Franchise left sort out Andrew Thomas mentioned in his first interview since season-ending foot surgical procedure in October that the Giants’ lack of explosive performs is one apparent cause why their offense hasn’t scored the previous two seasons.
“I would say it starts up front always,” Thomas mentioned simply earlier than Christmas. “I think protection and being able to open up run lanes and for the quarterback. And the biggest thing I would say the past few years is explosive plays.
“I talked to [O-line coach] Carm[en Bricillo] the other day, I think we lead the league in 17-play drives, we have long sustaining drives,” Thomas mentioned. “But in this league it’s hard to do that consistently. We don’t have enough explosive plays. I would say that’s one thing we could improve on.”
The truth that the Giants’ coaches are promoting stats about sustained drives to their gamers as a optimistic is admittedly one thing. The gamers know: huge performs put factors on the board.
And the Giants offense entered Week 16’s sport at Atlanta with the fewest quantity of 20-yard completions (26) within the NFL whereas tied for the fewest quantity of 40-yard completions (two). They had been center of the pack with 11 rushes of 20-plus yards and two rushes of 40-plus yards.
So is the Giants’ downside that they’re not calling sufficient explosive performs or the gamers aren’t executing them effectively sufficient?
“I think it’s a little bit of both,” mentioned Thomas, who wore a boot on his proper foot. “When coaches call plays, it’s based off of trust. So if we’re not executing or protecting the right way or if we’re not getting checks the right way, it makes it hard. Then on 1st and 10 you call a deep ball and now you’re second and 10 if you don’t convert. And that’s very hard to overcome.”
“So I think if we continue to build the continuity of the offensive line, and figure out what we’re doing at the quarterback position,” Thomas continued, “because we have injuries and we have trades and all these different things. Once we get on the same page, I think we can do something special.”
Thomas, 25, can solely do one thing particular with the Giants if he stays on the sphere.
The Lisfranc damage to his proper foot throughout an Oct. 13 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals ended his season and marked a second straight 12 months marred by main accidents.
He performed in solely 10 video games in 2023 as a result of an early season hamstring damage that he aggravated by returning too early to observe.
So he may have performed in solely 16 of a attainable 34 video games the previous two years since signing a five-year, $117.5 million contract extension with the workforce in July 2023.
And that’s on high of left ankle points that required two surgical procedures early in his profession earlier than he obtained a problem correctly cleaned up there.
“It’s frustrating,” mentioned Thomas, who mentioned he might be out of the boot by the primary week of January. “Obviously I want to be out there and help my team. I’m a big part of this team and when I’m not out there, it hurts. But all I can do is prepare every day and do everything I can to get back and hopefully turn this thing around.”
Thomas mentioned docs advised him “it’s about a five-month recovery” from the time of his mid-October surgical procedure, which implies he might be able to do some subject work in March as soon as OTAs start.
Nonetheless, Thomas mentioned “I’ve dealt with foot surgeries before” and “the biggest thing is not rushing.” So he’s going to take it at no matter pace has him able to play video games come the autumn.
In fact by then, Thomas might be defending a unique quarterback.
Whereas he was out and injured, Daniel Jones obtained shut down by Joe Schoen and Brian Daboll and the Giants after which requested his launch. Now he’s on the Minnesota Vikings.
“It’s the nature of the business. That’s my guy. I love DJ, one of my favorite teammates I’ve had,” Thomas mentioned. “But that’s the nature of the business. Wish the best for him in his future endeavors, and that’s all I got on that.”
As for the Giants’ sorry state and future outlook, Thomas mentioned: “It’s gonna take some time, but I think we’ll get there.”
