Interesting thought from UKGiants

[MightyGiants]

https://x.com/ukgiantsfan1/status/1713149468432863474?s=20

[DaveBrown74]

No question the O line has been bad, although it's not like Schoen has not tried to address it since arriving, and losing Schmitz and Thomas for multiple games has been a disaster. There has not been any lack of investment of resources into the line since the new regime took over.

Neal is the biggest failure by this new regime so far. No Giants fan on the planet thought he'd be a bust, but we're not professional scouts or an NFL GM getting paid millions. Had Neal panned out, while the line would be far from perfect, you'd at least have two good young tackles and a very promising young center. That would at least be a solid foundation. Unfortunately we have a bust in Neal and an uncertain situation with Schmitz. And Thomas, while obviously very good, is becoming a bit questionable on the durability front.

No matter who the QB is, they're going to have to throw even more resources at the problem in the next offseason, which is a shame because it's not like they haven't already thrown plenty at it so far.

[MightyGiants]

No question the O line has been bad, although it's not like Schoen has not tried to address it since arriving, and losing Schmitz and Thomas for multiple games has been a disaster. There has not been any lack of investment of resources into the line since the new regime took over.

Neal is the biggest failure by this new regime so far. No Giants fan on the planet thought he'd be a bust, but we're not professional scouts or an NFL GM getting paid millions. Had Neal panned out, while the line would be far from perfect, you'd at least have two good young tackles and a very promising young center. That would at least be a solid foundation. Unfortunately we have a bust in Neal and an uncertain situation with Schmitz. And Thomas, while obviously very good, is becoming a bit questionable on the durability front.

No matter who the QB is, they're going to have to throw even more resources at the problem in the next offseason, which is a shame because it's not like they haven't already thrown plenty at it so far.

I wasn't a fan of Neal in the draft.  I didn't vocally object because the Giants drafted Neal (I assumed they knew what they were doing), and Neal was nearly universally praised (even Dallas, a team that drafts very well, had him high on their list). 

Yet when I watched his college tape, I didn't see anything to get excited about.

[DaveBrown74]

I wasn't a fan of Neal in the draft.  I didn't vocally object because the Giants drafted Neal (I assumed they knew what they were doing), and Neal was nearly universally praised (even Dallas, a team that drafts very well, had him high on their list). 

Yet when I watched his college tape, I didn't see anything to get excited about.

Interesting. I definitely recall universal satisfaction with the pick at the time, not to mention many Giants fans being confident last summer that he'd get his act together this year, although that is not to allege that you privately did not like the pick at the time. Whom did you want them to take instead at the time, and, assuming it wasn't an OT, what would your plan have been at RT in 2022?

[MightyGiants]

Interesting. I definitely recall universal satisfaction with the pick at the time, not to mention many Giants fans being confident last summer that he'd get his act together this year, although that is not to allege that you privately did not like the pick at the time. Whom did you want them to take instead at the time, and, assuming it wasn't an OT, what would your plan have been at RT in 2022?

I am not sure fans were optimistic that Neal would get his act together rather than hopeful.   Neal lost weight and put in the work, but I don't think anyone was sure he would improve.   It seems the reality is that he may not be an NFL-level athlete.   In hindsight, his refusal to do any of the athletic testing at the Combine and the Pro Day should have been a red flag.

Seems like everyone ignored the lack of testing (and that he showed a lack of balance and speed on tape) because of this


https://x.com/AlexWilsonESM/status/1520858242989101058?s=20

[Philosophers]

In retrospect, I have been a fan of the Hog Molly theory however I think now size may actually be a detriment at OT as oversized OTs simply dont move as quickly as they need to.  Believe now OTs should not be more than 320 pounds if they are say 6'6" or more.

[brownelvis54]

I wasn't a fan of Neal in the draft.  I didn't vocally object because the Giants drafted Neal (I assumed they knew what they were doing), and Neal was nearly universally praised (even Dallas, a team that drafts very well, had him high on their list). 

Yet when I watched his college tape, I didn't see anything to get excited about.

To think we could have had Abraham Lucas in the 3rd round, instead we took Joshua Ezeudu 5 picks earlier.  And took anyone else but Neal with pick 7

[Jclayton92]

I said this in the other thread but I thought Neal played a good game against Miami. I think he was gassed on the final series and think he heard the play wrong on the Jones injury but outside those handful of plays it was a good game from him and progress. I started looking up what others thought and Nick Falato and the blue banter guys agreed with what I thought I saw. Neal's not all the way the there but he's making progress.

https://youtu.be/UD1mIhi-v1I?si=8A83Ochn11G17lza

[UncannyGfan]

To Ceri's point, Barkley is among the best running backs in the league and Jones is probably the second best running QB and yet they invested in Waller?  Waller is a good player but he didn't complement where the team was.  The whole team, especially Neal, would have been in a better position as a run first offense and adding further complementary players like another good run blocking TE and better RBs rotating in with Barkley. 

