As we’ve been doing for many years now, we’ll break down the Pittsburgh Steelers’ opponent each week, telling you what to expect from a scheme and individual player standpoint. Like last year, Josh Carney and I will cover the opposing team’s offense. I will focus on the scheme, Josh on the players.
Today, our scouting report on the New York Giants’ offense.
Alex’s Scheme Report
Giants’ Run Game
The Giants’ run game simply hasn’t existed this year. Granted, the talent isn’t overwhelming after losing RB Saquon Barkley to the rival Philadelphia Eagles but there’s also been a lack of trying that has put stress on a bottom-five offense.
To illustrate that point, the Giants come into the week with 110 passes and 79 rushes on first down. That’s the second-most passes of any team entering Week 8 only behind the Seattle Seahawks’ 125. Their 79 rushes are also 29th in the league. Even considering game circumstance, a 2-5 team is probably throwing a lot late in games, their passes through the first three quarters still rank second behind Seattle with 82. And their rushes are still just 27th in football.
Overall, New York is one of five teams this year to pass more than run on first down.
As for who populates the backfield, RB Devin Singletary returns after missing a few games with an injury. He came back in Week 7 but only picked up 12 snaps. On the year, he has 61 carries through five games but is managing only 3.9 yards per carry and a sub-40 percent run-success rate. Rookie Tyrone Tracy has flashed and played two-thirds of the time last week against the Philadelphia Eagles. True to form, the Giants were playing from behind, and Tracy only had six carries.
QB Daniel Jones is a run threat. In some ways, their best run threat. He is the Giants’ leader with 15 rushing first downs, two more than Tracy and three more than Singletary. Tons of designed runs for Jones, who has 50 carries this year. That’s fifth among all QBs.
Alert 2nd-and-medium draws and designed runs. Anything between 2nd and 6 and 2nd and 10. Also alert for RB fast motion to try to pull a linebacker out of the box as part of the design.
As for as the traditional running game, it’s a mixture of split zone and power. The Giants will run a lot of power/gap to the boundary on 1st/2nd and 10.
The wide receivers have a footprint in the running game too with Malik Nabers and Wan’Dale Robinson. Nabers has three carries and Robinson two. Nabers’ runs have come in a variety of moments: 1st and 10, 2nd and 5, and 4th and 1. Robinson’s come on 2nd and 10-plus.
As a team, the Giants are averaging 3.9 YPC (28th) with three rushing scores (tied-26th).
Some other stats. New York is 31st in points per game at 14.1. Only the Miami Dolphins without starting QB Tua Tagovailoa are worse entering this week. They’ve only gotten into the 20s twice this year and been held under 15 points in three of their last four, including scoring a combined 10 points their last two. However, they’re averaging a far better 22.7 points in their three road games.
The Giants are minus-two in turnover differential this year, 28th in football. They have turned it over eight times this year, about on par with the rest of the league.
Giants’ Pass Game
Despite being yanked for Drew Lock at the end of last week’s blowout loss, Daniel Jones will start against Pittsburgh. His numbers this year are poor. He’s completing just 62.5 percent of his passes (26th in football) with six touchdowns and four picks. His 51.4 QBR is 21st, his 6.0 YPA 28th, his 4.9 ANY/A 27th, and his 21 sacks entered the weekend tied for second most only behind Deshaun Watson’s 33. Nothing that looks appealing there.
However, as we wrote yesterday. Jones is a road QB. In his three road games this season, he’s thrown all six of his touchdown passes whereas he’s tossed all four of his picks at home. And the Giants are 2-1 away from their home crowd this year.
On the year, the Giants have 13 completions of 20-plus yards. That’s tied-28th in the league.
Rookie Malik Nabers is their top receiving option. Back after missing time with a concussion, he has 39 receptions for 427 yards and five touchdowns in five games. He’s been targeted 12-plus times in three of five games this year. He even threw a pass back in Week 3, an incompletion on 2nd and goal from the 3.
Because of the missed time, Nabers isn’t the leader in receptions. That goes to Wan’Dale Robinson who has 43 this season for 303 yards and two touchdowns. He’s their top option on third down with surprising production. His 16 receptions on third down tie for the NFL’s lead while his 29 targets aren’t just No. 1 outright but lead second place in the league by eight of them. However, only six of those targets have turned into first downs, showing he’s been a checkdown option and not a chain-mover. Nabers, by comparison, has 10 first downs on 13 catches, tied-second with George Pickens heading into Week 8.
The tight end isn’t a core part of their passing game though the role is increasing. Rookie Theo Johnson is athletic and has 11 receptions on the season across 390 snaps. In total, Giants tight ends have just 14 receptions this year, but Johnson had five catches three weeks ago and three two weeks ago. So a little move involvement.
Schematically, it’s a heavy dose of play-action. And in general, the Giants look to keep extra people in to protect, especially given their recent o-line injuries. That can often lead to just three going out in the pattern on third down where they commonly just run verticals. Sight adjustments on the outside with a middle route that sits at the sticks. Pretty basic stuff. And they ended in a lot of sacks.
Lots of vertical/divide routes in this playbook. Also, this Yankee concept they’ll lean on in and-long situations on second and third down.
Josh’s Individual Report
It’s Giants week, Steelers fans!
