7 things Giants must improve upon in Week 4
The New York Giants just came off a stretch of three games in the span of 12 days to open their 2023 regular season schedule.
They went 1-2 in the three games, getting shut out miserably by the Dallas Cowboys in the Sunday night opener before heading out west to play the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers in a five-day span.
They needed a historic comeback to take down the Cardinals and then were vastly exposed by the powerful Niners in another nationally televised horror show.
Here are seven things the Giants must do better in their next game, which will be played versus Seattle on Monday night, October 2 at MetLife Stadium.
Tackling
The Giants missed a month’s work of tackles on Thursday night against San Francisco. By most accounts, it was 16 in total and many came on third down and at crucial points of the game.
The sloppy tackling allowed the 49ers to extend drives and control the clock.
Many have pointed to the lack of physicality in practice and the fact the Giants only held ‘walkthrough’ workouts in the days between their games against Arizona and the 49ers. Head coach Brian Daboll discounted that angle when pressed about it after the game.
Pass protection
The Giants played Thursday’s game without the starting left side of their offensive line — tackle Andrew Thomas (hamstring) and guard Ben Bredeson (concussion).
That changed the passing game plan to two-step drops and a shorter route tree. Jones has been sacked a league-high 12 times this season and has been under pressure in 47 percent of his dropbacks, the highest rate in the NFL.
The Giants replaced Bredeson with Shane Lemieux, who was dominated by the Niners’ interior defensive line.
The quick solution here would be to get Thomas and Bredeson back and keep Marcus McKethan at right guard. They would also benefit from right tackle Evan Neal playing up to his draft pedigree.
Score earlier in games
The Giants have been slow to get out of the gate in games this season. They failed to score in the first half of their first two games and managed just two field goals in the first half on Thursday night.
Josh Dubow of the Associated Press posted on X that the Giants’ minus-57 point differential through the first three weeks is the worst of any team since at least the 1991 season.
Their offense isn’t powerful enough to keep playing from behind. They have to start faster going forward.
Throw the ball deep
The offensive line troubles have greatly curtailed the deep passing attack but that shouldn’t completely eradicate it from the game plan.
Against San Francisco, the longest gain through the air was an 18-yard catch and run by running back Gary Brightwell.
Rookie wideout Jalin Hyatt, who turned the Giants’ fortunes around in Arizona last Sunday with two long receptions, was not targeted in the game.
Pressure the passer
The Giants played without their best pure pass rusher — outside linebacker Azeez Ojulari — against the 49ers on Thursday. They entered the game with no sacks in their first two games.
They attempted to make up for that by blitzing Niners quarterback Brock Purdy at a historic rate to little avail.
The Giants blitzed Brock Prudy on 33 of his 39 dropbacks (84.6%), the highest blitz rate in a game in the NGS era.
Likewise, Purdy averaged the fastest time to throw of his career (2.34 seconds).
💡 Purdy vs Blitz: 20/31, 247 yards, 2 TD
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— Next Gen Stats (@NextGenStats) September 22, 2023
The results were only two sacks and four total QB hits. Gotta do better at ‘getting home.’
Turn Daniel Jones loose
The allure of having Daniel Jones as your quarterback is the complete pass/run toolset he brings to the offense.
On Thursday, the Giants decided they were going to put Jones in a box and keep him safe. He only rushed the ball twice for a total of five yards and only one of those was by design.
For the Giants’ offense to reach its potential, they have to allow Jones to make plays with his legs.
Stop the run
The Giants’ run defense was ranked 28th out of 32 teams in 2022, allowing 146.3 yards per game.
This offseason, general manager Joe Schoen addressed the run defense through free agency and the draft but thus far, the results have not changed.
Through three games, the Giants are allowing 138.0 yards per game on the ground.
Much of this could be due to the fact that the Giants have been behind on the scoreboard much of the time. They need to shore up that leaky run defense quickly if they want to turn this season around.
