The path to the postseason for the Giants

[Jclayton92]

Minnesota will definitely be an interesting test week 1. Flores sends people almost as frequently as wink did. Will likely do a breakdown of every defense and offense we see this season but yeah Minnesota will definitely test our line with blitzers and stunts a plenty.

[kartanoman]

It seems that the Giants generally went 0-4 against them & both of these teams generally win
3-4 division games locked in virtually every year. I'm not so sure it repeats this year. 

Do you think the win against Philly means anything given they wanted the game and we had nothing to play for and we beat their starters pretty badly?  Does that tell you anything at all?

A meaningless end of season win at Philly means nothing. To even suggest the Giants can beat Dallas or Philly is not a good starting position. You have provided the numbers (i.e. 1-3 last year, 0-4 in 2022, 1-3 in 2021) which clearly illustrates the Cowboys and Eagles have completely dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage.

The Giants MUST demonstrate they have closed the gap with these two nemeses through player acquisitions, improved game planning and far better execution in their matchups.

They also play the AFC North which is a hard-nosed division. Tough, physical football is the name of the game with those guys so will they be able to flex their muscle and stand toe to toe with them?

The NFC South is a division the Giants traditionally struggle with. New Orleans has always been a pain in their side. Tampa, from time to time, provides them fits, Carolina always seems to play hard against them. Atlanta, at least the current group, is a bit of a mystery since they haven't played in a while and their roster has completely turned over since they last met.

The other games, Minnesota season home opener, Indy at home and Seattle on the road, are all challenging matchups. It's the 6th hardest strength of schedule in the NFL this year and any chance for success will be predicated on:

1. Verification the O-Line is fixed or, at a minimum, repaired

2. The Giants have closed the gap between them and their division rivals

3. Injuries to key starters do not derail the season

If all three items above can work to their advantage, and seeing the players work hard for Coach Daboll, they can definitely become a Wild Card team. If lady luck gets thrown into the pot, and players begin to play to or above their expectations, THEN maybe we can talk about what could become something special this season.

But one game at a time. I'll start with wait and see and let the chips fall where they may.

Peace!

[T200]

My top two are offensive line and coaching.

The offensive line improvement is key to how this season will go. But the key behind the key is the coaching staff. They need to understand their players' strengths and weaknesses, and design plays/calls to minimize/hide their deficiencies and highlight what they are good at.

I'm putting a ton of faith in Bricillo and Daboll to get this offense going in the right direction.

[katkavage]

The Giants might steal one game from between Dallas and Philly but that might be negated by a loss against improved Washington. If Daniels is the real deal the Giants are in trouble until they find their guy.

[spiderblue43]

The schedule to start is more forgiving-that helps-but the OL must gel into a reasonable unit or this could go south right away.

I don't expect playoffs because the Giants don't have the quality depth of better teams and always, always are one of the most injured ones.

Hope is not a strategy for our heroes, but they may have better fortune than usual. I'm predicting 7-10..8-9..but will that save Daboll? I do believe the brass wants continuity, so that might be too close to call

9-8 will do it   

[BluesCruz]

I guess pessimism is like a protective cloak but has no place in pre-season

We did beat the eagles, and the game did matter to them.  Kielce for one was extremely angry as I remember

We have a lot of good elements to this current roster.  The coach looks like a new man and has intimated he will do more play calling this year

Jones is not elite but he has two solid back-ups and hopefully that pressure will bring out the best of him.  No reason to hold back now.  He has his money and his job is certainly not guaranteed beyond this coming season

We finally might get the RB by committee that other NFL teams enjoy for the most part

Lets give this new DC his chance.  Perhaps Wink lived and died too much with the blitz. When they know its coming they can counter it more easily.

The defensive roster looks loaded.  The WRs the best in a long while

IT would not suprise me if this team wins 11 games, and if Philly and Dallas begin to fade a bit

With 4 suprise Lombardi's in our trophy room.....another would not phase anyone.  Its what we do.
I've never seen the Giants go off at better than 15-1 or worse to win a SB.  Its not in our DNA to build a regular season powerhouse

The Oline as always is suspect, but who knows.  Perhaps this new group will get it together

Go Giants

[spiderblue43]

Blues Cruz

The Eagles had Kelce and Hurts out of the game before half, etc. Swift, Adams and Cox didn't play at all. AJ left after the first quarter. Dallas was already routing the Coms...they quit...and were listless from the start.

