What hasn't gone right this season

[MightyGiants]

1)  Jones with more weapons and a second year in a good system will take a step up-   The O-line regressed, the "weapons"  were not as good as advertized, and with the exception of the Cards game, Jones has looked worse than he did the end of last season.

2) Waller is the true number-one receiving threat the Giants were missing-  While Waller looked unstoppable in training camp, he has looked ordinary during the season.  Unknow if he hamstring issue he is dealing with has impacted him.

3) The defensive additions (2 DTs and an ILB) will fix the run defense issues-  The run defense looks worse than last year with the team collectively forgetting how to tackle

4) Neal would be better because now he is used to RT again-   Neal has shown little to know improvement

5) Thibodeaux will step up in year two-  KT if anything seems to have regressed

6) Bobby Okereke will solve the problem at ILB-   BO has looked worse than the player who played for the Colts.  He is very hesitant in his play

7) The players will be further along since many are in the second year of the Giants offensive and defensive systems-   Instead, the Giants seemed to have regressed either due to lack of effort or over-confidence

8) The massive influx of speed will give the Giants a boost- Two of the fastest Giants (Hyatt and Simmons) have played very few snaps.   Campbell may be fast on paper, but it hasn't shown on the field.  Waller seems slower than he looked in camp. 

[Philosophers]

I think a major problem was not playing the starters in preseason games and really preparing them.  Instead we got to see backups.  Come the Dallas game, the starters looked so bad.

All preseason we read about how good Waller is then when they practiced with the Lions, not so much.

Evan Neal is my biggest disappointment so far.  Maybe he becomes sooid by end of season but as of now he looks like Ereck Flowers.

I thought KT might be soft and had hoped others here would be right, but my observations are proving correct.  He dances on plays.  He plays with no power and explosiveness into players.

Their DL is playing like a bunch of kids.  Run defense is awful.

Play calling adjustments in kight of problems is not good. Stop with all 3 yard checkdowns and roll out DJ to try to throw deep.  Stop with all the same plays that are not working.

[Bob In PA]

I think the title of the thread should be "what hasn't gone right YET this season."

Nothing is written in stone, especially level of performance (so far) by players mentioned specifically.

The good news is... when you start poorly there's plenty of room for improvement (it's EASIER to improve). 

I can remember numerous playoff teams that started worse than the Giants this year. 

Dallas and SF are very good teams when they're playing at full strength (as they did against the Giants).

Bob

[MightyGiants]

I think the title of the thread should be "what hasn't gone right YET this season."

Nothing is written in stone, especially level of performance (so far) by players mentioned specifically.

The good news is... when you start poorly there's plenty of room for improvement (it's EASIER to improve). 

I can remember numerous playoff teams that started worse than the Giants this year. 

Dallas SF are very good teams when they're playing at full strength (as they did against the Giants).

Bob

Bob,

I think many of the issues I listed are fixable (not so sure Evan Neal is "fixable").   That said, this team is running out of chances and time to right their ship if they intend to make the playoffs.

[DragonSoul]

I agree, those are all concerns/issues/thoughts we have had. It may just come down to time with extra days off to get things righted.

It might just be time that is needed. New pieces to gel, etc... I start taking teams for who they are around week 4-6 w/in context. Especially with preseason reduced and barely any playing time for the vets. Add injuries. We are too thin in some places to potentially overcome the numbers we've had in key positions.

We did have a rough starting Schedule. I did expect a lot more vs. Dallas.

[RelaxTension]

The team isn't developing the young drafted players.

I said it before the season and will say it again the FO didn't address the oline this past off season in case there wasn't any improvements. So far they haven't but it is only 3 games so there is still hope they can become good enough for stretches to allow the offense to attack down filed and open holes in the run game.

It's wild to see so many of the fans out here now agreeing about how bad Neal has been. 

[MightyGiants]

The team isn't developing the young drafted players.

I said it before the season and will say it again the FO didn't address the oline this past off season in case there wasn't any improvements. So far they haven't but it is only 3 games so there is still hope they can become good enough for stretches to allow the offense to attack down filed and open holes in the run game.

It's wild to see so many of the fans out here now agreeing about how bad Neal has been. 

The Giants lost Nick Gates and Feliciano and only gained JMS.  Considering the line played pretty poorly, they should have added more talent either via the draft or free agency.   Hope (that players develop) is a poor substitute for a plan.

[JT39]

I'll take "everything" for 800, Alex.

[Bob In PA]

Bob,

I think many of the issues I listed are fixable (not so sure Evan Neal is "fixable").  That said, this team is running out of chances and time to right their ship if they intend to make the playoffs.

Rich: I'm worried about Neal too. IMO there's a mental aspect to the problem, but I don't like his feet at all.

Disagree that the Giants are running out of time after three of seventeen games. LOL

So far, they haven't lost a game the vast majority of people believed they would win (obviously).

