Big Blue View
He’s gonna need a bigger boat
The second best weekend of the NFL season is now over (the Divisional Round, when the chaff has already been separated from the wheat but there are still four games to watch, is the best). What lessons can the New York Giants take from the four teams who made it to the conference championship games, and from the two who made it to the Super Bowl?
Sure - find an elite quarterback. Everyone will agree on that. It’s been a long time now since the last Super Bowl champion did it without elite QB play. The Giants aren’t going far until they find one. You’re kidding yourself, though, if you think that’s enough. Ask the Rams, Packers, Texans, Chargers, and Ravens - they all have QBs Giants fans would die for and they didn’t even make it to Conference Championship weekend.
Ask the Washington Commanders and Buffalo Bills, who did make it but are now going home. They’re two different cases. I’m sure Washington fans and the Commanders organization are disappointed, but deep down they have to know that they came a long way in a single season. That’s not how it is in Buffalo, which has been knocking on the door since Josh Allen emerged as an elite QB in 2020 but can’t even make it to the Super Bowl, much less win it. They have some soul-searching to do.
Good NFL offensive and defensive coordinators will find your weakness and pick on it. The Eagles looked at the Commanders’ defense and saw this:
Adam Peters did a great job rebuilding Washington’s defensive line this year, with 4 new starters, but run defense is their soft spot. The Eagles have a great run-blocking offensive line, a great running back, and one of the best running QBs in the NFL. So Philadelphia ran the ball 36 times for 229 yards, and all seven of their TDs. Game over.
Here were the Giants’ run defense stats in 2023:
Other than Dexter Lawrence, one of the best run defenders in the NFL, A’Shawn Robinson was the only capable interior run defender left after the Leonard Williams trade, and he left in the off-season. GM Joe Schoen made no attempt to replace him, relying on low-level free agents and late-round draft picks, and the 2024 results were predictable:
It’s telling that after Lawrence was lost for the season, the four lowest run defense grades on the defensive line were all in the interior. Teams ran all over the Giants in many of their games this season.
The situation was similar of course at quarterback, where the Giants understandably went with Daniel Jones but did not sign credible backups to take over when he couldn’t take advantage of a better offensive line and a great rookie receiver. Even in the secondary, where Schoen has devoted significant draft resources, the Giants let Xavier McKinney (and Julian Love the previous year) walk but...
