Josh Ezeudu had rocky start Sunday vs. Eagles, though he did settle down
New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll on Monday left the door open for the team to make a change at left tackle, where Josh Ezeudu gave up two sacks on sunday in his first game filling in for the injured Andrew Thomas.
“We’ll have that discussion here. We’ve watched the tape. We’re not there yet,” Daboll said. “I thought that early on there was a couple plays in there. One off of a jam and another one that could have been better. I think he settled in. It was his first time playing. So, there’s some things he did better as the game went on and made some improvements. And we’ll see where we’re at here.”
Ezeudu, who struggled in five starts at left tackle last season when Thomas was injured, got the nod again this season when Thomas was lost for the remainder of the year with a Lisfranc injury.
Ezeudu gave up possession-ending sacks on back to back series in the first quarter of Sunday’s 28-3 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
After that, though, the third-year offensive lineman settled down. He was charged with allowing only one hurry of quarterback Daniel Jones throughout the remainder of the game.
“I started off horrible,” Ezeudu said. “I was just overthinking and self-doubting myself. As the day went on, I had to get out of my own head. I know I’m better. I’ve gotten way better, and I have to go out there and play.
“I know my coaches have faith in me and my teammates have faith in me. I just have to continue to have faith in myself and not overthink stuff.”
Ezeudu’s Pro Football Focus grade of 59.2 was better than every Giants offensive lineman except right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor (63.7).
The Giants have two viable choices should they choose to replace Ezeudu at left tackle, and one of them is not playing Evan Neal at that spot.
One is inserting 12-year veteran Chris Hubbard, signed last week off the San Francisco 49ers practice squad.
The other is moving Eluemunor to left tackle and inserting Neal at right tackle. They don’t seem to be in a rush to get Neal into game action. Even in Sunday’s blowout loss to the Eagles, Neal did not get any garbage-time snaps.
