New York start 2025 with a loss.
If I had been writing for HuddleUK last season, I could have copied and pasted a post game report and applied it to this game, just changing a few names.
Let us break down what went wrong…
(N)O-line problems continue
The old cliché is that the game is won and lost in the trenches, well we most certainly lost that game there.
The offensive line without Andrew Thomas once again is nothing short of a disaster. No run game, no pass protection, no way to establish the play action or the infamous Russell Wilson moonball.
John Michael Schmitz at center once again continues to do nothing beyond snap the ball. I could slate the whole line in a few thousand words. You would hope the line is at least good at run or pass blocking, but our line did neither.
Offensive game-plan
While I sympathise, it would be very tough to get anything going with how our offensive line played today.
It felt like Head Coach Brian Daboll and Offensive Coordinator Mike Kafka just had no ideas of what to try to change things up.
In preseason, we finally looked like we could execute the screen game but to my knowledge, we did not run one all game. No end arounds, no toss plays, no fullback put in, no creativity – particularly in the Red Zone.
Darius Slayton had one target all game, not a great start to his new contract.
I agree with the decision to not get Dart in the game, even to get a spark. Wilson had no time and it could have overwhelmed Dart. If the offense continues like this though, I could see Dart being in by Week 4 or 5.
Shane Bowen defense
I was already disappointed that Bowen was back this year as Defensive Coordinator, but I was hoping he would adjust his system to suit our players.
The moment the down and distance is in our favour, the pure joy he finds in playing a soft zone defense and giving up 10 or more yards knows no limits.
Dexter Lawrence did not get going today, which hindered us, but he was injured in preseason. I have no doubt that he will be back to his best very soon.
I thought Dru Phillips and Brian Burns had a good showing, but there is not much to be happy about.
What next?
The only consolation is we have failed to score a touchdown in Week 1 for the last three seasons now, so this is familiar territory….
Dallas are up next, who looked very poor on defense, so hopefully we can scheme something up and hopefully Andrew Thomas is back.
Oh and I did not watch the game on Channel 5. I did not have to watch Giants fans throw doughnuts onto Sam Quek’s finger while the Giants took a beating. So that at least is a silver lining.
