Started this thread as a place to focus on offensive woes and opinions on potential solutions - or simply to vent.
I will start:
It is just one game - however ...
We appear to be the same as last year based on what we saw last night. Observations:
We throw a lot to receivers who are stopped or heading out of bounds. Hard to get any YAC.
We very rarely threw the ball more than 10 yards. I know the offensive line limits things but Eli usually had time enough to throw intermediate routes.
We seem to be more concerned with getting to manageable 3rd down than moving the ball downfield.
We throw a lot of passes that are short of the objective (by objective I mean a first down or the endzone in the red zone)
Our running plays are slow to develop and we make a lot of mistakes in the blocking.
Eli did not look confident or comfortable even when he had time.
I would need to see the all 22 but I expect that there were missed opportunities. (Can anyone comment on that?)
Play calling is not great, but I do not think Sullivan would be any better.
I know this sounds stupid, but our offense is very defensive, we do not attack the opponent, we let them attack our offense.
We do not appear to be well coached on blitz and stunt pickup
There are personell issues on the O-line.
I thought Roger Lewis looked really good on the outside, Shepard looked really good in the slot, and Engram looked good at TE.
I saw Ellison whiff on Sean Lee once and made a good catch and run in traffic for just short of a 1st. I think he'll show a lot more value next week as well.
I think the OL was better than some of the other OLs I watched yesterday. They weren't great at times, but they showed enough that Eli has to do better with getting the ball out and the receivers (especially Marshall) have to do a better job of getting open.
Lastly, Darkwa looked like our best back yesterday FWIW. I'd like to see him start if only to give Perkins a kick in the ass.
Thanks it seems more people are concerned about replacing John Jerry, Eric Flowers, or now Bobby Hart. I feel there is blame there and I have said all along that Fluker might add some much needed attitude to this group.
That said I think the problem is much deeper than that.
I remember reading the way Philly prepared for the Giants was simple: Stop the run and make Eli beat you. Over the past 4 years, in particular, decent teams have prepared this way and it seems to work. Stop the run, put pressure on Eli and keep the Giants D on the field until they tire= wins.
The offensive line/blocking scheme relies on outdated blocking techniques. Zone blocking works for teams that CAN run the ball. We have running backs that have the ability, and I wonder every single game if they are coached by a high school level coach- run the ball into the hole we designed for the play and nowhere else.
If the Giants could fix the run game, it would help the passing game. No run blocking, poor pass blocking and the only hope the Giants have this year is for the defense to keep us in games again this year. Like everyone else, I wasn't impressed with the offense and the defense played a fantastic game keeping D to 19 points considering we only had the defense playing football.
Perkins in college was decent at cutbacks as was Vereen when he played for the Pats. With the Giants, if there are 20 players in the hole, they run into the mass of humanity and rip off 2 yards a carry. At this point, we could have Barry or OJ, hell even Jim Brown and would be averaging less than 4 yards a carry because of the coaching.
When Gilbride was here he was aggressive and was constantly pushing the ball up the field. He forced defenses to defend the whole field. And it is true that there were times Sunday night when Eli had plenty of time to throw the ball and nothing came of it because everything was clogged up.
McAdoo is not a great game planner and Mike Sullivan who is the offensive coordinator was an abject failure in the same role when he was down at Tampa Bay. This offense was better when Tom Coughlin still had control of the team. Now that McAdoo is the head man it's become a joke.
The sad part now is you have an elite defense and an offense that doesn't deserve to be on the field. McAdoo is no Andy Reid or Mike McCarthy. Far form it. He just happened to be in that system that has been very successful and so the Giants hierarchy sees him as the next great coach. Boy have they been wrong so far.
Not bad.
When Gilbride was here he was aggressive and was constantly pushing the ball up the field. He forced defenses to defend the whole field. And it is true that there were times Sunday night when Eli had plenty of time to throw the ball and nothing came of it because everything was clogged up.
McAdoo is not a great game planner and Mike Sullivan who is the offensive coordinator was an abject failure in the same role when he was down at Tampa Bay. This offense was better when Tom Coughlin still had control of the team. Now that McAdoo is the head man it's become a joke.
The sad part now is you have an elite defense and an offense that doesn't deserve to be on the field. McAdoo is no Andy Reid or Mike McCarthy. Far form it. He just happened to be in that system that has been very successful and so the Giants hierarchy sees him as the next great coach. Boy have they been wrong so far.
They are limited to dink and dunk because this OL is incapable of blocking for a decent passing route to develop. If it continues into the Detroit game significant changes must be made, that being said I would just cut Jerry right now!