Giants coaches to evaluate offense during bye week
New York Giants head coach Ben McAdoo, centre, watches his team during an NFL game between the New York Giants and the Los Angeles Rams at Twickenham Stadium in London, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2016. Credit: AP / Matt Dunham
Despite the lack of any one cohesive game in the first seven this season by an offense that was supposed to be carrying the Giants, coach Ben McAdoo is convinced that the productivity is coming. It just needs to be “jump-started.”
“We certainly feel like we have plenty of talent, plenty of scheme,” McAdoo said Monday with the Giants coming off a 17-10 win over the Rams. “We just have to get it going.”
After Sunday’s games, the Giants were 20th in yards per game and 25th in scoring per game. Eli Manning was ranked seventh in passing yardage, but the Giants were last in rushing yards. The Giants have run for fewer than 80 yards in each of their last four games, and their 36 rushing yards Sunday were the fewest in a win since they had 27 against the Bucs on Sept. 12, 1999.
McAdoo said the coaches will go through a rigorous self-evaluation during this bye week and try to figure out why the production of the offense is not meeting the potential.
Everything, McAdoo said, will be open for discussion, from the play-calling duties, which he currently handles, to personnel groupings. The Giants have played most of the year in three-receiver sets, and having weak-blocking tight ends and no true fullback limits their options.
“We are going to look at personnel, we are going to look at scheme, we are going to look at a bunch of different things, personnel groups, to see if we can get it jump-started here over the bye week,” McAdoo said.
Ben says ‘bye’
McAdoo said he will tell his players to relax during their bye week, but not too much.
“You want to make sure you’re always going forward. You don’t want to go backwards in the bye week,” he said. “We’ve got to stay on top of our conditioning, we’ve got to take care of our bodies. But be civilians a little bit, be human beings a little bit, spend some time with our family and friends.”
The Giants will return from the bye to play the Eagles in an important NFC East game in Week 9.
“I think they’ll be chomping at the bit for that one,” McAdoo said of his team.
Giant steps
Odell Beckham Jr. spent most of Monday in treatment for his hip injury, which he played through Sunday. “He’s pretty sore,” McAdoo said . . . The Giants are optimistic that they’ll get safety Nat Berhe (concussion) and safety Darian Thompson (foot) on the practice field when they return from the bye. “It’s certainly a possibility,” McAdoo said. . . Landon Collins and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie are the first pair of teammates with multiple interceptions each in a single game since Seattle’s Byron Maxwell and Richard Sherman in Week 15 of the 2013 season against the Giants. They are the first Giants duo to accomplish the feat since Kenny Hill and Terry Kinard vs. San Diego on Sept. 14, 1986.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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