The New York Giants have a new offensive star and he’s carrying the load

It has been three games since New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones has thrown a touchdown pass, and that fact alone is simply unacceptable. New offensive coordinator Jason Garrett has deployed a scheme that simply doesn’t maximize Jones’s strengths.

Garrett has schemed his wide receivers into tight coverage and lacks creativity through five weeks. We saw a spark of action against the Dallas Cowboys in the first drive of the game, utilizing more pre-snap motion and imagination, but it ultimately tapered off as the game went on.

A lack of talent in all phases has significantly limited the offense, but that decision making from Jones has undoubtedly played a part. Turnovers remain a major issue, and a fumble against Dallas, which was taken for a touchdown, was a major turning point in the contest.

However, through five weeks, the offensive star for the Giants has been kicker Graham Gano. He is currently hitting 92.9% of his field-goal attempts, securing three from 50+ yards on Sunday afternoon. Ha has only missed one attempt this year, from the 50+ yard range, hitting everything before that mark. He has also been perfect on extra points, having only attempted four due to a lack of offensive power.

If not for the Gano’s impressive leg, the Giants would never have reached 34 points against Dallas, who currently holds the worst defense in the NFL and a historically bad unit within the franchise.

After undergoing season-ending surgery last year with the Carolina Panthers, the Giants originally brought in Chandler Catanzaro to replace Aldrick Rosas, following his DUI issue. They quickly released Catanzaro to add Gano, who had a career year in 2017, reaching the Pro Bowl. He hit on 96.7% of his attempts, including 10 for 10 from 40 yards and beyond. The fact that he’s had to operate from 50+ yards this year is not a testament to a successful offense, in fact, it is embarrassing the Giants can barely get into the red zone.

Thanks to poor wide receiver separation, pass and run blocking, and bad decision making from Daniel Jones, the offense has sputtered to a halt in most games.

Of course, factoring in Jason Garrett’s vanilla scheme, which operates on outside zone blocking with poor run blocking from their tackles and short route concepts from incapable pass catchers, finding points was always going to be problematic. In other words, thank goodness for Gano and his near-automatic leg from long distance.