Sometimes in sports, the difference between winning and losing comes down to rhythm. As good as players are if they are taken out of their game, things become much harder. Suddenly you have to think about every route you run and every step you take. That’s what training camp is for. You go to training camp to work things out and get so comfortable in your own scheme that you no longer have to think. There are some teams, however, like the Giants, who have yet to find their rhythm. Credit that mostly to the offensive line.
This unit which has been tinkered with for the last five years or so has been single-handedly sabotaging the Giants offense. The offensive line is one of the top three most important positions in football and despite that it has been largely overlooked by the Giants front office over these past few seasons. And when your offensive line is bad it affects the rhythm of the offense.
Eli Manning can’t get into a comfortable rhythm because he is constantly under pressure, and when he does finally get something going it is taken away by holding penalties. And since they don’t generate much of a running game either, they end up in 2nd and 20 way too often. That’s a lot of pressure to put on your quarterback and receivers.
Now you are basically forced to run deeper routes and try to make plays that just aren’t there because you have been put in a bad situation by your supporting cast. It’s very frustrating to have so much talent on a team and watch them under perform because they can’t get any kind of rhythm going. And it’s also frustrating for the players as we’ve seen these past few weeks.
The last two seasons these flaws were hidden a little bit because the Giants threw a lot of quick passes. The quicker the ball gets out the less time the line has to commit a penalty. My question is where have those plays gone? The same guy is calling the offense this year, so why don’t we see more quick throws. Stop looking for the home run just because you have the personnel to do it.
Obviously, I’m not a coach or anything but I feel like something in the play calling needs to change, starting with the running game. Stop calling run plays on first down. They’ve been doing that for years and teams know that’s what they are going to call. And with their piss poor offensive line they end up only getting one or two yards. Throw it, run a play action, just do something different. You have receivers that can make plays. Use them because you want to and not because you have to.
