The New York Giants made significant changes in their coaching staff this off-season after they fired Pat Shurmur, Mike Shula, and James Bettcher. Management went out and brought in former New England Patriots special-teams coordinator Joe Judge, former Dallas head coach Jason Garrett, and former Miami Dolphins defensive coordinator, Patrick Graham.
The expectations are that the new staff will bring a bit more stability to the franchise. Shurmur was incapable of managing the entire team, with his focus primarily aimed at the offense. Calling plays was simply too much of a difficult task to handle in cohesion with the remainder of his duties.
The offense should benefit from having a strict offensive coordinator who knows the game like the back of his hand. Garrett spent 13 years with the Cowboys but was fired at the end of last season for under-performing.
One former New York Giants player believes he will be a massive upgrade:
O’Hara referenced via Giants.com a play the Cowboys utilizing the past called “scissors.†Mainly, it relies on misdirection with two running back’s in the backfield and having both guards swing into space to block for the ball carrier. He mentions that the Giants have used this play in the past, but it has been quite some time. He believes Garrett will re-invoke the specific play, and it should help the Giants’ offense succeed.
“I fully expect to see this play resurface for the Giants,” O’Hara said on NFL Network’s Good Morning Football. “I think Saquon (Barkley) is the perfect running back, just like Zeke Elliott, who ran it exceptionally well down in Dallas. Obviously, it helps when you have good offensive linemen, which he does down there. But the patience to let those blocks develop and to set them up, that’s something Saquon does a really good job of. Because he has that speed and that burst, he can maintain the patience with that.
“So, what is Jason Garrett going to do? Well smartly, he brought along Marc Colombo, who was down with him in Dallas, who is now the offensive line coach. He has another guy to help instill this and show them how to block it and show them all the intricacies of this play. What makes it work and what it struggles with. But I think when you look at this offense with Jason Garrett as the offensive coordinator, the accountability factor is going to be through the roof.”
The offensive line remains the most important unit for the Giants, regarding development. They drafted Andrew Thomas with the fourth overall pick to be the heir at left tackle. O’Hara mentions “accountability†will be a significant portion of Judge’s mentality as a head coach.
Every player has a job to do, and they must do it well. Harping on fundamentals and the minor details is what makes a team great. Hopefully, all of these factors combined translates to a better performance in 2020.