Right off the top, I'm not trying to make excuses or defend Jones. I have both strong reservations and hopes for him. Regardless of the QB, I'm focused on the offense line's ability to pass protect.
As of this week (9 games, and noted not all QBs have played 9), some of these pass protection numbers continue to be really dreadful. The last couple of weeks I've read some pretty complimentary evaluations of the individuals on the line, but I'm having a hard time seeing it. Especially coming off a 5 sack, 12 pressure game.
* 3rd in the league in sacks - 28
* 2nd in the league in pressure % - 29.9%
* 1st in the league in pressures - 104
* 1st in the league in hits - 36
I wonder if there is some element of comparison bias/ relativity, when reviewing the current players. I fully get there are a lot of snaps going to really inexperienced players. There's plenty of reason to hope they improve with practice and experience, no doubt. There's also a chance (as we've seen with the secondary) low and mid round players are low odds to pan out.
If I'm Giants, and there isn't demonstrable improvement by season's end, the interior of the offensive line is still a major, major focus.
Yes we still don't handle the blitz well, so teams are blitzing the crap out of us. It will stay this way until we prove we can burn the blitz.
I may be off here, but I think Tampa and Washington are both among the D leaders in blitz%.
2nd - where do the Giants rank in time-to-throw? One reason the Pats OL always looked great (and partially why individuals underperformed elsewhere) was that TB often had the quickest release in the league. Eli was usually near the top which covered up some of the issues here too.
And the lack of separation the Giants WRs get certainly doesn't help the release time. Shepard's really the one guy at this point that can consistently beat coverage right off the line.
The numbers don't really support that hypothesis. The last several games have been just as bad as the first.
Per Game Stats - ( New Window )
Also there are coverage sacks and weird plays. Last week for example, at least two sacks were due to no one being open (you could say maybe Jones should have just thrown it away), and one sack was on a weird trick play. So the raw numbers don't always tell the full story.
1) How long the QB holds onto the ball - DJ holds onto the ball longer then most QBs in the NFL (although this improved last week). He also doesn't move around the pocket much. This creates an incredibly difficult task for OL in pass blocking. It is probably impossible for the OL to grade out as above average in pass blocking with how DJ currently plays.
2) WRs aren't open - Giants have a pretty bad receiving corp and the offensive system isn't doing them favors in helping them get open. This creates more coverage pressures and sacks.
3) Ineffective run game - With an ineffective run game and an unimaginative passing game, teams can play aggressively against the pass. As the Giants have been running the ball better, it has helped ease the pressure somewhat. Against Washington this week, the pass protection went from being a bottom 2 effort in the league to probably being a bottom 8 effort in the league.
Therefore, I think fixing pass protection isn't just about fixing the offensive line. I think DJ needs to get the ball out quicker (and be able to move around and not just backwards), the offensive system needs to help get receivers open more, there needs to be a true #1 WR on the team, and the run game needs to continue to improve.
With all that said, we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves either. Currently, the offensive line is still playing like a bottom 5 pass blocking unit. There's some reason for hope, namely how Gates and Peart look and Thomas starting to look competent.
Competent to me would be above replacement level over most games. I'll give Gates that. The other two have had series, not games in my view where things look stable.
How so? The last 3 games haven’t been any better.
Week 7: 3 sacks | 5 hits | 8 pressures | 23.5 pressure %
Week 8: 3 sacks | 7 hits | 16 pressures | 35.6 pressure %
Week 9: 5 sacks | 4 hits | 12 pressures | 30.8 pressure %
Even a 3 or 4 yard gain is productive. Like Skinner said the last sack was on Jones as he did not read it, set the protection and get the ball out.
I look for that to improve as the kids do, especially Gates..
LOL - maybe bring in someone he worked with in New England.
The designed runs were very helpful though. Credit to the coaching staff IMO we had the Eagles off balance against our rushing attack with Jones, Gallman and Morris and a good mix of different kinds of runs.
The defense is really helping us, we are actually jumping out to leads a lot. Both great developments obviously but I want to see what happens in a game if we can't get our running game going. Does Jones feel more pressure to make plays and slip back into mistakes?