Repeated Mistakes Continue to Haunt New York Giants

The New York Giants will limp—literally and figuratively—into their bye week with a 3-4 record and perhaps a lot of unanswered questions about what’s gone wrong so far in a season that saw them win three in a row (albeit to teams that currently have a combined record of 7-13).

Allow us to help jump-start that self-scouting process.

The biggest problem with not only the 2014 team but with Giants teams going back to 2012 has been an inability and/or unwillingness to admit to having certain weaknesses and resolving those weaknesses the right way.

That stubbornness is at the core of what is currently wrong with this team. Let’s look at a few examples.

The Big Play

The Giants defense is being beaten practically every week by the big play, and the scary thing is that there doesn’t seem to be an answer in sight. 

Let’s start with surrendering runs of 10 or more yards. New York has allowed 21 such plays to opponents, nine of which have come in its last two games.

Even more alarming is that the once-stout run defense exited New York's Week 7 contest against Dallas ranked 20th in the league in that category. The Giants have allowed four opponents this season to rush for 100 or more yards, including their last two opponents, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Cowboys. They lost both games.

To put those numbers into perspective, the two-week rushing yardage total from the losses to the Eagles and Cowboys represents a whopping 42 percent of the rushing yardage allowed by the Giants run defense on the season.

The pass defense hasn’t been that much better. According to the official game book, seven of the Cowboys’ longest plays from scrimmage were pass plays of 15 or more yards.

That number boosts the Giants’ total big-pass plays allowed for the season to 25, with 11 of those plays coming in the last two games.

Why are these big plays happening? Part of it is scheme, such as defensive coordinator Perry Fewell’s fondness for zone defenses, which often times result in the blown coverages that seem to pop up with alarming regularity.

Mistakes, Lack of Discipline

Whether it’s a missed tackle—per data compiled from Pro Football Focus (subscription required), the Giants are averaging a little more than five missed tackles per game—a penalty on offense that turns short yardage into long yardage or an ill-timed turnover, the litany of mental mistakes that continue to set this Giants team back is alarming.

Let’s focus on the penalties, of which the Giants have 16 over the last two games and 48 for the year, the 13th most in the league.

A reason why the Giants finished 5-of-13 on third-down conversions against Dallas is that they put themselves in 3rd-and-long yardage with penalties in at least two instances. The penalties did not just affect third down either as in some cases an infraction turned a 2nd-and-short into a 2nd-and-long.

This had a trickle-down effect.  

Left tackle Will Beatty was flagged for a false start on a first-quarter 4th-and-1 play that the Giants sought to convert until the extra yardage forced a punt instead.

Left guard Weston Richburg was also flagged for a false start—this coming in the third quarter, which turned a 2nd-and-13 into a 2nd-and-18. 

According to the penalty report on NFL Game Statistics and Information Services (login required), New York has been flagged for false starts 10 times.

The false-start penalty, an infraction resulting from a lack of discipline, is the second-most committed penalty by the Giants this season, behind offensive holding.

In addition, eight of those 10 false-start penalties came on drives in which the Giants failed to score. 

While on the topic of discipline-related penalties, the penalty report also has the Giants as having committed four unnecessary roughness infractions this season.

Turnovers

It’s bad enough when a team loses the turnover battle, but when those turnovers lead to points for the opponent, that is the ultimate backbreaker.

Such was the case for the Giants this week, as tight end Larry Donnell lost two fumbles in the fourth quarter, the first of which gave the Cowboys a short field. Dallas promptly scored after the turnover, making the game 28-14.

For those keeping score at home, that makes 13 “gifts” that the Giants have given their opponents this season, leading to 26 points.

If they are being this generous now, what will the holiday season bring? 

The Personnel

Although this category is not necessarily game-specific, it does bear mentioning if we are going to discuss repeated mistakes by the Giants. That's because a big element in determining a team’s success (or lack thereof) is the talent the front office and coaching staff puts on the field. 

While personnel questions arise at several positions, let’s focus on the offensive line.

During the unit's golden years (2006-2010), the Giants’ offensive line had three Pro Bowl-caliber players: center Shaun O’Hara, right guard Chris Snee and left tackle David Diehl.

That offensive line, which also included right tackle Kareem McKenzie and left guard Rich Seubert, featured two guys drafted by the Giants, Snee in the second round of the 2004 draft and Diehl, a fifth-rounder taken in 2003.

Bill Kostroun/Associated Press

O’Hara and Seubert both entered the NFL as undrafted rookie free agents; McKenzie, who signed as a free agent in 2005, was a 2001 third-round pick of the New York Jets. 

One by one, the members of that offensive line fell victim to the process that ultimately claims all athletes.

They aged.

So what did general manager Jerry Reese do to prepare for the aging process that everyone knew was coming? 

He mostly relied on Day 3 draft picks and middle-of-the-road free agents to fill out that critical unit, while at the same time hoping to squeeze every last ounce of juice out the aging veterans. This was true even when it became apparent that the waning of these veterans' skill level and/or physical condition was such to have left them shells of their former selves. 

Let’s run down the list of offensive linemen drafted so far in Reese’s tenure. 

Round-Year	Position / Player
R6-2007	OT Adam Koets
R2-2009	OT Will Beatty
R5-2010	OG Mitch Petrus
R4-2011	OT James Brewer
R4-2012	OT Brandon Mosley
R6-2012	OT Matt McCants
R1-2013	OT Justin Pugh
R7-2013	OG Eric Herman
R2-2014	OC Weston Richburg

Of the nine offensive linemen, only three—Beatty, Pugh and Richburg—emerged as starters.

McCants and Herman never made the roster (although Herman was briefly on the 53-man roster at the end of last season due to a rash of injuries).

The rest of the draft picks dabbled here and there as reserves.

Any way you slice it, the Giants have not done well drafting offensive linemen, and it’s a big reason why they have had to turn to free agency, with an eye toward getting veterans on the cheap—guard Geoff Schwartz and center J.D. Walton, both signed this year as free agents, being recent exceptions.

If quarterback Eli Manning is the Giants’ most valuable asset on offense, then the Giants need to take a page out of the Cowboys book, as Dallas has three No. 1 draft picks starting on its offensive line. 

Those Who Ignore Past Mistakes Are Destined to Repeat Them

The warning signs have been right before the Giants’ eyes for quite some time, yet the team seems to be oblivious to what’s happening.

Maybe they believe they have what it takes to fix these problems, and maybe they believe in their hearts that they can still turn things around in 2014. 

Too bad “May Bees” don’t fly in the autumn.

Unless otherwise noted, Giants team stats and rankings obtained from the Giants weekly game release.

All quotes and information obtained firsthand unless otherwise sourced. Follow me on Twitter @Patricia_Traina.