Giants hoping Carmen Bricillo can be the one to fix their offensive line woes
Carmen Bricillo, offensive line coach speaks during the New York Giants OTA at their practice facility in East Rutherford, NJ, Thursday, May 30, 2024 Credit: Ed Murray
Carmen Bricillo knew what he was getting into.
How could he not?
The Giants’ longtime struggles with their offensive line are no secret. And as the clock ticks toward the regular season, it’s Bricillo’s job to fix it.
Bricillo, hired by coach Brian Daboll in January, is the team’s sixth offensive line coach since 2016 and the eighth in 10 years.
His results to date, most recently with Las Vegas, have been impressive — especially by the Giants’ recent standards.
Since 2020, Bricillo has not coached a line that ranked worse than 10th in the league, according to the analytics group Pro Football Focus (PFF).
Tenth in the league? Giants fans might build the guy a statue.
Last season, the Giants allowed 85 sacks, the second-most in NFL history behind the 1986 Philadelphia Eagles (104) and 20 more than any other team. The interior linemen yielded more sacks than the entire five-man unit of 20 NFL teams, according to Yahoo Sports.
“Coach Carm has been a great addition to the O-line room,” second-year center John Michael Schmitz said. “He has a great amount of knowledge of the game and has already helped every single one of us be better players. [He] holds us to a high standard each and every day. We go out there and compete and get better.”
In his first season with the Raiders in 2022, Bricillo had to deal with seven different combinations along the line. Despite that, Vegas running backs averaged 4.81 yards per carry, the second-highest average in franchise history, and were stuffed for a loss or no gain only 68 times, the fewest in the NFL.
Schmitz said Bricillo has challenged him to see the game differently.
“He’s very knowledgeable and has great expertise of the game,” Schmitz said. “Got to give him credit for that.”
Veteran lineman Jon Runyan, who spent his first four seasons with Green Bay, signed with the Giants as a free agent in March. His goal is for the Giants to win games because of the line, not despite it.
“That’s the priority and we’re wearing that on our shoulders,” Runyan said. “Coach Carm and Coach James [Ferentz, Bricillo’s assistant] have been doing a fantastic job this offseason. We’ve really been enjoying it, liking their coaching. I can already see going back, watching a little bit of film from last season, and where we are today, I feel like everything has just been meshing a lot better.”
There’s a caveat to that, of course.
“Granted, we are in the beginning of June,” Runyan said. “We’ve still got a long way to go with training camp coming up. But I can feel everything moving in the right direction of where we need to be.”
Runyan comes across as the kind of player the Giants have needed. In his limited time with the media, he is reminiscent of a Shaun O’Hara or Rich Seubert from years gone by.
According to PFF, over the past four seasons, Runyan ranks 21st among 63 qualifying guards in PFF pass-blocking grade (70.5).
“That’s what the position of playing offensive line is about,” Runyan said Thursday. “You get none of the credit. We don’t even need the credit. I love watching [running back Devin] Singletary score touchdowns. I love watching Daniel Jones throw touchdowns and all these receivers catching them. That’s what we take pride in.”
Runyan and Jermaine Eluemunor, who was with Bricillo with the Raiders, were big-ticket items in free agency. One way or another, both are expected to be on the field.
“They help me out,’’ Schmitz said of Runyan and Eluemunor on either side of him. “They help me understand certain situations, what to be aware of, what they’re seeing on film. It can be a different view of what I’m seeing because they’ve had more experience.’’
For the Giants, having the correct pieces along the offensive line has been a challenge, to say the least.
Imagine being the coach who solves the conundrum. If and when that ever happens, that alone may be worth a parade.
Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.
