The Giants have an entirely new coaching staff, and I wonder if they’re going to pass more. They’ve gotten a little pass happy in recent years. With Saquon Barkley at their disposal, I wonder what they would look like if they made more of a commitment to the running game.
With both Ben McAdoo and Pat Shurmur, New York tend to throw it a lot. Since 2017, they have passed the ball on over 63 percent of their plays. That’s the most in the league. And they’re the only team in the league that’s ranked in the top 5 in this metric three years in a row.
(Atlanta was the most pass-heavy team last year, followed by the Dolphins and then the Giants.)
| PERCENTAGE OF PASS PLAYS (last 3 years) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | '17 | '18 | '19 | Pct |
| NY Giants | 4 | 5 | 3 | 63.4% |
| Atlanta | 21 | 3 | 1 | 63.0% |
| Green Bay | 8 | 1 | 17 | 62.9% |
| Miami | 1 | 21 | 2 | 62.7% |
| Tampa Bay | 3 | 6 | 7 | 62.6% |
| Cincinnati | 11 | 8 | 5 | 61.5% |
| Pittsburgh | 15 | 2 | 22 | 61.4% |
| Detroit | 2 | 14 | 13 | 61.1% |
| Arizona | 7 | 13 | 12 | 60.8% |
| Kansas City | 14 | 11 | 10 | 60.5% |
| Cleveland | 5 | 15 | 18 | 60.5% |
| LA Chargers | 13 | 19 | 6 | 60.0% |
| Oakland | 9 | 12 | 25 | 59.3% |
| Philadelphia | 22 | 9 | 20 | 58.8% |
| Washington | 12 | 22 | 16 | 58.7% |
| Denver | 17 | 10 | 24 | 58.6% |
| Carolina | 29 | 16 | 4 | 58.5% |
| NY Jets | 18 | 20 | 15 | 58.1% |
| LA Rams | 26 | 24 | 8 | 57.8% |
| New England | 16 | 25 | 19 | 57.6% |
| Jacksonville | 32 | 17 | 9 | 57.1% |
| Indianapolis | 25 | 7 | 28 | 56.8% |
| San Francisco | 6 | 18 | 31 | 56.8% |
| Chicago | 24 | 27 | 11 | 56.7% |
| New Orleans | 23 | 29 | 14 | 56.3% |
| Houston | 19 | 26 | 23 | 56.1% |
| Minnesota | 28 | 4 | 30 | 55.9% |
| Dallas | 30 | 23 | 21 | 55.8% |
| Seattle | 10 | 32 | 27 | 53.5% |
| Buffalo | 31 | 28 | 26 | 53.2% |
| Tennessee | 27 | 31 | 29 | 53.1% |
| Baltimore | 20 | 30 | 32 | 50.7% |
I don’t know much about their new coach, Joe Judge. He sounds like an old-school guy. But he was a special teams coach with the Patriots.
To help out, the Giants have hired two of the most maligned coaches from last year – Jason Garrett and Freddie Kitches (both head coaches who were fired).
—Ian Allan