And with that comes another primetime matchup for the Black and Gold, this time on Monday Night Football.
On paper, things look very favorable for the Pittsburgh Steelers against the New York Giants’ offense, and I do mean VERY favorable.
Daniel Jones remains the quarterback for the Giants and has been rather poor on the season. He’s completing 62.5% of his passes and has thrown for 1,442 yards with six touchdowns and four interceptions. He’s been a real mess and was even benched against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 7 in the Giants’ 28-3 blowout loss, though he does remain the starter.
Things are going sideways — and fast — for the Giants offensively, which is disappointing for them because they have some pieces in place. But they can’t really go anywhere with Jones, who takes a bunch of sacks, struggles with ball security and just makes some head-scratching decisions.
The Giants need to lean on the two-headed tandem at running back that is really intriguing in Devin Singletary and rookie Tyrone Tracy Jr.
Singletary was one of the more interesting offseason additions in the NFL as the Giants snatched him up in free agency after making the shocking decision to let Saquon Barkley leave.
Since joining the Giants, Singletary has been rather good, rushing for 239 yards and two touchdowns on the season. He’s averaging just 3.9 yards on 61 carries, but he’s been a steady, effective running back.
Singletary brings good juice to the table, has good vision, is an elusive back and has surprising power for a player his size. He can quietly wear down defenses.
With Tracy, the Giants might have a gem. The former college wide receiver turned running back has emerged in recent weeks, which just so happens to be in line with Singletary being banged up. Tracy has rushed for 231 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 4.4 yards on 53 carries.
Just two weeks ago Tracy rushed for 129 yards against the Seattle Seahawks in a game that Singletary missed.
Both are very intriguing running backs who can makes plays as runners or receivers and really give the Giants’ offense answers in big spots.
The star of the offense, though, is rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers.
The Giants landed Nabers at No. 6 overall in the 2024 NFL Draft and he’s been so good early on. He has 39 receptions for 427 yards and three touchdowns, all while seeing 60 targets on the season, That is 20 more than the next closest weapon for the Giants.
Nabers can win deep, he can jump out of the gym, has insane body control and is an impressive route runner who can leave cornerbacks grasping at air on routes.
He just doesn’t have the quarterback in place to get him the ball consistently, which has to be frustrating for him. But when the ball is there, he’s going to make plays.
Along with Nabers, the Giants lean on Wan’Dale Robinson in the slot in the passing game. Robinson has taken a step forward this season, becoming a reliable pass catcher over the middle.
He’s a shifty route runner and is tough after the catch. He lives in the middle of the field. Though he won’t have many explosive plays, he’ll papercut you to death in the passing game if given the opportunity.
Darius Slayton is the other weapon to worry about. Very underrated piece for the Giants who really stepped up his game when Nabers was injured.
Slayton can win deep, creates plenty of separation as an underrated route runner and has really taken off in recent years. Slayton has 25 receptions for 312 yards and one touchdown on the season.
Jalin Hyatt was supposed to be the big-play threat, one who can take the top off of defenses, but he has just six targets on the season with one reception for eight yards. A really discouraging performance from a guy many were high on coming out of Tennessee.
At tight end, the Giants have some solid pieces in Daniel Bellinger and rookie Theo Johnson.
Bellinger is more of the blocking tight end right now, and he performs well there. In the passing game, he’s made plays in the past, but this season he has just three targets in seven games. I expect him to be kept in quite a bit against the Steelers to give some help in pass protection.
Johnson is starting to come along as that playmaking tight end. He has 16 receptions for 115 yards and is starting to get more and more work overall. He’s had some success off play-action where he’s been able to leak out and get down the field for explosive plays.
Outside of Jones, the offensive line is the biggest concern for the Giants. They are very banged up in the trenches and are already down left tackle Andrew Thomas. Now, they might be without right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor on Monday. Yikes.
Here’s how I expect them to line up left to right on Monday night.
LT — Joshua Ezeudu
LG — Jon Runyan
C — John Michael Schmitz
RG — Greg Van Roten
RT — Evan Neal/Jermaine Eluemunor
I’ll say it again: yikes.
Ezeudu and Neal against Alex Highsmith and T.J. Watt is nightmare fuel for Giants fans. Good luck.
On the interior, Runyan is a solid player, but he’s had issues since coming over in free agency from his time in Green Bay. Schmitz has struggled in his first two years and hasn’t lived up to his billing coming out of college, and Van Roten is a journeyman who has his ups and downs.
On special teams, the Giants are going to be without punter Jamie Gillan again, which means they’ll have to lean on veteran Matt Haack. Haack is a steady punter, but he doesn’t have Gillan’s leg.
However, Haack has a better net punting average than Gillan does, so the Giants might function better in punt coverage with Haack than Gillan.
Kicker Graham Gano is on Injured Reserve, so the Giants have been calling on Greg Joseph to get the job done in the kicking game. He’s struggled, connecting on just 9-of-12 field goals, and is just 2-of-5 from 40-49 yards on the season.
In the return game, backup running back Eric Gray handles the kickoff-return duties. He has a long of 31 yards on the season but hasn’t come close to breaking one. At punt returner, Ihmir Smith-Marsette has 12 returns on the season for 83 yards, averaging 6.9 yards.
He does have a 22-yard punt return on the season, though, so he’s one to be worried about.
