There are ways to help Saquon Barkley be even more productive"

Eli Manning. Daniel Jones. Alex Tanney. Whoever is at quarterback probably isn’t going to change the fact the New York Giants want to run the ball.In 2018 Lorenzo Carter Jerseys 2019 , the Giants ended the season as one of the most pass-heavy offenses in the league — 64 percent pass, which was the fifth-highest rate in the league per Sharp Football Stats — but that wasn’t for a lack of trying to establish the run. On first-and-10 plays in the first half before games got out of control, the Giants were just 47 percent pass, the seventh-lowest rate in the league during those situations.It can — and should — be argued the Giants were forced to be pass-heavy overall because of the commitment to the run on early downs, but it’s unlikely the team will scale back those attempts in the upcoming season given the way the roster has been constructed — even if limiting the number of runs would ideally be the best option. So what the Giants can focus on is what could lead to a more consistently productive run game. Last season, the Giants averaged 0.00 Expected Points Added per rush attempt, which ranked 12th per Sports Info Solutions (the average NFL run was minus-0.03 EPA/att in 2018), but just 30th in positive play rate (38 percent), which measures the percentage of plays that result in positive EPA. That meshes with what was expected of the run game — a lot of big plays with iffy play-to-play consistency. So let’s look at what the Giants could potentially do to improve in those areas.Stick to the zoneZone blocking is the preferred blocking scheme across the NFL for running plays — every team in the league used zone blocking on more than 50 percent of its runs, per SIS. That was especially true for the Giants who used it on 83.9 percent of their rushing attempts, second only to the Los Angeles Rams (86.9 percent).The Giants were also second to the Rams in EPA per attempt on such runs — 0.06 to 0.03. Those numbers weren’t just good across the league in 2018, they’re among the best since Sports Info Solutions began tracking data in 2015. The Giants (blue dot below) are tied with the 2016 Dallas Cowboys for the third-best EPA/att during that time period, however, the 40 percent positive play rate is just slightly above average for this sample.But there was a problem: any time the Giants didn’t use zone blocking. On those attempts, the Giants averaged minus-0.16 EPA/attempt (third-worst) with a positive play rate of just 28 percent (worst). The Minnesota Vikings had the next worst positive play rate at 34 percent.Man blocking asks linemen to block a specific defender and asks the running back to hit a specific gap. There’s a small margin for error. On the contrary, zone blocking gives the benefit of the offensive linemen blocking to an area with the intent of creating holes in the defense and allowing the running back to read those holes to make his cut. For a running back like Saquon Barkley, who is patient behind the line and has good vision, it allows him to process and decide on the best path. It’s something he became more comfortable with as the season went on after leaving some yards on the field earlier in the year.Do the opposite near the goal lineThe advantages of gaps and decision making flip the closer a team gets to the end zone. With space condensed, there’s no longer a benefit to being patient and allowing the running back to pick his spot. It’s better for offensive linemen to win as early as possible to knock defenders back with a clear hole presented for the running back.There were 32 zone runs for the Giants inside the 10-yard line last season White B.J. Hill Jerseys , the fourth-most total attempts in the league. But unlike the success the Giants had overall, those runs were worth minus-0.03 EPA/attempt with a 43 percent positive play rate, which ranked 27th. Despite only three teams with more attempts, 13 had more rushing touchdowns.Let Will Hernandez pull moreIf there was a bright spot on the offensive line last season, it was the development of Will Hernandez. Hernandez has already turned into an above average guard overall and one place the Giants should take more advantage of his skill and athleticism would be by letting him pull more.Last year Barkley had 12 rushing attempts to the right behind a backside puller. Those runs were worth 0.29 EPA/att with a 50 percent positive play rate. For comparison, Barkley ran just five times behind a backside puller to the left and averaged minus-0.54 EPA/att with a 20 percent positive play rate.This run against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 6 highlights Hernandez’s ability to lead on a pull and open up a hole for a big Barkley gain — with an assist from Sterling Shepard.With an improved right side of the line, the Giants should also have an upgrade on the other blockers leading the way to that side of the field.Manipulate the boxRecent studies on the run game have shown two things: offensive personnel controls the number of defenders in the box and the number of defenders in the box greatly influences a running back’s yards per carry — these were brought up in a piece on the running game before the 2018 season. What that means is teams can do a relatively good job of controlling the defenses they will face, at least near the line of scrimmage.No team did a worse job controlling that aspect than the Giants, who only ran 65.8 percent of their rushing attempts against boxes of seven or fewer defenders. The league average was 76.9 percent.It’s not about defenders prepping for the frequency of the run. Seattle, the league’s most run-heavy team, saw the fifth-highest rate of light boxes. It’s also not about the running back. The Rams were fourth, the Chiefs were sixth, the Cowboys were 12th, and the Saints were 14th.This rate got even worse over the final four games of the regular season without Odell Beckham on the field. The Giants ran just 57.7 percent of their attempts against boxes of seven or fewer defenders, the lowest rate in the league during that span.Sometimes watching Barkley’s highlight runs, it can be easy to think this doesn’t matter when he’s breaking through tackles and running past everyone. But just because Barkley can do that doesn’t mean he should have to. Opening up space for Barkley would only make him more dangerous. That can be done by using and running from lighter personnel and condensing the splits of the wide receivers. Only 38 percent of the Giants’ rushing attempts came from 11 personnel (one running back, one tight end, three wide receivers) last season, the third-lowest rate in the league per Sharp Football Stats.It’s not like the Giants were avoiding 11 personnel altogether since 69 percent of their passes came from that personnel grouping. And while that was below the league