The New York Giants’ offensive line has surprisingly been one of the team’s strengths so far this season. That trend continued on Thursday night despite the team’s loss as the offensive line handled the Dallas Cowboys’ pass rush and kept Daniel Jones upright for the majority of the game.
The Giants’ offensive line managed the Cowboys’ front seven
The Dallas Cowboys have a fierce defensive front headlined by star pass rusher Micah Parsons. In years past, the Cowboys have had sack parties against the Giants, constantly applying pressure to quarterback Daniel Jones. But on Thursday night, the pressure was minimal and Jones found himself with plenty of time to stand in clean pockets and deliver passes downfield.
The Giants surrendered only one sack for a loss of 4 yards against the Cowboys in Week 4. DeMarcus Lawrence got the one sack for Dallas. Meanwhile, Parsons was held in check with zero sacks and zero quarterback hits.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Giants’ offensive line surrendered only 10 pressures against the Cowboys. LT Andrew Thomas was the offensive line’s highest-graded player, sporting a 75.6 overall grade, an 84.4 pass-blocking grade, and surrendering only one pressure in the contest.
Right guard Greg Van Roten was the primary member of the Giants’ offensive line that struggled in this outing. He surrendered four pressures and was given a 56.7 overall PFF grade. He has struggled at times this season. Ideally, the Giants would like to see Van Roten improve his play, however, he has not been catastrophically bad.
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Left guard Jon Runyan Jr. surrendered three pressures, center John Michael Schmitz was charged with one pressure, and right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor only surrendered one pressure as well. Overall, the Giants got solid performances from their starting five offensive linemen.
Keeping Jones in a clean pocket has been a priority this season and, so far, the Giants are achieving that goal. Jones has been enjoying a pressureless pocket for the most part. Hopefully the solid play of the offensive line will lead to more wins as the season goes along.
