Through the first six quarters of their 2023 season, the New York Giants’ offense did not look at all like head coach Brian Daboll, offensive coordinator Matt Kafka, or quarterback Daniel Jones would have preferred. This was especially true in the passing game. In a 40-0 Week 1 thrashing at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys, and in a Week 2 first half against the Arizona Cardinals in which Big Blue had a 20-0 deficit, Jones completed 24 of 44 passes for 166 yards, no touchdowns, and three interceptions.
Then, in the second half and overtime of the Cardinals game that the Giants won, 31-28, Jones completed 17 of 21 passes for 259 yards, two touchdowns, and no interceptions.
It was as extreme a difference as you’ll see from any offense from one half to another, and as it turned out, Daboll and Kafka had some great adjustments at halftime to make things right. In the first half — and this may have been a function of wanting to get Jones back in rhythm after the Cowboys debacle — the Giants were running a lot of quick passes without play-action or motion or any other kinds of eye candy. The idea seemed to be to get Jones some easy completions and get him into a rhythm, which was not how it turned out.
Then, at the start of the second half, everything changed. It started with this 58-yard vertical completion from Jones to receiver Jalin Hyatt.
The first thing to notice here is how Cardinals linebacker Kyzir White is indicating a possible quarterback run to the right, based on tight end Daniel Bellinger blocking edge-rusher Dennis Gardeck, and right tackle Evan Neal pulling to the right in a run-action concept. That sucked White in, and Jones’ play-action fake to running back Saquon Barkley did the same to linebacker Krys Barnes.
Then, there was the combination of the route concepts, and how the Giants set everything up with personnel.
In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys further discussed how the Giants got back on the good foot after such a bleak beginning.
“One change they clearly made was a personnel adjustment,” Greg said. “There was far more 12 personnel starting in the third quarter, and obviously, they know [current Cardinals head coach and former Eagles defensive coordinator] Jonathan Gannon. Whether he’s calling the defense or not, it’s his defense. So they know him from his being in Philadelphia over the last two years, and they probably felt pretty confrontable… coaches end up coaching against coaches. They probably felt that if they went to 12 personnel, they’d get specific things defensively.”
Greg on the 58-yarder to Hyatt:
“That came out of 12 personnel. Hyatt was the boundary X receiver. They went tight bunch opposite that to the trips side of the formation. And they pretty much knew how that would be played. The Cardinals played Cover-4, and the boundary safety — the safety to the side of Hyatt [K’Von Wallace] — he was looking inside to trips, which he has to as his initial look. Therefore, you get the one-on-one — you get Hyatt running the deep post versus Wilson. And Wilson at that point has no over the top help because of the trips route concepts. So, they knew that. They anticipated quarters coverage with their 12 personnel. You don’t call that play unless you anticipate a deep post without a safety sitting right there.”
It was a brilliant design against the right defense, and it got the Giants back on track, where they desperately needed to be. Now, we’ll see how they try to advance that against the San Francisco 49ers’ top-tier defense on Thursday night.
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