By the way, the 49ers players should shut up. The game was a lot closer than the score, and I promise you the Giants CAN beat that team.  It was their home opener and the refs IMO intentionally let a lot of border-line holding calls go early in the game that put the Giants behind the 8-ball. The missed calls all came at key times, but I won't use that as an excuse.  The Giants dropped THREE INT's on the first drive of the game.  Any one of those could have changed the tone, or at least got the Giants off to a decent start. Then Breida dropped a pass thrown right to him and ruined the Giants' first possession.  I could go on with this, but instead I'll just say again that game was a lot closer than the final score.

Bob

[Philosophers]

With Neal, I remember watching a 335 pound player do a squat jump and land like 3 higher on some mats and thought that a ridiculous explosiveness for someone so big.  I thought that would translate into lateral movement.  It has not as he looks slow laterally.  Also, he is getting bull rushed successfully by players 50 pounds lighter.  That should not be happening.  Is he just weak in core strength or is his technique to anchor down really bad?  Either is not good.  He has seemed very coachable and has taken to off-season coaching with Willie Anderson which shows maturity and dedication.  I hope Neal evolves into a good player because right now, my misread of Neal has me questioning everything in my life.  How could I be so wrong?

[DaveBrown74]

With Neal, I remember watching a 335 pound player do a squat jump and land like 3 higher on some mats and thought that a ridiculous explosiveness for someone so big.  I thought that would translate into lateral movement.  It has not as he looks slow laterally.  Also, he is getting bull rushed successfully by players 50 pounds lighter.  That should not be happening.  Is he just weak in core strength or is his technique to anchor down really bad?  Either is not good.  He has seemed very coachable and has taken to off-season coaching with Willie Anderson which shows maturity and dedication.  I hope Neal evolves into a good player because right now, my misread of Neal has me questioning everything in my life.  How could I be so wrong?

We all were and so was our GM. And if he didn't take him he would have been gone quickly after. Happens sometimes.

[jgrangers2]

The Giants lost Nick Gates and Feliciano and only gained JMS.  Considering the line played pretty poorly, they should have added more talent either via the draft or free agency.  Hope (that players develop) is a poor substitute for a plan.

The issue is those players have to be available and at a price we can afford. Anyone you're signing at that low price tag is unlikely to be a huge improvement. That's literally what Glowinski and Bredeson were. Realistically, they spent a 2nd round pick on a Center after spending the 7th overall pick on an OT last year. That's a solid amount of draft capital on the O-line. Not to mention they took two more guards last year.

We entered last offseason with questions regarding our QB and RB, a weak receiving corps, no quality linebackers and one good cornerback. Not to mention our best defensive player wanted an extension. Any short-term upgrades were going to have to come from either the draft or guys simply getting better. Sometimes, that is unfortunately the only answer.

[MightyGiants]

With Neal, I remember watching a 335 pound player do a squat jump and land like 3 higher on some mats and thought that a ridiculous explosiveness for someone so big.  I thought that would translate into lateral movement.  It has not as he looks slow laterally.  Also, he is getting bull rushed successfully by players 50 pounds lighter.  That should not be happening.  Is he just weak in core strength or is his technique to anchor down really bad?  Either is not good.  He has seemed very coachable and has taken to off-season coaching with Willie Anderson which shows maturity and dedication.  I hope Neal evolves into a good player because right now, my misread of Neal has me questioning everything in my life.  How could I be so wrong?

and @DaveBrown74

while Neal had those videos of athletic feats, perhaps it distracted from the huge red flag that Neal didn't do a single test at the Combine or his Pro Day


https://nflcombineresults.com/playerpage.php?f=Evan&l=Neal&i=30894

https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/sports/college/football/2022/03/06/alabama-football-evan-neal-nfl-combine-workouts/6954785001/#:~:text=He%20left%20without%20participating%20in,gradual%20trend%20at%20the%20combine.

[RelaxTension]

The issue is those players have to be available and at a price we can afford. Anyone you're signing at that low price tag is unlikely to be a huge improvement. That's literally what Glowinski and Bredeson were. Realistically, they spent a 2nd round pick on a Center after spending the 7th overall pick on an OT last year. That's a solid amount of draft capital on the O-line. Not to mention they took two more guards last year.

We entered last offseason with questions regarding our QB and RB, a weak receiving corps, no quality linebackers and one good cornerback. Not to mention our best defensive player wanted an extension. Any short-term upgrades were going to have to come from either the draft or guys simply getting better. Sometimes, that is unfortunately the only answer.

So the plan for the weak reciver group was to keep two of the starters and sign a slot player.
The Slayton money should've gone to a vet guard and Campbell has currently played like a bad signing and will probably be nothing more then injury insurance for most of the season.
Not sure what they could've done to free up some cap to sign a vet RT and after watching EZ playing the LT spot they should've at least been tried him at RT during the off season.

[Philosophers]

and @DaveBrown74

while Neal had those videos of athletic feats, perhaps it distracted from the huge red flag that Neal didn't do a single test at the Combine or his Pro Day


https://nflcombineresults.com/playerpage.php?f=Evan&l=Neal&i=30894

https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/sports/college/football/2022/03/06/alabama-football-evan-neal-nfl-combine-workouts/6954785001/#:~:text=He%20left%20without%20participating%20in,gradual%20trend%20at%20the%20combine.

Wonder if testing without an actual edge rusher would have unmasked the problems.