The more things change, the more they stay the same. Or do they? After last year’s miserable 0-6 start, it was clear that the Giants were in need of change. It was convenient to make Eli Manning the scapegoat for the Giant’s struggles; after all, he’s always thrown a relatively high number of interceptions and the franchise quarterback was coming off a season where he threw a league leading 27 interceptions. In all fairness, the entirety of the Giants’ offense was a train wreck. You name a problem and they had it. Injured running backs? Check. An offensive line that collapsed faster than a house of cards in a hurricane? Check. Receivers dropping passes delivered perfectly? Check. But perhaps the most damning of all their problems was their ridiculously unimaginative play calling. If the definition of crazy is to do the same thing over and over then it’s safe to say that the Giants were crazy.
The New York Giants went through a plethora of changes in the offseason including the departures of Justin Tuck and Hakeem Nicks, as well as the retirement of Kevin Gilbride, the offensive coordinator who along with Tom Coughlin, lead the Giants to two Super Bowl victories against the New England Patriots in four years. Out was the old playbook and in was Ben McAdoo fresh from Green Bay and his tight end heavy, West Coast offense.
The preseason was less than impressive for the Giants’ starters. Despite going 4-0, largely leaning on the talent of Ryan Nassib and the Big Blue back-ups, the Giants looked out of sync. Save for a few sporadic plays, there was no evidence of any chemistry whatsoever between the quarterback and his receiving corps. These fears would carry over to the first game of the 2014 season against Calvin Johnson and the Detroit Lions. Eli Manning would go 18 for 33, along with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. The team was giving immediate flashbacks to where they were a year prior. Could the offensive line protect Eli Manning? Could the old dog learn new tricks and adapt to this West Coast offense?
The answer so far has been yes. The Giants would go on to shoot themselves in the foot in week 2, losing in embarrassing faction to Cardinals backup quarterback Drew Stanton, but in retrospect the silver lining could be seen in spite of Eli’s 2 interceptions, (one coming in garbage time at the end of the game.) The Giants were able to march down the field much more smoothly, for 277 yards this time and looking comfortable doing it for much of the game, even leading the Cardinals 14 to 13 in the early goings of the 4th quarter. The 0-2 start was laughable but their obvious offensive improvement lead to a change in the team’s mentality.
In theory, 100 million dollar defensive end J.J. Watt and the 2-0 Houston Texans would be a nightmare match-up for the Giants’ offensive line. The Giants however were able to shake off their early start to the season, including an early start to the game including of all things a botched field goal attempt. It would be the Rashad Jennings coming out party as the Giants accumulated 193 yards, 176 of which belonged to the Giants starting running back. Eli Manning would go without throwing an interception, being sacked only one time by Watt, and completing 21 of 28 passes for 234 yards and 2 touchdowns and the Giants beat the Texans 30-17. The Texans were without starting running back Arian Foster, and starting quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick would go 20 of 34 for 289 yards along with 3 interceptions.
All of a sudden there was hope, a blueprint for success. This would be perfected in week 4 against a battered Washington Redskins team and backup quarterback Kirk Cousins. While many analysts had favored the Redskins and Kirk Cousins after their intense shootout with the high powered and undefeated, division leading Philadelphia Eagles, it would be the Giants who would emerge victorious on Thursday night football in the shadow of Derek Jeter’s last game winning hit at Yankee stadium. Eli would have one of the best games of his career merely 3 weeks after being written off as being all but finished. Behind Manning completing 28 of 39 passes for 300 yards, including 4 touchdowns, one of them rushing, the Giants steam rolled their way to a 45- 14 victory over the Washington Redskins. Larry Donnell would emerge from obscurity with 3 touchdown receptions, giving credence to the tight end heavy leaning strategy of Ben McAdoo.
With the first quarter of the NFL season in the books, the Giants have gone from the butt of the league’s jokes to a .500 record, and being right in contention for the division crown. They’ll have their work cut out for them against a resurgent Atlanta Falcons team that had put up strong numbers, including a dominant victory against division rival Tampa Bay before they get a shot at the thrown in facing the Eagles in Philly. It’s still too early to call the Giants’ offense a success, or to say that the team is going to be anything spectacular. However they’re far from the dead and buried shell of a team that showed up in week one.