Ben McAdoo, the former quarterbacks coach of the Green Bay Packers, was brought in by the New York Giants to run the team's offense following the retirement of offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride. In their second week of training camp, the Giants continue to adapt to a number of changes.
In the past five seasons, the New York Giants have missed the playoffs four times and won a Super Bowl. Although any owner in football will take a Super Bowl victory once every five years, the Giants inconsistency has been so alarming that it was evident change was needed. Eli Manning and the offense showed prior flashes of greatness when running the no-huddle offense, and new offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo strives to accomplish just that.
"If we set up faster, it should reveal how the defense is reacting to us sooner," said Eli Manning in this New York Times article. "If we've got a great play called for that defense, then we run it. If we have a play called with no chance for success, we can get into our other options. It gives me more time to decipher what to do and get the right play called without being rushed."
McAdoo's West Coast offense is a complete 180-degree transformation from Kevin Gilbride's traditional offensive strategy that used the run game to open up the play-action pass and deep ball. Under McAdoo's system, the coaching staff is challenging Eli Manning to complete 70% of his passes (which is wildly unrealistic), but his completion numbers should drastically improve from last year's 57.5% because the team will be running more plays and passing the ball more often. Thus far in training camp, the Giants' offense has gotten the ball snapped between 18 and 26 seconds, but McAdoo strives for a faster pace.
However, achieving such a goal is dependent on a number of factors: the offensive line, the receiving corps, and the running game. The offensive line, after one of its worst years in recent memory, has a lot of new faces (Centers J.D. Walton and Weston Richburg, OG Geoff Schwartz, and OTs John Jerry and Charles Brown) and veteran guard Chris Snee and offensive tackle David Diehl announced their retirements prior to this season. It's unknown who will be starting in Week 1, but it seems as if the Giants want to see a serious competition based on the amount of lineman they have present at training camp. The Giants past offensive lines played an integral role in their Super Bowl victories.
The performance of the receiving corps and running game are obviously dependent on the success of the offensive line, but last year these two departments struggled even when the line was able to perform effectively. In 2013, the Giants dropped the ninth most passes in the league (29) with a drop percentage of 5.2. They also ranked 29th in Yards After Catch (YAC) with only 4.86. Rookie first-round draft pick Odell Beckham, Jr. is missing time because of a hamstring injury so the team is working with other options in the slot, where the team hopes they can gain a lot of their yards. In terms of the running game, David Wilson had an awful year running the football before his season-ending neck injury and the team has a new starter in Rashad Jennings who was acquired via free agency from the Oakland Raiders. The team averaged only 3.5 yards per carry and 83.3 yards per game last season. And although the Giants will be passing more, it's still essential to establish a run game especially if you're in the lead.
For now, you can check out Giants training camp updates to keep up with the latest news.
