The New York Giants did not have an identity on either side the football under former head coach Pat Shurmur. He is now gone and Joe Judge is at the helm. He told reporters on Wednesday his offense will make no bones on what they want to do when they take the field.
“The first thing we want to be able to do is run the ball,†Judge said.
That makes sense under new offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, whose Dallas Cowboys offense threw the ball 58% of the time, but much of that was after they established the run with superstar back Ezekiel Elliott. Judge expects Garrett to use Saquon Barkley in similar fashion.
From NJ.com:
Last season, Elliott logged 301 carries while averaging 4.6 yards per attempt, while Barkley’s season was hampered by a high-ankle sprain that sidelined him for three weeks but the Giants’ running back still produced 217 carries for an identical yards per carry average and six rushing touchdowns.
“He’s [run the ball] successfully in Dallas throughout his career,” Judge said. “Jason brings with him a lot of experience in a lot of systems. We want to create a player-friendly system that creates multiples within gameplans.â€
In 2019, the Giants threw the football on 64.23% of their offensive snaps. That is mainly because of two things. First, th absence and ineffectiveness of Barkley due to a high ankle sprain that hobbled him for nearly half the season. The other factor is the Giants rarely had a lead to work with, playing catch up most of the time, therefore having to pass the football.
For the Giants to duplicate what Garrett’s Cowboys did with the running game, they’re going to have to upgrade the performance of the offensive line. That should begin in free agency in March and the NFL Draft in April.