average of 74 percent last season B.J. Hill Jerseys 2019 , it’s still a significant majority of the team’s passing attempts.The Los Angeles Rams have mastered the ability to manipulate the box count while still having a blocking advantage. Take the below play against the Detroit Lions. The Rams are in 11 personnel, which brings a big enough threat of the pass that the defensive backs have to play back on 1st and 10. But the alignment of the receivers and tight ends — all within the numbers — creates the necessary angles for the skill position players to quickly block and open holes and give Todd Gurley his first defender to make miss five yards past the line of scrimmage.Game-script willing, the Giants are going to try to run the ball, even if that isn’t the ideal option in the modern NFL. But since that is the strategy the Giants appear to pursue, they might as well try to make that part of the game as efficient and productive as possible. There are a number of small changes the Giants could make in return for massive improvements in the effectiveness on the ground. How many changes they make and the effort they put into the smaller details of the run game could be one of the biggest keys of how successful this offense will be in 2019.Giants might be on the right path, but it better lead to winning — soon Is the glass half empty or half full for the 0-1 New York Giants? Well, that depends on whether you are the type of person who prefers to take the optimistic view or the pessimistic one.The Giants are preferring to be optimistic. They are preferring to believe that the Jaguars, who fell one good half of football short of reaching the Super Bowl last season, everything they could handle. That there were things in the loss they could build on.“I was encouraged by the way that we fought against one of the better teams in the league,” Odell Beckham Jr. said this week. “Unfortunately, we lost, but if you look at it, the game could’ve went either which way. We just didn’t make more plays than they made. I think we’re optimistic about it.”“I’ve been involved in a lot of first games of the season – won about half of them, and lost about half of them. You just move forward,” head coach Pat Shurmur said.“I think the mindset is keep working, keep grinding. The way you look at it, it’s the first game of the season with a new coach, new players, new schemes. Not everything is going to be perfect. There’s some good things White Kyle Lauletta Jerseys ,” quarterback Eli Manning said. “Obviously, a lot we’re cleaning up as well. We just got to play better ball. We got to make some plays here and there, clean some things up, get on the same page with how we’re doing things. So, I think each week we’re going to learn a lot. We’re going to learn how to clean up this offense, how to clean up the mistakes that were made, and we’ll get better. There’s enough good things to build off, and know we can go out there and play better football.”Shurmur has said a number of times that he likes the path the Giants are on. I have expressed the belief many times that the Giants as a team and an organization are in a far better place than they were a year. Maybe even two, three, four years ago.I still believe those things to be true.You don’t, however, get points for being on a good path. Or in a better place. You get points for winning. Period.Bottom line last week was that the Giants let a winnable game, one that was in their grasp with just a couple more plays or a couple less bone-headed mistakes, slip away. You don’t get those opportunities back, and with only 16 such opportunities in an NFL season each one that goes by is damaging.The Giants, with their decision to forsake the long-term future and go all-in on the present with Eli Manning, chose the path of winning. Now. Once again, being on a good path or in a better place is nice.The Giants, though Kyle Lauletta Jerseys 2019 , have to win. To justify the path they took, trying to win in the short term with Manning, they actually have to win in the short term with Manning. Maybe not Super Bowl titles. I have said multiple times, though, that forsaking the future for the present means the present needs to be successful. If the Giants miss the playoffs, I don’t know how you term that successful.One loss, of course, doesn’t doom the Giants to missing the playoffs. Two to start the season? That won’t eliminate them, but only 10 of 91 0-2 teams since 2007 have made the playoffs.The Giants can talk around it all they want. They need, however, to win on Sunday night.“We plan to come out and win. That’s always the goal is to win. I hate losing, anything. Whether it’s cards against Shep over there, (RB Jonathan Stewart) Stew, I don’t like losing,” Beckham said. “I need that [winning feeling]. There’s no feeling like winning. Just the overall feeling of everybody in the locker room and knowing we did what we had to do. We’ll live on this moment for a little bit. Cool, and then get back to work. Everybody here wants to win, and we know the importance of this game. We know you don’t want to get 0-2, and start the season off that way, even though it is a long season. You just want to start fast and finish fast White Evan Engram Jerseys , and finish strong, too.”His teammates need that winning feeling, too. Soon. Or this is going to be just another also-ran season for the Giants.Which brings me to Manning.Pat Traina on Friday called the idea “ludicrous” that there is already an argument being pushed that the Giants would be better off if Sam Darnold was their starting quarterback right now instead of Manning. She also mentioned that I was planning on getting to this topic myself. Which is true, and what I’m doing right now.Look, Darnold played really well in his victorious NFL debut while Manning and the Giants left some points on the table in a season-opening loss. To argue after one game, though, that Darnold would give the Giants the better chance to win in 2018 is just silliness.Remember, I’m viewing this through the lens of a guy who beat the drum for Darnold for months prior to the draft. He was, in my view, clearly the best quarterback in the draft and despite my belief in Manning the guy I would have taken at No. 2.I get what the Giants did, though, and why they did it. They have Manning under contract this year and next, and they think he can still play. The best way to support him was to upgrade the talent around him, not use their No. 2 pick on a guy who would eventually take over for him.Darnold, if Monday night was an indication, could be a really good NFL quarterback for a decade or more after Manning is done playing. It may well be that the Giants made the wrong long-term decision. We’ll find out down the road. Did they make the wrong short-term one? One game is hardly enough evidence to make that decision.