How The New York Giants Can Become A Winning Team

There are a few things Ben McAdoo and his staff can do in order to make the New York Giants a winning team the rest of the way.

With high expectations having been escalated from a quality training camp, the Giants got their season off on the right step, winning their first two games. The team then fell off a cliff, losing their next three games.

With a 2-3 record sitting at the bottom of the NFC East, the Giants need to take a good hard look at their roster in order to go from the bottom to the top.

Here’s our formula for how that can be done:

Offense

It is no surprise that the offensive line has struggled.

Justin Pugh and Weston Richburg are two elite offensive linemen in this league. However, when you surround these two players with guys by the names of Ereck Flowers and a mixture of Bobby Hart and Marshall Newhouse, the talent on the inside of the offensive line gets completely depleted.

Now, it doesn’t take a mastermind to figure out where the Giants’ offensive struggles are stemming from. When Eli Manning, a two-time super bowl winning MVP quarterback (had to mention it), is in the pocket and has no time to utilize his elite receiving options, it is clear that the offensive line is the cause of this catastrophe.

The Giants are just so stubborn in keeping Flowers as the left tackle so much so that they are struggling because of it. And not just struggling, Flowers being the left tackle is a key factor in what has held this offense back. Now, it is not fair to solely blame Flowers for the offensive struggles. Opposite Flowers, whether it be Hart or Newhouse occupying the right tackle position, it is a recipe for disaster. Both of these two players have proven that they are not capable of protecting Manning.

The question is clear: what can the Giants possibly do to fix their disastrous offensive line? The answer is simple.

Ereck Flowers is a right tackle. The Giants don’t want to admit it, but they must do exactly that if they want to unleash the full potential of what could and should be a deadly offense. Whether they want to test Will Beatty at the left tackle spot or not, it is likely that trading for or signing a qualified left tackle would be the right move. And hey, Joe Thomas is supposedly on the trading block in Cleveland.

Regardless of whether the Giants want to make a trade for the all-pro left tackle, which they should, moving Flowers to right tackle to eliminate Hart and Newhouse from the starting lineup is the way to go. Plus, Flowers will benefit tremendously from this move as he is a natural right tackle. So to wrap up what could simply boost this Giants offense from bad to rad, the Giants must move Ereck Flowers to right tackle and potentially trade for a proven left tackle.

Defense

The Giants invested an unimaginable amount of money into their defense this offseason, specifically, the defensive line. After watching the Giants fall to the Packers, John Mara has to be wondering what Reese was possibly thinking giving the amount of money that he did to a group of guys who can’t get to the quarterback.

Olivier Vernon, at this rate, should be sending the Giants weekly payments of $1M per week since that is about what he is making this football season. On the other hand, or half a hand in this case, Jason Pierre-Paul has been excellent at stopping the run, but like his buddy Vernon, he has been a non-factor in the pass rush. It is great that Vernon and Pierre-Paul have excelled at stopping the run, but the fact of the matter is that they were not signed to solely stop the run, they were signed to the create some type of pass rush, which they have quite honestly failed at doing.

On the inside of that wealthy Giants’ defensive line, you have 650 pounds of defensive tackle in Damon “Snacks” Harrison and Jonathan Hankins. These two aren’t expected to have all that much of an impact in the pass rush, but with Vernon and Pierre-Paul giving the Giants nothing, you’d have to hope these guys can do something in terms of the getting to the quarterback. Anyhow, the concern doesn’t primarily lie on the defensive line as a unit; the concern lies on defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

Before I get into Spagnuolo’s failures thus far, you have to give credit where it is due, and the cornerbacks deserve credit.

Janoris Jenkins has been an absolute stud. He intercepted Aaron Rodgers twice last game, and had an incredible play breaking up a potential touchdown. Jenkins single-handedly kept the Giants in the game against the Packers, so it is fair to say he is earning his money.

Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie has definitely gotten worse from last year’s pro bowl season, but with him accepting and embracing his new role as the Giants’ nickel cornerback, he is as valuable as anyone on defense. Once you throw in the first round pick, Eli Apple, you have a great group of starting cornerbacks. Though Apple has had trouble staying healthy, he has been very solid, to say the least, when he has been on the field.

Then you add guys like Leon Hall, Trevin Wade, and newly acquired cornerback Coty Sensaaugh, and you may just have the deepest group of cornerbacks in the NFL. Now, as good as these guys have been, when the defensive line is allowing an opposing quarterback to stand in the pocket for seven-plus seconds, it makes it nearly impossible for the cornerbacks to cover the opposing receivers, understandably so.

So not only does the defensive line’s inability to get to the quarterback have a direct impact on the defensive line itself, but it also has an indirect impact on the cornerbacks being able to cover receivers.

When you have all of these complicated issues on defense, you have to look at the defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo, as per where to place the blame. Spags has had quite a tenure with the Giants winning Super Bowl XLII, then leaving the Giants, and recently returning as the defensive coordinator. Spags is known for his unique blitz packages … so where are they? It is evident that rushing four guys on the defensive line isn’t working, so why hasn’t he tried to incorporate guys like Landon Collins or Jonathan Casillas into the pass rush?

The bottom-line is that Spags has been given a tremendous amount of talent on defense, and if he doesn’t figure out how to utilize it, he will likely find himself without a job by the end of the season as the Giants will not tolerate another defensive embarrassment like they witnessed last season.

The Conclusion

So as bad as you think the Giants may look this season, their problems truly stem from very specific components.

Ereck Flowers needs to be moved to right tackle and replaced with a proven left tackle. This will not only benefit the running game, but it will also allow Manning to gain his comfortability in the pocket back, which he has clearly lost.

On defense, Steve Spagnuolo has been given so much talent, now he just has to figure out the best way to use it.

It has only been five games, and the Giants are slightly below .500, but the positive to take away from this slow start is that once these few issues are fixed, the Giants have the potential to be a special team.