Maybe if Thomas stayed healthy they could have pulled off a more frequent passing game but it's been clear for a while he's out of the line up and they need to revert to last year's approach and perhaps even the Jason Garratt approach to the Seattle game.  The Giants have some really good starters on defense who I think would keep them in the games if they took a ball control offensive approach for four quarters.  How many times are the coaches going to make us watch defenders sprint unabated right at Jones and Taylor? They are averaging less then 6 yards per pass attempt but after all the sacks and risks of turn overs, why bother? 

[Jclayton92]

I genuinely think the defense is above average right now. The offense is hurting the defense, I think the tackling and lack of focus or whatever you want to call it is because the defense knows the offense can't do anything.

[Philosophers]

I said this in the other thread but I thought Neal played a good game against Miami. I think he was gassed on the final series and think he heard the play wrong on the Jones injury but outside those handful of plays it was a good game from him and progress. I started looking up what others thought and Nick Falato and the blue banter guys agreed with what I thought I saw. Neal's not all the way the there but he's making progress.

https://youtu.be/UD1mIhi-v1I?si=8A83Ochn11G17lza

His name was noticeably more quiet when announcers talked.  Good thing.

[Jclayton92]

His name was noticeably more quiet when announcers talked.  Good thing.

It's a start, we can only hope to build on it.

[Giantleap56]

There is no doubt in my mind this has been a Coaching and GM failure. I'm not going to blame DJ for this colossal failure. This is in Daboll and Schoen. Schematically Daboll has been trash. This guy has forgot everything that made him successful last year. There is no way I would trust Daboll even with a new drafted QB. You know how many games Jones and Barkley bailed Daboll out in. It was Kafka calling the plays not Daboll last year. This year without the talent on the OLine Daboll and Kafka look like Amateurs. With a bad O line Daboll's coaching is garbage. Everyone else is going look the same.  The more you watch the teams Giants list to against other teams you see how poor the Giants O line is.
Everything revolves around the offensive line running, Quarterbacking, keeping the team's defensive side off the field. A good offensive line makes the teams defense better.
I'm so dissatisfied with Daboll and Schoen. This team and the scheme are so unprepared.

[DaveBrown74]

There is no doubt in my mind this has been a Coaching and GM failure. I'm not going to blame DJ for this colossal failure. This is in Daboll and Schoen. Schematically Daboll has been trash. This guy has forgot everything that made him successful last year. There is no way I would trust Daboll even with a new drafted QB. You know how many games Jones and Barkley bailed Daboll out in. It was Kafka calling the plays not Daboll last year. This year without the talent on the OLine Daboll and Kafka look like Amateurs. With a bad O line Daboll's coaching is garbage. Everyone else is going look the same.  The more you watch the teams Giants list to against other teams you see how poor the Giants O line is.
Everything revolves around the offensive line running, Quarterbacking, keeping the team's defensive side off the field. A good offensive line makes the teams defense better.
I'm so dissatisfied with Daboll and Schoen. This team and the scheme are so unprepared.

They inherited a 4-13 team with almost zero cap space and, since taking over, are 11-12-1, with a road playoff win and an NFL coach of the year award.

If your expectations were that a 4-13 dumpster fire of a team was going to contend for a Super Bowl in year one, then I can understand the dissatisfaction, but maybe expectations of that level were a little ambitious.

This was always going to take some time. Fans need to recall the state of the team that was handed to these guys. They're not magicians.

[Giantleap56]

They inherited a 4-13 team with almost zero cap space and, since taking over, are 11-12-1, with a road playoff win and an NFL coach of the year award.

If your expectations were that a 4-13 dumpster fire of a team was going to contend for a Super Bowl in year one, then I can understand the dissatisfaction, but maybe expectations of that level were a little ambitious.

This was always going to take some time. Fans need to recall the state of the team that was handed to these guys. They're not magicians.

So they inherited a running back coming back 100% and a Quarterback coming back 100%, two number one picks. A top tier O Line man. A decent defense. They pulled out some close games. To give them a record that might not actually reflect the team.

I have to blame Schoen and Daboll. The roster was suppose to be upgraded. What happened? Super Bowl is a reach we all know that, but this come on man. They aren't even competing. That's what has gotten me more than anything. I think that's what everyone here is concerned with. The lack of competing.