The New York Giants shocked everyone with their performance during the 2022 season. They went 9-7-1 and even won a playoff game on the road, defeating the Minnesota Vikings during Super Wild Card Weekend. Their season came to a screeching halt the next week during the Divisional Round when the Philadelphia Eagles blew them out, 38-7.
A big reason for the team’s turnaround was the performance of quarterback Daniel Jones. Head coach Brian Daboll did a wonderful job of rebuilding the offensive game plan around his strengths, emphasizing his athleticism with RPOs and rollouts.
That drastically cut down on the number of mistakes that Jones made, leading to an NFL-low 1.1 interception percentage. He threw only five, which was a career-low for him as well as his interception numbers have decreased each season he has been in the NFL.
Despite making some progress, there are still plenty of people who doubt Jones can take the Giants to the heights they are hoping to reach. One of those doubters is former NFL head coach and current ESPN analyst, Herm Edwards.
“When you think about this offense, they were last in the National Football League in passing with explosive plays,” Edwards said about Big Blue during an on-air segment, per Patricia Traina of FanNation’s Giants Country. “So when you think about the Giants, trying to defend the Giants offense, the first thing you say is this: Stop the runner,” Edwards continued. “If we can stop the runner, we can beat the Giants; make the quarterback throw the ball.”
Edwards is correct in that sense as the Giants ranked 26th in passing yards. Their game plan was very conservative on purpose, as Daboll was making the most of the personnel that he had. One thing that was lacking from the offense was speed, which plenty of has been added this offseason.
The Giants acquired tight end Darren Waller from the Las Vegas Raiders giving Jones a go-to weapon in the passing game. Parris Campbell was signed in free agency and Jalin Hyatt was selected in the third round of the 2023 NFL Draft to bolster a wide receiver group lacking explosiveness.
The biggest elephant in the room for the Giants is the contract status of Saquon Barkley. Without Barkley, this offense will look drastically different even with the passing game upgrades.
Edwards isn’t understating the importance of Barkley. The Giants’ offense goes as he does as they struggled mightily to move the ball when he wasn’t playing at his best. Hopefully, the new weapons will help take pressure off of him, but a lot of that will fall upon Jones.
The franchise showed a lot of faith in Jones being able to take that next step, signing him to a four-year deal that could be worth up to $160 million. Jones has some pressure on him to succeed now as the Giants need a more explosive passing attack to hang with the upper-echelon teams in the NFL.
