7 New York Giants Who Need to Have a Big Second Half of the Season

The break is over for the New York Giants (3-4), who are currently in third place in the NFC East.

With New York looking to bounce back from two big losses to Philadelphia and Dallas by a combined score of 58-21, it will be interesting to see what, if any, changes the coaching staff makes moving forward regarding the schemes and/or lineups.

As we wait to see if any changes are made, here is a look at seven Giants who need to have a strong showing in the final nine games of the regular season.

Safety Stevie Brown

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Stevie Brown made his return to the defensive lineup in Week 7, playing in 15 of the team’s 63 snaps, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required). Most of those snaps came in the three-safety set.

Brown, remember, initially began the season as the starting free safety before losing his starting job after Week 3 to Quintin Demps. 

“I just wasn’t playing the smartest football; it has nothing to do with my abilities,” Brown told reporters prior to the Dallas game regarding his benching.

Thanks to injuries at the nickel cornerback spot—Walter Thurmond and Trumaine McBride are both done for the year—the tea has turned to Jayron Hosley in that role.

The problem is that Hosley has struggled. Per PFF, he took 15 snaps as the slot cornerback in Week 7’s loss against Dallas, posting an 88.2 NFL rating.

With questions regarding Hosley’s ability to handle the position’s responsibilities, defensive coordinator Perry Fewell could be contemplating using more of the three-safety package that includes Brown, Demps and Antrel Rolle. 

“I would think so,” safeties coach David Merritt told reporters last week when asked if more of the three-safety look was in the cards moving forward.

“I can’t speak for Fewell or the rest of the staff, but the game plan last week was to have Stevie Brown in the game with the three-safety package versus certain personnel groupings, which worked out for us because Stevie went in and did his job and did what we asked him to do,” he added

With the Giants scheduled to face two of the NFL’s top five passing offenses (Indianapolis and Dallas) over the next four weeks, Brown, who is finishing up a one-year contract per Over the Cap, will have a great opportunity to show the NFL that he can be the same player he was in 2012.

That season, he not only led the Giants with eight interceptions for a league-leading 307 return yards, his eight picks tied him for second in the league with Seattle’s cornerback Richard Sherman. 

The Offensive Line

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If the Giants’ offensive skill players are to have any chance of succeeding in these final nine games, the offensive line needs to eliminate the mistakes that have plagued its performance.

“It has to be fixed and it starts with me,” offensive line coach Pat Flaherty told reporters last week. “I have to do a better job in getting our guys to understand the concepts.”

While the pass-blocking has been mostly sound—the unit has allowed just 15 sacks this year, 13 against starter Eli Manning—the run-blocking has been quite another story.

Rashad Jennings, Andre Williams and Peyton Hillis have combined to average just 3.8 yards per carry, which is just a hair better than the team’s collective 3.7-yards-per-carry average, 27th in the NFL.

One thing that could help the offensive line moving forward is the return of Geoff Schwartz, who has been on the temporary injured reserve list while recovering from a dislocated toe suffered in the preseason.

Schwartz will begin practicing in the coming week, though head coach Tom Coughlin told reporters last week that Schwartz still “has a long way to go” before he’s ready to return to the field.

“He has been standing on the sidelines for a long time now,” Coughlin said. “We are going to have to get him on the practice field extensively before that happens.”

Flaherty hinted that Schwartz’s return to the lineup as soon as he is ready is coming. “When someone is coming off an injury, do you count on them? In a sense you do, but you have to continue to move forward with what you have until that person is healthy again.”

Regardless of who is out there, Flaherty wants his unit to eliminate the mistakes that he called “head-scratchers.”

“It has a lot to do with the physical breakdowns, the penalties, the concentration, the focus and being on the same page,” he said when asked what was causing the head-scratching mistakes.

“We are well into the season with this group that we have to eliminate them. We don’t have to cut them down; we have to eliminate them.”

If they can do that, there might just be a good chance the Giants offense can get back to scoring 30 or more points, as it did during the team’s three-game winning streak earlier in the year.  

Cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie

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It is probably not fair to list someone who has been battling injuries in the list of players who need to ramp up their performances.

However, we will make an exception for cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who has been battling assorted injuries that first began in Week 4 against Washington.

Rodgers-Cromartie, who has been listed on the Giants’ injury reports with hamstring, ankle and back issues, has played in 46 percent of the defense’s snaps over the last three games, according to calculations made via data provided by Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

Over that three-game span, he has had made three tackles, missed three missed tackles and has seen his NFL ratings rise from 53.3 in Week 5 to 118.8 in Week 7, which is not good for a defensive back.

While Rodgers-Cromartie has had to miss practice time, he was still deemed ready to play, regardless of how many snaps were planned for him.

Again, we acknowledge the injury factor in Rodgers-Cromartie’s drop in his performance. However, every player is dealing with something physically at this time of year. If the player is on the field, it should not be unrealistic to expect him to perform at a high enough level.

In Rodgers-Cromartie’s case, the hope was that the bye week would work wonders on his troublesome right side.

Assuming that the rest did indeed help cure whatever has been ailing him, Rodgers-Cromartie needs to get back to being the cornerback he was in Weeks 2 and 3.

In those two games, his NFL ratings were 39.6 and 18.8 respectively, per PFF.

Returning to his previous form would be huge for the Giants defense, especially with them set to face two of the league’s top five passing offenses (Indianapolis and Dallas) within their next four games.

