The New York Giants’ offensive line have been preparing for their 2020 season opener against Pittsburgh Steelers this Monday night at MetLife Stadium with four of the five starting spots spoken for. All that we’ve been waiting for is the team to name a starting center.
The wait is over.
“We’re going to start Nick Gates at center. He’s done a good job for us through camp,” head coach Joe Judge told reporters on Saturday. “Spencer’s (Pulley) done a tremendous job competing. We’re very happy with both of those guys on the roster. We’re very fortunate to have both guys working at the center position. Nick brings a lot of flexibility to other positions, but that’s the direction we’re going to go for right now.”
It seemed all summer long that the Giants preferred Gates, a 6-foot-5, 307-pound, third-year pro out of Nebraska who has never played the position, over Pulley, who finished th 2019 season as the Giants’ starting center.
Gates has been described by offensive line coach Marc Columbo as an “alpha male” and it was apparent the team wanted him to beat Pulley out for the job despite having no high-level experience at the position. Gates will have his hands full on Monday when the Giants face the Steelers’ front seven, which led the NFL in sacks (54) in 2019.
Another new piece on the offensive line is this year’s first round pick, Andrew Thomas, who earned his role as the starting left tackle after veteran Nate Solder opted out of the season. Judge was asked about his confidence level in Thomas against the Steelers’ pass rush.
“Again, we’re confident in all of our players,” Judge said. “We’re going to put them in a position, we coach them hard, we’re very demanding. Those guys go through a tough regimen on a weekly basis with Marc (Colombo) and Ben (Wilkerson) and being a part of that offensive line. We have a lot of confidence in all of our players. That being said, this is a great challenge for our entire team. The offensive line has a great challenge ahead of them with Pittsburgh’s front. They’re very talented, they’re capable of having very disruptive plays, which gives opportunities to the backend for turnovers as well. All of our guys have to really come in and have 60 minutes of good football. We have to play disciplined and we have to always go ahead and be committed to the process of playing, and making adjustments throughout the game.”
Fans are waiting to see if this new line is any better than the previous versions which sent Eli Manning into retirement and turned Daniel Jones into a turnover machine.