Giants: What Happens Now?

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On Tuesday, the New York Giants made the shocking decision to bench Eli Manning amidst the teams tumultuous 2-9 season, ending his streak of 210 consecutive games started. The move has signaled that the once proud franchise has fallen into a place of disfunction that was thought to be unprecedented just a few seasons ago. This unfortunate turn of events leaves one question to be asked. What happens now?

New Quarterback?

Geno Smith may be getting the nod in Oakland, everyone knows he's just a fill in as the Giants will want to get a look at 3rd round pick Davis Webb. Ultimately, the team will look for a top tier quarterback in the college ranks to eventually become the franchises signal caler of the future.

The End of Ben McAdoo?

It appears that after just two seasons, the team has lost all faith in McAdoo. Fans and players have criticized his coaching style and questioned his ability to lead. Knowing that he had a hand in sitting Manning won't help his cause as the organization will most likely make him one of the casualties come January.

Jerry Reese Finished in New York?

Jerry Reese has been a part of the Giants organization since 1994, which may make it hard for the team to let him go. However, his recent track record of poor draft picks and free agent signings simply cannot be ignored. He’s played a big part in most of the shortcomings (the offensive line most notably) that made Eli's job far more difficult than it had to be. He likely sealed his fate in an October weekly address when he took the blame for Big Blues poor record, a sentiment many have felt was long overdue.

Manning Retiring?

It is entirely possible that Eli Manning may decide to call it a career at season's end. He's accomplished quite a bit for a quarterback that was once looked at as mediocre by critics and scouts. He currently sits in the top 10 all time in passing yards, touchdowns, and completions. Not to mention he has two Super Bowl MVP awards. Yet, there are going to be murmuring that Manning should look to play at least one more year with perhaps another team. It would be a huge sting for Big Blue to see their franchise player don another uniform, but in the end that decision will be left to

5 Glaring Weaknesses the Giants Must Address

Photo: Tom Heitman USA Today Sports

Running Game

Gone are the days when the running game was the Giants greatest strength. Now there's just absolute uncertainty and angst every time the ball is handed off. It's a known fact that the league has become far more pass oriented over than in years past, but there still is a place for a strong running attack to thrive. If this team cannot find some way to ramp up the yards on the ground, things won't be looking up anytime soon.

Receiver Balance

After the drudgery that was Week 1 and 2, it's apparent that the offense faces quite a substantial dilemma. The receiving core is struggling to find harmony with Eli Manning as they can barely get a decent play off without problems (The offensive line is the biggest culprit of this, but we'll get to them later). There needs to be an emphasis on spreading the ball around to showcase the abilities of the pass catchers, but that will require some definition of just what the actual strategy is.

Defensive Fatigue

The one good thing that was taken from the first week is the success the defense could have at times. Unfortunately, when the offense can do nothing, the defense is at risk of wilting from being on the field too long game after game. There is far too much talent on that side of the ball and the Giants simply can't allow it to break down, especially when it was such an integral part of their success last season.

Coaching

Ben McAdoo has had a rough start to his coaching tenure. His billing as an offensive guru has looked like a farce thus far, especially given the ineptitude the team has shown on one too many possessions. In Addition, some of the bizarre play calling during games has left many wondering if he's in over his head. Even worse, he doesn’t place any blame on players nor himself for any shortcomings, even when it’s deserved. Should Coach McAdoo keep this up, the Giants may be forced to move on from him a lot earlier than expected

Offensive Line

This is by far the biggest weakness of the Giants due to a severe lack of capable talent. The likes of Bobby Hart, John Jerry, and especially Ereck Flowers have been heavily criticized for their poor technique and lack of football IQ in both pass protection and run blocking. Unfortunately, the team has chosen for whichever reason to ignore the weakness of the line in favor of other endeavors. This has put undue stress on and aging Eli Manning whom is struggling to remotely function in any play call. Drastic changes are needed, and it's up to Jerry Reese and McAdoo to make it happen, otherwise this season's offense look like last years...only much, much worse.

New York Giants: Keys To Victory In Green Bay

Get to Aaron Rodgers

Aaron Rodgers had a stand out 2016 campaign, amassing 40 touchdowns while playing at perhaps the highest level of his career in the final six games. That’s why it will be very important for the Giants to get pressure on him early and often. Spagnuolo's defense has been impressive all season long and it's going to take the same effort and then some to make certain that the MVP candidate doesn't control the action.

