Will the Giants' Offensive Line Sink Their Season?
It’s been an interesting two weeks, to say the least, for the New York Giants offense, and it’s exciting to see that, at least in a two-game sample, they’re improving week after week. However, the offensive line is the one unit that I believe will stop the Giants' offense from continuing that improvement.
Especially without its best player, Andrew Thomas, it’s been a rough showing for the Giants' offensive line, including an all-time bad showing from his replacement, James Hudson III, against the Cowboys. Here’s a look at Hudson’s wrongdoings.
Sack on 1st &10 from the Cowboys 38
Unnecessary roughness penalty (15 yards), negating a 10-yard Skattebo run
False start (5 yards) on 3rd &19 from the Dallas 47-yard line
Unnecessary roughness penalty (15 yards), bringing a 50-yard pass play from the Dallas 2-yard line to the Dallas 17.
False start (5 yards) on 2nd &8 from the Dallas 15-yard line.
That’s a really tough game for Hudson, except it all happened on one drive, which was quite possibly the worst performance I’ve ever seen in such a short amount of time. It’s inexcusable, and I think most fans would be happy if he stays on the sideline.
The good news is that Andrew Thomas was practicing again this week, and Brian Daboll said he was encouraged by where his star tackle was.
Unfortunately, I don’t think it will save the season because the running game is just not there. The pass blocking wasn’t amazing on Sunday, but when you go over 400 yards and only give up one sack, that can be overlooked. However, if the Giants could have run for more than just 84 yards, it’s quite possible they could have kept the Cowboys offense off the field and won the game.
The Giants are 26th in rush success rate through two games, and while they have two good run-after-contact backs (35 of Cam Skattebo’s 45 yards were after contact, and Tyrone Tracy had more YAC than yards), the offensive line's struggle to get push was clear. I mean, through two games, 36-year-old Russell Wilson is this team’s leading rusher; if that doesn’t say something about the state of the offensive line, I don’t know what does.
Maybe Andrew Thomas's return can improve the line, and maybe the O-line gels as the season goes on and gets better, but like I said in my overall offense analysis, the defenses just get better from here, so I’m not holding my breath.