While we wait for the Sunday night New York Giants vs. Kansas City Chiefs collision of 0-2 teams, and before I hop in my car for the trip to East Rutherford, N.J, here are some ‘things I think’ about the Giants in Week 3.
Season at a tipping point already?
The Giants have started this season like they have started so many others over the last decade — losing their first two games.
- They put up their annual Week 1 stinker in a 21-6 loss to a vulnerable Washington Commanders team that, in truth, did not do a whole lot on its own to win that game.
- Despite the flash of a 450-yard passing performance by Russell Wilson, the lost a game they should have won to the Dallas Cowboys in Week 2. A defense that spit up four leads, an offense that flopped in the red zone and an overall lack of discipline that saw an astounding 21 penalties (14 accepted) called against the Giants were the culprits.
If 0-2 turns to 0-3 the MetLife Stadium mood could turn foul quickly. There might even be planes with not-so-nice messages flying about the stadium in Week 4 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
There has already been a report that the jobs of head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Shane Bowen could be “hanging by a thread” after the first two weeks.
If the Giants fall to 0-3, Daboll could have only two heavy-duty cards left to play in an effort to keep his job.
He could fire Bowen, especially in the offensively-challenged Chiefs have a breakout game. The Giants’ defense has too much talent to play the way it has the first two weeks and to be a statistical bottom-feeder in most important categories. After last week’s defensive failure against Dallas, another one might be too much for a head coach under fire not to do something.
Defensive backs coach Marquand Manuel and defensive line coach Andre Patterson both have experience as coordinators.
The other card Daboll has to play is, of course, Jaxson Dart. The view here has consistently been that the longer the Giants could wait before turning to Dart the better it would be for the rookie quarterback. It still is.
If the Giants keep losing, though, there is simply no point in playing a 37-year-old quarterback who probably has no future with the team beyond this year. Plus, Dart looking like the real deal could be a major selling point in pitching to keep his job for the coach who pushed to draft him.
It isn’t too late for the Giants to have a decent season. In the words of Yogi Berra, though “it’s getting late early.”
The return of Andrew Thomas
The likely return to action of left tackle Andrew Thomas is good news for the Giants. Since 2023, the Giants are 3-17 without Thomas in the lineup, 6-10 with him in it. The 6-10 mark isn’t great, of course, but it is competitive.
I would temper expectations for Thomas, though. First, while coach Brian Daboll said this week that Thomas has “played a lot of football,” he has not played in nearly a year and has done limited padded work. To think he will be in the form that made him a second-team All-Pro in 2022 is probably asking too much.
The Giants have been, and will continue to be, extremely cautious with Thomas. Franchise left tackles, especially proven 26-year-old ones, don’t grow on trees. Thomas is one. The Giants have him signed through 2029 and would like to get as much quality football from him as they can between now and then.
The immediate focus, of course, is on winning Sunday night avoiding an 0-3 start. The long-term focus, and the one that should be more important to both Thomas and the organization, is doing right by the player and having him as healthy as possible for the duration of his contract.
With that in mind, it won’t be any surprise if Thomas and Marcus Mbow split reps vs. the Chiefs. And, I would be perfectly OK with that.
What to do with Mbow?
There has been a lot of speculation about what the Giants will or should do with impressive rookie Marcus Mbow now that Andrew Thomas is back and with Jermaine Eleumunor at right tackle.
Should they move Mbow to guard? Can he play center? Should they move Eluemunor to right guad and play Mbow at right tackle? Here are my thoughts on all three scenarios. And, yes, you may have read some of this in Saturday’s Big Blue View mailbag.
Mbow to guard. Right now, I’m not sure asking him to make that move mid-season is fair to the young man. First of all, to my knowledge he has taken zero snaps at guard since the Giants drafted him. We don’t see full practices during the season, so it is possible he has taken a few but we can’t know that for sure until or unless the Giants tell us that is happening.
The other question is whether that is actually a good place for him right now. He is 303 pounds and the primary question about him is whether he can handle strength and power. That question/weakness could be exacerbated until he adds some strength.
Mbow to center. I think this is a long-term possibility. Again, though, not right now. If Mbow is going to have a fair chance to adjust to center and play it well, it is the kind of thing the Giants would have to do from Day 1 of spring practices. It isn’t the kind of thing you can do to a rookie in the middle of the season and expect have a good outcome.
Eluemunor to guard, Mbow to right tackle. On the surface, this makes sense. Right tackle would be a good spot for Mbow, except that Eluemunor is established there and doing a good job.
Could Eluemunor play right guard. Sure. Could he do it any better than Greg Van Roten? Who knows? Eluemunor last played a bit of guard in 2022. The only time in his career he played a significant amount of guard was 2017. Eluemunor is also a pending free agent. Is he going to happily accept a position switch away from a spot he is playing well and might get him a nice paycheck next offseason? Probably not, unless a nice contract extension comes with it.
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