Contain Jordy Nelson and Devante Adams

If there are two targets to look out for in the Packers offense, it's Rodgers two favorite receivers Devante Adams and Jordy Nelson. With a combined 26 touchdowns between them, the secondary will need to clamp down in big situations, otherwise it could be a long afternoon for Big Blue. The Giants have gotten a lot out of Janoris Jenkins, Eli Apple, Rogers-Cromartie, and especially Landon Collins and they will need them to continue to come up big if they want to be winners on Sunday.

Run the Football

The running game has struggled to do much of anything this season. However, things did start to look up when the team managed to rush for over 100 yards in each of the finals three contests. They will stand a great chance if they can control the clock and keep the Packers offense on the sideline, A good running game could do just that.

Steady Offense

Eli Manning and the offense have heard a lot of criticism for their sloppy play and costly turnovers. That must come to a stop on Sunday. If the Giants do not muster anything on offense, it could spell doom for their chances of pulling it out at Lambeau. Scoring touchdowns and avoiding stall outs will relieve the pressure on the defense and give them a chance to execute the game plan in place. In addition, Manning needs to keep the poor decisions to a minimum and play within the flow of the offense. The Giants can ill-afford to make mistakes on offense in a game like this one.

Giants: 3 Areas of Concern Heading Into The Final Weeks

Offensive Line

The Giants O-Line has been very inconsistent all season and with 4 weeks to go there must be drastic improvement. Penalties and assignment lapses have plagued the unit, with most of the ire drawn towards second year left tackle Ereck Flowers. His undisciplined technique has not only exposed Manning's blindside to skilled pass rushers, it has also caused drives to stall out due to lost yards from his untimely miscues. Many are clamoring for the Giants to shift him to right where he would stand a better chance at succeeding but at this juncture, things must be taken for what they are. Flowers is not the only struggling lineman as both Bobby Hart and John Jerry have had their share of trouble staying away from costly mstakes as well. With a playoff spot on the line, only thing that matters is results and the 5 men that make the offense go have to recognize that immediately.

Jason Pierre-Paul's Injury

Just as Pierre-Paul looked to be rounding back into form, a sports hernia will now cost him the rest of the season. This leaves the Giants Defensive line without one of its skilled pass rushers and play disruptors. One must hope that the "next man up" mentality holds well as JPP's backups will have task that could be a tall order ahead of them. Expect opponents to put a lot of double teams on Oliver Vernon to minimize that havok he can cause, which could have dire effects on the Giants vaunted front.

Lack of Targets for Cruz and Shepard

In back-to-back weeks, the Giants offense failed to target on their main receivers for an entire game (Shepard in week 12 and Cruz in week 13). That in and of itself is inexplicable as so many believed that having two skilled pass catchers around Beckham Jr. would open the offense.  Whatever the reasoning, it needs to change immediately if the Giants want the offense to finally come out of its season long malaise. 

Why The Giants Are Struggling

Photo: Matt Ludtke/AP

The Giants head into week 6 on a three game losing streak and find themselves in last place in the NFC East. Though there are many factors that have contributed to the team’s struggles, here are a few glaring issues that I think are perpetuating Big Blue’s current situation.

Practice Habits

Poor preparation leads to poor performance, that is a saying many have heard over the course of their lives. It especially rings true in sports. With the way the team has performed the past three weeks, many will wonder if the Giants practices are yielding any positive results. This not only is a bad reflection on the players, it’s a massive knock on the coaching staff whose job is to make sure the team is ready to play at a high level each week. One should hope this is not the case, but given what has transpired thus far you can’t help but feel this

Lack of Depth

For the Giants, the discrepancy of talent between the starter and bench is far too wide. If a first string player gets hurt, their backup seemingly lacks the skill to perform even adequately and that is a big problem. The fault of this falls directly on General Manager Jerry Reese, who is in charge of drafting and signing capable talent to make sure the depth is always up to par. The team owes it to itself to improve upon this weakness if there is any hope of making sure this season doesn’t get away from them like it has the past 5 years.

Pass Rush (Or lack thereof)

In the off-season the team spent over $200 million improving the defense in order to increase the number of sacks and quarterback hits. Instead the pass rush has managed to look even worse that it did last year, which is mind boggling. After watching Aaron Rogers get time to read War and Peace in the backfield, it’s time to start holding Steve Spagnuolo and defense accountable for the uninspired play that is being shown on a weekly basis.

No Rashad Jennings

This may or may not have much merit to it, but the loss of Jennings for three weeks seems to be parallel with the team’s struggles. Perhaps getting him back for week 6 will yield a better result. With Shane Vereen on the shelf, the Giants could use a singular talent that is capable of doing some damage on offense.

