Big Blue View
The New York Giants laid down a good foundation in their first preseason game against the Buffalo Bills.
Not only did they win, which is always something to feel good about, but they did a number of nice things that we haven’t really seen in recent years. But, as head coach Brian Daboll said a few times after the game, there were also things to work on.
The Giants’ win was by no means perfect, and there were a few issues that cropped up throughout the game against the Bills. Right now, improvement is the watchword in practice and the final two preseason games, so let’s look at what the Giants should concentrate on improving this week against the New York Jets.
We’ll concentrate on the starters and the top of the Giants’ depth, as they’re the most important players for the start of the season.
The Giants’ offensive line had a solid outing against the Bills overall. I can’t really criticize a unit that didn’t give up a single sack too harshly, but they certainly have things to work on.
The biggest thing that stood out on tape from the Giants’ starting blockers was maintaining leverage and sustaining blocks, and we’ll start with the first play of the game.
Left tackle James Hudson III does a pretty good job of mirroring Joey Bosa off the edge, hitting his landmark in time to get in front of him. However, he isn’t particularly aggressive or authoritative with his hands and simply “catches” Bosa instead of delivering a punch. Bosa is one of the NFL’s premier technicians off the edge and easily finds Hudson’s chest plate without having to deal with any kind of punch. For his part, Hudson is forced to try to lay his hands outside of Bosa’s framework only to have his left hand swatted away.
Hudson’s positioning is good enough that he can “lose slow” to Bosa, buying just enough time for Wilson to find Tyrone Tracy in the flat — though he’s tackled for no gain. Unfortunately, Wilson had to get the ball out to his check-down just as Wan’Dale Robinson was breaking open on the slant.
A couple plays later, RG Greg Van Roten was the culprit.
Faced with a third and long, Van Roten lunges at Bills’ DT Da’Quan Jones, straightening his legs and bending at the waist to start the play. Jones quickly gets leverage, getting under Van Roten’s pads and drives him into Wilson’s lap. Fortunately for the quarterback, John Michael Schmitz, John Runyan Jr., and Hudson did their jobs well enough to collapse the edge of the Bills’ front and create an avenue for Wilson to step up. He was able to flip the ball to Tracy, who picked up 9 yards to set up fourth down.
It also happened in the run game. The first instance was TE Theo Johnson simply being discarded at the snap by Bosa, though I do want to acknowledge that a tight end working...
