a Rookie and a very young one too. He has potential to grow from year 1 to year 2.
A 7th round pick may not pan out, may not become a starter? No way! Reese has to go if that happens!
They weren't 6th in pass protection -- they were 6th in adjusted sack rate. There's a major difference there.
No one has tried to hammer home how sack avoidance is a great QB skill more than FO over the years.
quality depth .
As for 6th in passing, OBj, Eli, and the system had more to do with that 6th ranking, than the line did....
I think the line will be better, just by the fact that the musical chairs of the last two seasons has ended......the guys who finished the season, will be back in place at the start of the season....each guy knows his job.....the guy to the left/right/or both of them, has a better feel for each other, as far as blocking schemes go, when defenses shake it up a bit....an OL has to play together to get cohesion.....at least they have that from last year.....
Hopefully, Flowers, with a year of NFL experience takes that next step.....another year at guard should help Pugh....Richburg is the rock of the line.....Jerry and Newhouse were counted on as backups, and are now the starters......I think they will be better...they are not going to be great, but I think better.....there is still the chance of someone being traded for or picked up, but this should only happen if they are a serious upgrade....I hope McAdoo uses the TE as a chip block more often.....I hope we increase the depth of this OL, because basically there is none....
maybe this year we'll see better TE blocking, which will help a lot, too.
add in the factor of mgt finally realizing that a new OL coach was needed, and there's plenty of room for optimism.
Praying for a Victor Cruz miracle out of training camp.
Clearly, the Giants would like to leave him there, and the hope is that if can avoid another injury, and if he takes to Solari's coaching more than he did to Flaherty's, then his game will improve. We can only hope. We know he's tough, and we know he's smart. I hope he's tough enough and smart enough to embrace criticism when it's constructive, and to put in the work that will turn him from a liability to an asset.
I think the Giants like John Jerry more than most of us do (if not as much as the Jerry-Troll does), and if his time at Bentley's camp pays dividends for him, especially with his run-blocking, then there's a good chance the Giants will re-sign him after this year.
Marshall Newhouse is a bit of an enigma to me. They couldn't wait to run him out of Green Bay, and then he crashed an burned in Cincinnati. Signed as a backup/swing tackle, he, too, was thrust into a starting role. Was he as bad as many fans believe? I honestly don't know, but it sure seemed like the Giants weren't desperate to replace him. Their efforts in free agency were half-hearted at best, and they didn't address their O-Line at all in the draft, or even after the draft with any UDFAs. Are they waiting, hoping, that an upgrade will be found prior to the start of the season? Maybe, but that's awfully risky.
It just seems to me that the Giants are quite content to begin the 2016 season with the same O-Line they fielded at the end of the 2015 season. My guess is that they feel that cohesion is key, better coaching will help, and that with a year under their belts their performance will improve across the board. Again, we can only hope.
I have no idea how good the OL will be but one (or both) of PFFs "analysis" of this is BS.