The Slow Moving Offense

One of the things that was expected of New York was that the offense would perform at an elite level, especially since it has such a talented receiving core. Unfortunately, that has not been the case as the offense is spending more time sputtering out on drives, committing costly penalties, and turning the ball over. Many say this is on Eli Manning, whom to their point has not looked particularly good running some of the plays. However, it’s Ben McAdoo’s job to see this system through. The conservative play calling is hurting the offense’s effectiveness and it’s hard to get players like Odell Beckham and Victor Cruz going. If there’s going to be any advancement in overall play, this needs to change.

New York Giants: 5 Keys to a Successful Season

                        

Eli's Continued Consistency

Over the past two seasons Manning has thrown 65 TD and posted two of the highest passer ratings of his career (92.1 and 93.6 respectively). More of that will certainly be needed if he wants to push the Giants back into the playoffs. With various playmakers on the offensive side, there is reason to believe that the numbers he's put up recently will only get better as long as there is a commitment to an excellence of execution

Improved Secondary Play

There is no denying how awful the secondary has been the past few years. In fact, some would call it the worst in the entire NFL. That should change this year now that the Giants have added pro bowl corner Janoris Jenkins and rookie Eli Apple to the mix. The extra help should do wonders in aiding a second level defense that surrendered the most passing yards in the league a year ago. 

Healthy Linebackers

This has been a far to problematic position for the Giants as they haven't found a linebacker capable of playing even half of the season. The constant carousel has made things especially rough for the team’s defensive coordinators whom often have had to create makeshift plans every week to compensate for the persistent injuries. If the team wants to truly see an improvement in this area the starting corps must be able to stay on the field.

A Dominant Pass Rush

For years the Giants were known for their incredible pass rush that could get to the QB at any given time. That has not been the case recently as the front four have had trouble making a dent in opposing O-lines. The organization went through a lot of trouble rebuilding the defense by spending big on two excellent linemen (Damon Harrison and Olivier Vernon) to help reestablish that once vaunted rush. If all goes well, the sack numbers should improve tremendously giving the Giants the boost they need come out ahead of the pack in 2016.

McAdoo's Leadership

This will be the first season in 13 years that the Giants will not have Tom Coughlin at the helm. This places a lot of pressure for former offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo, who is a head coach for the first time in his career. Though he does have a great relationship with many of the players, there will still be some grey areas that will need to be filled in as the season progresses. The most important being the establishment of a winning culture that has been missing since the last years of Coughlin's tenure. This may just be his first season, but with the high expectations many have for the team, McAdoo will need to show everyone what kind of coach he'll be for the foreseeable future.

New York Giants: Analyzing the first six weeks

After six weeks the Giants have been pretty fair, but there is still a lot of work to do
Photo Credit: Robert Deutsch USA Today Sports

It's been a season of ups and downs so far as the Giants find themselves in the middle of what is shaping up to be a tightly contested division. Despite their troubles, the team has managed a 3-3 record keeping hope that one good stretch could make all the difference. With 11 games left to play, there is still a lot of room for improvement and a good chance to make headway in the NFC East

Pros

The offense has looked much better than last season, averaging 392 yards per game. Though it has had its moments of tribulation, the outlook for the year seems pretty good. Once Victor Cruz is healthy and ready to go, there is no doubt the dynamic of the offense will shift dramatically in the team favor.

Eli Manning has been under a lot of scrutiny over  the course of his career because of his propensity for turnovers. His 11 touchdowns and 4 interceptions through six weeks suggests he has gotten those problems under control (though he still has his moments). In fact, his 66% completion percentage and 94 passer rating has him on pace to put up the most efficient numbers of his career. Hopefully Eli can continue to show this growth as the season continues because as he does, so will the Giants.

Outside of the last two games the Giants run defense has held its own holding opponents to 93.5 yds per game (6th best in the NFL). After two years of watching opponents run up and down the heart of the line, this was an area of focus that has paid some dividends.

Cons

The Giants have just eight team sacks this season, placing them near the bottom of the league in a category they once dominated. The defensive line has failed to get any pressure on the quarterback, leaving the  rest of the defense vulnerable. Unless something drastic happens, this will continue to be the achilles heel that keeps hurting them.

Compounding matters, the Giants are the defense in the league against the pass, yielding nearly 300 yards per game (3rd worst). Despite forcing 11 turnovers, it doesn't appear the team has been able to generate a deterrent for opposing quarterbacks.

In what seems to be a recurring theme, injuries have hampered the teams ability to find any type of consistency. Too many key layers have gone down each week, forcing the team to scramble and find replacements. Is it the Giants just getting flat out unlucky? or should the strength and conditioning staff be held responsible? Nevertheless, football has and always will be a violent and physical game, so injuries are bound to occur, but if you're a Giants fan this has to be getting at bit monotonous.