On one of the podcasts I listened to Mike Shanahan- former coach of the Broncos was reported to have said that the interior line play is much more important than the tackles. He said that you can scheme to protect your tackles, but you can't hide a poor guard or center.
I agree with this and as it relates to the Giants
I think the biggest problems the team has are? cb play, finding a tackles to play with Dex and O line depth.
I think that improvement in play of JMS (lowest pff of any starting center) is as important as improvement of Neal.
The giants may need to use more 12 than 11 formations with either Stoll or Manhertz protecting Neal.
We have not heard anything about Matt Nelson status coming off ankle surgery. It would be very good if he could be the swing tackle and allow Eleumonor to stay at guard giving the team a stable and solid group of interior lineman.
+1
He needs to play better for sure, but don't forget he was injured last year (missed nearly four games with a shoulder injury, who knows how healthy he was when he came back) and he had some god-awful guard play next to him.
Its Just not a Giants Thread. When I make these I make it a football thread and just put NGT in the subject line.
This is an excellent topic and should get more views and discussion.
Second Thing: Why do we as fans to this so often? Focus on ONE person on the offensive line as the issue on the LINE.. It's an offensive LINE. It requires pieces to work together as a unit. Interior line pressure is not just the center. Its the guards too. Everyone was so focused on Neal, that somehow they completely ignored that MOST of the FA OL they signed were INTERIOR guys..
The Giants biggest issues were pressure on the interior immediate after the snap, and they were terrible at picking up stunts and twists..
The Giants had horrible guard play last year and that affects the center position as well.
They need to become a cohesive LINE..
If the interior holds, the QB can step up if the tackles get beat.
A lot of people are assuming they're going to plug another guy in there and not miss a beat. That doesn't always happen. For the Giants, it rarely does.
Didn't he grade out as the worst center in the league?