In the most complementary way possible, the Giants ’offensive line was mediocre to start the season.
The performance did not reach a high internal standard, but it certainly exceeded the external forecasts of the final judgment.
So this is the foundation to build on as the Giants go from passing a tough test posed by the Broncos to an LSAT-equivalent exam posed Thursday by Washington’s formidable defensive line. Chase Young and Montez Sweat, as well as the attacks of Jonathan Allen and Daron Payne, are former members of the first round.
“These cutting-edge players are second to none,” coach Joe Judge said. “All home teams can play.”
Like last season, the Giants made seven offensive line players, with Ben Bredeson replacing Shane Lemieux on the left and Matt Peart replacing Nate Solder on the right. The different combinations could be multiplied because center Billy Price is poised to contribute after a late preseason change and Nick Gates has versatility in five positions. Lemieux (knee injury) was not detected during Tuesday’s tour.
“Every day in practice they go against a very tough defensive front: ours,” the judge said. “They’ve seen a lot of things in terms of talent, speed, power and schematically that they’ll see from different opponents. I wasn’t surprised. I expected them to play well.”
One of the best things that resulted from the loss was the attack left by Andrew Thomas that calmed the fears that followed him after an unfortunate debutant season that was aggravated by a bad preseason game. Thomas achieved a high team level in real block games last week 1 and Daniel Jones had a clean pocket in 74.4% of his declines, the second highest mark of his career, according to Pro Football Focus.
“I saw improvements last week, but unfortunately for them, they [face] the NFL’s best defensive line, “said NFL network analyst Joe Thomas, a future Hall of Fame offensive lineman.” It’s better that they have a good game plan with a healthy dose of Saquon Barkley. because that offensive line isn’t really ready to sit down and throw the ball on the field, which Daniel Jones does well. “
The Giants averaged just 3 yards in 20 runs, removing some of the brilliance from Barkley’s long-awaited return. The Giants had the eighth highest pass blocking grade and the 14th highest execution blocking grade of Week 1, by PFF.
“We have to run the ball better, which is the main point,” Gates said. “You won’t win too many games if you don’t know how to hit the rock. I felt that the protection of the steps was much better than at this time last year, and we must continue to excel in this. “
Playing in his first game in over 600 days, Solder allowed three pressures, including a sack to Von Miller that went viral.
“It’s one of those ridiculous things,” Solder said. “Von is a great passing player, but sometimes you only hurt yourself with your bad footwork, by placing your weight on the outside rather than inside. My hands arrived late all night. ”
Quick fixes are in order. The Giants traded Sweat to Dexter Lawrence’s defensive team in 2019 and a Giants victory last season against Washington in 2019 decided the future rivalry houses for Young and Andrew Thomas with teams no. 2 and no. 4, respectively, in 2020..
“Being so big, so fast, so strong, so powerful and so athletic … just a weird combination,” the judge said of Young. “No one misjudged this boy. I’ll say it right now: maybe it wasn’t high enough. “
Young is the new defensive debutant of the year, but Sweat and Allen had Washington’s only two sacks in a Week 1 loss to the Chargers.
“If you try to put someone to sleep because you think they didn’t do what you think they will do in the first game,” the judge said, “I promise we’ll see the best Chase and Sweat have to offer. That won’t be a surprise.” to us “.
The most important key for the Giants is to play with an advantage to neutralize the passing race. And keep blocking the noise.
“The way giants can succeed is to be honest about who they are,” Joe Thomas said. “They can’t stand throwing the ball 40 times against Washington’s four fronts.”