Tight End Larry Donnell

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If we are going to mention the improvements needed in run-blocking as well as the need for someone to make sure that none of the receivers is double-teamed with regularity, then we need to mention starting tight end Larry Donnell.

Let’s start with the run-blocking aspect of his game, which has been inconsistent. Per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Donnell currently has a minus-3.2 run-blocking grade which has, in part, contributed to three consecutive final grades in the red (considered negative grades).

Tight ends coach Kevin M. Gilbride identified Donnell’s biggest issue last week in his meeting with reporters. 

“At times he lacks confidence in that area and that affects him,” Gilbride said. “When he just comes off the ball and delivers a blow, he can do some good things."

As a receiver, Donnell has fared a little better. He is tied for the team lead, with fellow tight end Daniel Fells, in receiving touchdowns with four.

He has caught 82.5 percent of the passes thrown his way for 332 yards, the reception percentage also leading the team.

While Donnell has done well snagging the ball out of the air, Gilbride has another area in mind where he would like to see improvement from Donnell. 

“Really where I want him to improve is actually [chipping] the defensive ends more,” he said. “I think that’s something, we need to help our tackles in that area and he needs to improve in that area. He’s a secondary element to the passing game in that regard, he needs to help protection first.”

Linebacker Devon Kennard

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As of this writing, there has been no announcement regarding what middle linebacker Jon Beason—who has continued to struggle with staying on the field thanks to a lingering toe injury—has decided to do regarding season-ending surgery.

Last week in a radio interview with WFAN, Beason said that he was “50-50” about shutting himself down for the rest of the year, and that he would probably make his decision sooner rather than later.

Regardless of what happens with Beason, the Giants need to move forward.

Enter Devon Kennard, who has been playing strong-side linebacker in the Giants’ base defense in place of Jameel McClain, who has been in the middle.  

Kennard, a fifth-round draft pick this year, could very well help the front seven with shoring up the edges, which has been a problem.

In 21 run snaps, Kennard has a team-best 9.5 percent run-stop rate, per Pro Football Focus (subscription required).

PFF has also credited Kennard with just one missed tackle (Jacquian Williams leads the Giants outside linebackers with two).

Linebackers coach Jim Herrmann was asked by reporters last week what he will be looking for out of Kennard over the next few weeks. 

“I think the biggest things that he has to learn are the pace of the game, know who he’s playing against, the type of runner and the type of passing game,” the coach said. “Those are the things that I think more experience will help him and make him more aware.”

Kennard might still be in learning mode, but considering the young man has taken only 25 defensive snaps in two games (Weeks 1 and 7), he has done a nice job of building off his solid preseason despite having to miss a few games with a hamstring strain.

Receiver Rueben Randle

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The good news is that the arrival of rookie receiver Odell Beckham Jr. has blown some fresh air into the passing game. 

The bad news is that unless someone else shows that he can consistently beat single coverage, which would discourage opponents from potentially doubling up against Beckham, the Giants receiving game could be looking at a repeat of last year, when teams blanketed Victor Cruz on almost every snap.

One primary candidate who needs to step up his game and make sure Beckham draws single coverage is Rueben Randle, currently the Giants' No. 1 receiver.

In seven games, Randle has caught 60.7 percent of the passes thrown his way for 321 yards, an average of 9.4 yards per catch.

Per Pro Football Focus (subscription required), Randle has only caused defenders to miss him on the initial tackle just twice this season, which suggests that he’s not really separating to pick up the yards after the catch, of which he has 77, by the way.

To put Randle’s average yards per catch into perspective, as of Week 7, he had the eighth-most snaps of all receivers who PFF had as having taken 60 percent or more of their team’s snaps on offense.

Of those eight receivers, Randle’s average yards per reception and his yards after the catch are both last among that group. 

Whether it is a matter of running crisper routes or showing better focus, the Giants need to get more out of Randle the rest of the way.

Defensive End Damontre Moore

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If you have been hoping for second-year pass-rusher Damontre Moore to see an increase in his snaps, you just might get your wish starting with the next game.

The calf injury to defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins, who told reporters that he will likely miss a couple of weeks (though he didn’t clarify if by “weeks” he meant “games”) is likely to have a ripple effect across the defensive line.

Moore, a defensive end who Pro Football Focus (subscription required) has as having taken just 115 defensive snaps, could see an increase to his average 10.8 pass-rushing snaps per game.

One scenario that would see his role increase would be if defensive coordinator Perry Fewell goes with a pass-rushing line consisting of Moore and Jason Pierre-Paul at the ends and Mathias Kiwanuka and Robert Ayers inside at the tackles. 

Defensive line coach Robert Nunn told reporters that he believes Moore will get more “at-bats” in the coming weeks. 

How many “at-bats” depends on whether Moore is able to show the coaches that he can consistently handle himself regardless of whether it is a pass or a run play.

“Damontre needs to continue to improve and continue to stay focused on what we are doing on first and second down,” Nunn told reporters last week.

“He is going to get more opportunities on third down, and so he just has to keep coming along and improve on first and second down. If he does that, then he is going to get those opportunities in pass-rushing situations.”

The anticipated increase in snaps should be very valuable to Moore, who looks to have a chance to show the coaching staff that he can handle more of a full-time role.

If he can, that could help the team make a decision next year regarding defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka, who, per Over the Cap, has a $4.775 million base salary in 2015. 

Unless otherwise noted, advanced stats obtained from Pro Football focus (subscription required).  

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