Folks, I know what you’re thinking. “Here’s another negative post from Couver and Giants 366 about the Giants.”
Before I dive into this article, I want to reframe your thinking a bit.
I am going to break down why a Giants team that is a good team in some areas on paper will be hampered by an offensive line that I believe to be the worst in football this season. It’s a real shame that’s the case because the Giants have a top ten defense on paper. The Giants defense will even be good enough to win them some games this season.
But that offensive line. Boy, it’s bad. And it’s going to cost this team desperately.
For the fourth year in a row it’s going to cost Saquon Barkley some valuable yards on the ground. For the third year in a row it’s going to cause Daniel Jones, who can’t play under pressure to begin with, to be running for his life.
This offensive line is going to hurt the pass catchers. I personally love Kenny Golladay, but it’s going to cost him valuable yards and receptions this season because plays are going to break down rapidly.
The question we should all be asking is why has this offensive line been so bad for so long? How did a line that was a bottom unit last season get even worse on paper heading into this season?
These are questions that the media will likely be asking John Mara in January when the team misses the playoffs because of this offensive line’s shortcomings. Hopefully Dave Gettleman will not be in office to be asked these questions.
It’s mind boggling that the Giants are content going into the most crucial season of Daniel Jones’s career with a lineup of Andrew Thomas-Shane Lemieux-Nick Gates-Will Hernandez-Matt Peart at offensive line. It’s disgusting that a team whose offensive line was their Achilles heel for the better part of the last decade cut Kevin Zeitler, their best offensive lineman in 2020 to give Shane Lemieux, statistically the worst Guard in football last season, a chance for more snaps.
It’s incredibly frustrated that the same narrative dominates Giants football year after year as the organization goes through the dark days yet again. Nobody wants this team to build a contender more than I do. It would be so much better for our page if we could cover a winning team year after year. The best way for that process to start is by building up the offensive line the right way.
Until the offensive line is fixed, the rest of the team will suffer.
Featured Image Credit: All-Pro Reels, CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
That’s a pretty bold prediction….and you may be right. But if you are not, will you admit you were wrong?
Are you psychic? You know that all the offensive line starters will be worse?
You apparently forgot that the line got better near the end of the season, and we’re battling injuries, as well especially AT. Gates was solid, AT should be much better, Solder/Peart should be adequate. That leaves the two guards. Hernandez went for help in the off-season, and is playing for a contract. So that leaves Lemeux as the only real question mark in my mind, along with depth. They are young, they need coaching and playing time, which they will get this year. You bring in high priced free agents and they get hurt. I like what they are doing