There are plenty of things for the New York Giants to work on for the coming week (and beyond). Among them, offensive execution is at the top of the list.
Granted, the New York Giants are not an-around equipped team to match the talent of their division rival Dallas Cowboys, but it can be argued that Sunday’s 35-17 domination could have been avoided. At the very least, that score could have been just a bit closer.
It would be one thing if New York was without any hint of star talent on the offensive side of the ball, but the Giants have a running back by the name of Saquon Barkley. The second-year back ran for 59 yards on his first carry alone. You would assume that Pat Shurmur, liking what he sees, would try and go to his best offensive option more often.
Instead, Saquon Barkley ended the day with just 11 carries, albeit for 120 rushing yards and 19 yards receiving. Saquon Barkley wasn’t necessarily held in check by Dallas’ defense, but he surely wasn’t properly utilized by Shurmur and the Giants. When the deficit trends towards getting out of reach, you might want to get your best player involved as much as possible.
The defensive woes are well noted and well warranted, and due to that unfortunate reality, Pat Shurmur needs to coach aggressively and desperately on offense. He went for it on fourth-and-eight in the third quarter at Dallas’ own 40. Yet with a third-and-two at Dallas’ eight-yard line in the second quarter, Shurmur elected for a fullback dive by Eli Penny, instead of leveraging Saquon Barkley.
When that failed, Shurmur elected to use Barkley (as a decoy) and opted for an Eli Manning rolling right. The right mindset (maybe) but undoubtedly poor execution.
If the Giants are going to continue this poor offensive execution, then it will surely be a long season for this team. The defense is young, will surely see some growing pains, and will likely have their hands full against opposing offenses.
For that reason, Shurmur has to be desperate on offense, and that means leveraging the sure talent he already has and doing so steadily. Don’t overthink it, Saquon Barkley is your best offensive threat for a reason. Get better execution on offense, and hopefully put fans’ minds at ease.