On Monday, November 22nd, the Giants traveled to Tampa Bay to face the reigning Super Bowl champs at their home stadium. Going into the game, the odds were certainly stacked against New York, with a 10.5 point spread. The Giants looked respectable in the first half, keeping the score decently close, only down 17-10 at the end of the first half. However, as time ticked on, Brady and the Bucs began to drive and neither quarterback Daniel Jones and the offense nor the defense had an answer. The game ended at a score that disappointed every Giants fan, 30-10 in favor of the Bucs. This was yet another loss in a season full of them. However, no one took the blame for Monday’s loss quite like offensive coordinator Jason Garrett, who in the aftermath of the game was fired. Garrett, the former head coach of New York’s rival, the Dallas Cowboys, was brought in for this season by new Giants’ head coach Joe Judge, has been a letdown in terms of play calling to say the least, as he has continuously underused the underrated talent of the receiving core, as well as star running back Saquon Barkley. 

Now, to Garrett’s credit, Barkley went down with a torn ACL last season, and perhaps it was wise to test the waters at first before allowing him a normal amount of touches. However, Barkley has continuously been used in very non-creative ways. Looking at the team objectively, the offensive line is sub-par at best. Former first round pick Andrew Thomas has developed nicely, but the unit as a whole is still underperforming. A bad offensive line happens to be just about a running back’s worst nightmare. For the Giants, their inside run game has been virtually non-existent. However, the pass protection has seemingly been a notch above the run-blocking, and this is where Garrett failed as a coordinator. Barkley is part of a new breed of running backs along with the likes of Christian McCaffery and Alvin Kamara. These running backs are threats on the ground and in the passing game, essentially transforming into all-purpose backs. Barkley has been known to break runs, especially when given room to move. This year, Barkley has only been targeted a total of 31 times (1). Granted, he has been injured a few weeks, but this is still not enough for most Giants fans. 

Not only did Garrett misuse Barkley, but he lacked creativity with the receiving core. The Giants boast a surprisingly strong receiving core of Kenny Golladay, Darius Slayton, Sterling Sheppard, Kadarius Toney, and Evan Engram, none of whom have been used properly. Most notably, Kenny Golladay, the 70 million dollar man, has no touchdowns on the year. Yes, myself, the RYSI football team, as well as everyone in Ridge has the same number of touchdowns this year as the man the Giants paid 70 million dollars. One can blame Golladay all one wants, but at the end of the day, his lack of production largely results from his lack of targets. While Golladay may not create the same separation against defenders as Toney, Slayton, or Sheppard, his ability to haul in contested catches back with the Detroit Lions got him paid in the first place, an ability that has gone unaccounted for due to both Daniel Jones’ struggles with ball placement and the lack of creativity as a whole for the offense. Countless other offensive weapons have been misused, and the Tampa Bay game seemed to be the last straw, with the first answer to the offensive struggles being to end Jason Garrett’s tenure with the team. Currently, no replacement has been announced, but Freddy Kitchens, one of the Giants senior offensive assistants, is expected to replace him. While the issues regarding the Giants’ offense likely goes deeper than Garrett’s struggles, the choice to move on from Garrett signals potential future changes to improve the current underwhelming status of the team.

Works Cited:

[1] https://www.pro-football-reference.com/