Each Thursday, the New York Giants’ three coordinators face the media to discuss the state of the team. The offense and defense are both having their issues while the teams are holding steady.
With the team going through changes at a breakneck pace and starting the season with two deflating losses, the questions aren’t getting any easier. Neither are the answers.
Offensive coordinator Mike Shula
It’s a big week for Shula and the Giants offense as they prepare for rookie Daniel Jones’ first NFL start. For months now, Shula and head coach Pat Shurmur have assured fans that Jones will be ready whenever the team decided to make the switch at quarterback from Eli Manning.
“Well, anybody that’s in that position, we expect to help us win football games,” Shula said when asked what his expectations of Jones are. “But like I said, I think more so than — don’t try to do too much, don’t think you have to make plays down the field here or there — our expectations for him are just to make the right decisions. As we’ve talked in the past, I think that position comes down to three things when you’re throwing the football: go to the right guy with the football, get the ball there on time, and get the ball there accurately. So, you’ve got to kind of stay in that world and try to block out all the other things. Now, there’s a lot of things that we train hard in the meantime to help accomplish that, but that’s what it’s going to come down to.”
Jones’ promotion puts Manning in an unusual spot as the primary backup. Shula spoke about the current dynamic in the QB room.
“I was talking about how unique our room is — it’s the same thing on the sideline. It’s a collective effort. All three of those guys are probably the smartest guys I’ve ever — and I’ve been lucky enough to be around a lot of smart quarterbacks — and I’m not so sure I’ve been around three guys that are as smart as these guys. So, it’s decisions during the course of the week on things that we’re doing on the practice field, in the meeting room, and on game day. Those guys are great and they have really good ideas moving forward, so the communication will be constant as well this week,” he said.
Defensive coordinator James Bettcher
Bruce Arians is in his first season as the Bucs’ head coach but as we all know, he’s been around the block, most recently as the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals. It was there where he hired a young and up and coming coach to be his defensive coordinator — James Bettcher.
Bettcher knows Arians’ offense and Arians his defense having gone up against each other in practice and being in the same room for several years. He did not give much insight when the angle was suggested on Wednesday.
“It’s certainly not me versus him,” said Bettcher. “He’s someone I respect more than I can probably put into words. Personally, I’m very close with him and his wife Chris and their family (is close) with my family. I owe him a ton. I do. Again, I couldn’t put it into words. But this isn’t about him or me and all that stuff. It’s about us lining up, having our eyes right, playing with good fundamentals and techniques, communicating on downs and playing fast.”
Speaking about that, it was mentioned that quarterbacks have a perfect rating when throwing in the direction of rookie cornerback Deandre Baker who is inexplicably playing too far off the line of scrimmage.
“I think as the game went on, you saw him probably challenge people more,” said Bettcher. “I think that’s what he does best. He has to just believe in what he does best and go do it. At the same time, position coaches in the room, myself as the coordinator, we have to challenge him to go do the things that he does best as well.”
Special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey
The Giants have never been a team known for big plays on special teams. Throughout history, they’ve usually been victimized and exploited by opponents. That is until Thomas McGaughey came back to be their coordinator in 2018.
These days, the Giants have some the top cover teams and kicking games in the NFL. Their one weakness is returning punts and kicks. Maybe it’s been because they haven’t found the right returner.
That search could be over now that the Giants re-signed wide receiver TJ Jones, who taking the place of Jabrill Peppers, returned a punt 60 yards against the Bills last Sunday.
“Jabrill has a lot on his plate,” McGaughey said on Wednesday when asked why he subbed Jones for Peppers. “I think just putting TJ back there relieved some pressure from Jabrill, just to have to worry about being a returner. TJ obviously has some ability and he showed that on Sunday. We just wanted to give Jabrill a break and put TJ back there with fresh legs and let him go back there and make a play and he did.”
Jones nearly broke it for a touchdown. McGaughey said he was about “one block away” from going all the way.
“We had the gunner blocked and we had him blocked so well we let him go and the gunner made the play. If we would have finished on the gunner, we would have finished in the end zone,” he said.
