A few thoughts before kickoff
Here are some of the things I am thinking about as we wait for kickoff of Sunday’s 4:25 p.m. ET game between the 1-3 New York Giants and 3-1 Seattle Seahawks.
57.2 percent
That is how much of the Giants’ 2024 offensive production will be missing if running back Devin Singletary joins wide receiver Malik Nabers on the sideline Sunday.
There is no way to spin that into something that might be a benefit for the Giants, so I’m not even going to try.
The one thing I will say is that we are going to see head coach Brian Daboll have to look beyond the ‘throw it to Nabers’ page of his playbook when the Giants pass the ball.
Can Daboll get forgotten tight ends Theo Johnson and Daniel Bellinger involved in the passing attack? Can Jalin Hyatt make a couple of plays? Darius Slayton? Can quarterback Daniel Jones continue to be as efficient as he has been without his primary target?
How in the world are the Giants going to improve on the already-not-good-enough 15.0 points per game they are averaging without their primary play makers?
I don’t have the answer. Daboll and Jones, though, need to figure one out. Jones may have to do something he hasn’t really been capable of often enough in the past — lift the play of those around him.
More Jakob?
Offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo said Friday that it was “pretty obvious” the Giants needed to do a better job run blocking.
Could one solution be more use of fullback Jakob Johnson?
Bricillo and Johnson were together with the Las Vegas Raiders the last two seasons. Johnson played 301 offensive snaps (27%) in 17 games for the Raiders in 2022 and 186 snaps (23%) in 13 games last season.
So far this season, Johnson has played just 12 snaps (6%) in three games.
“I like two-back run game only because not a lot of people do it anymore,” Bricillo said. “Just with the fullback, where his location is, it gives you an opportunity to be able to attack across the width and breadth of the defense.
“A lot of linebackers today are built more for that speed, covering sub-backs. There’s not many linebackers left that just enjoy taking on a fullback of Jak’s stature and nature. Then what that can do when you put Jak in the game, you can anticipate what the defense will do. It limits what they’re going to do so that you can anticipate a little better.”
Another possibility? Replacing blocking tight end Chris Manhertz with Evan Neal as a run-blocking jumbo tight end.
“I’ve been a big believer in using jumbos in the past,” Bricillo said. “I think it’s like anything. Does the scheme match? Hey, this week it could be good. Certainly he (Neal) has his strengths and his weaknesses, like all of us.”
Leonard Williams and Julian Love
Both former Giants have played well for the Seahawks. So, were the Giants right to move on from both players?
Williams
The Giants traded Williams to the Seahawks at the 2023 trade deadline for a 2024 second-round pick (No. 47 overall) and a 2025 fifth-round pick.
Williams has continued to be for Seattle what he has been most of his career — a very good player who helps the defense he plays for but does not compile big individual numbers. He has 1.5 sacks, six tackles and an excellent eight quarterback hits in three games, missing one with an injury.
The Giants drafted Tyler Nubin with that 47th pick. More importantly, the allowed them to swing the deal for Brians Burns, giving up their 39th overall pick.
Williams got a three-year, $64.5 million deal ($26.15 million guaranteed) from Seattle, the kind of money the Giants did not want to invest in a 30-year-old defensive lineman.
The Giants, then, effectively turned the 30-year-old Williams into 26-year-old Brian Burns. A two-time Pro Bowler, Burns is off to a slow start with the Giants. In my view, though, what the Giants did here makes sense.
Love
Yes, Love made the Pro Bowl for the first time last season. I think this worked out for the Giants, too, since Jason Pinnock has played well replacing Love. At a fraction of the cost.
YouTube preview
If you missed the preview podcast on YouTube with Mookie Alexander of Field Gulls, here is is:
Calling out Deonte
Good for Giants defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson for calling out the play of Deonte Banks vs. the Dallas Cowboys. It isn’t often in this age of professional sports where coaches walk on egg shells around the egos of their best players that you will hear a coach say something as direct as “he failed,” and be openly critical of how hard a player tried.
Banks has confidence that borders on cockiness and, truthfully, has not been backed by his production as of yet. Maybe the tough love will do him some good. We’ll see.