It only meant the Giants lost more draft positioning. Let's see them beat the Birds when it truly matters. Then I will give them applause.

[coggs]

Going back to 1993, most of the years they were good I expected them to be bad or mediocre at best.  Only exceptions were probably 2002, 2008 where I expected them to be good and they came through.  So, playing the percentages based on past experiences and historical data.  I expect them to be lousy this year, so hoping they have a decent season to continue the trend.

[LennG]

My base case for the Giants is that they'll be similar to last season, perhaps a little bit better. I expect them to be somewhere in the 6 to 8 win range, falling short of the playoffs again.

However, I acknowledge there are multiple ways I could be wrong about the 6 to 8 win range. They could be worse than that, or they could be better. I think that goes without saying.

Here is what I think has to happen for them to be better than 8 wins and to have a realistic shot of making the playoffs:


QB play:

-Jones shows no obvious signs of lingering issues with his knee and is at least 90-95% healthy.

-Jones gets off to a solid start against two weak defenses to start the year, building confidence in the process, and has a solid season, similar to 2022 but with more chunk plays and better red zone play than 2022. This leads to more passing yards and more passing touchdowns than 2022 but with similar (or better) efficiency numbers. Something like 3700/21/9 with a 94 rating and solid rushing production.


O line:

-O line goes from being a bad O line to a middling/functional O line. This happens due to an improved season from Schmitz and at least two of the three main veteran additions (Stinnie, Eleumenor, and Runyan) being clear upgrades to what we had last year. Neal is a wildcard at best, but a better season from him (at any position) would also help. Thomas will also need to stay healthy all year or the vast majority of it and play at his peak capacity.


Offensive skill positions:

-Nabers shows elite talent right from the jump and puts together an impressive rookie season. 1000 yards and 7 TDs or something in that zone. At least one of Wan'Dale and Hyatt steps up in a material way. Slayton/McKenzie/Robinson all contribute as depth guys.

-The running game is serviceable, with Singletary having a solid season and Tracey flashing at times. While the running game won't dazzle, improved line play means it can still get the requisite 3-4 yard runs when they need them and can function well in the passing game.

-We got solid TE play all year, either with one of Bellinger/Johnson materially stepping up or both of them simply being solid players.


Defensive front:

This is clearly the best part of our team. They play like an elite front four all year and stay healthy. Thibodeaux and Burns combine to be a top notch edge rush tandem all season.


Secondary:

Banks takes a big step forward in his second year and proves to be our legit boundary CB1 moving forward. Safety play is solid despite the loss of McKinney. CB2 play is serviceable enough to not be a devastating liability. Slot CB play, where we are fairly deep, is solid for much of the year.


Specials:

This goes from being an area of weakness to a much improved unit and possible area of strength with better coaching and some roster upgrades.


Coaching:

Our coaching staff functions cohesively all year, with no drama and in-fighting, and Daboll focuses more on offensive playcalling with Bowen left to run the defense, with which he does a solid job in his first season as DC.


I am not predicting all of these things will happen, obviously. Nor am I saying every single one needs to happen for us to win 9-plus games. But broadly speaking this is what I think the 2024 Giants season will somewhat look like in the event that we do surprise and make the playoffs.


Which of the above scenarios do you see as realistic, and which seem more like long shots or pipe dreams to you?

On offense, the entire thing rests with the OL and if Jones can live up to his salary. He has the weapons that everyone has knocked his career about. If he can right himself and the Ol can just hold their own, we could win.

On defense, and I will keep saying this, the key is Simmons. He CAN be a FORCE on defense if they can use him correctly. On paper, he could be the defense's best player, but no one really knows how to use him to make him the player many thought he would be coming out of college. Our DL is still good, our LBers, with a good Simmons, could be our strength and they could help our defensive backfield. To me, Simmons is the key to this entire defense.