New York Giants: 5 Bold Predictions for the 2016-17 Season

The offense will significantly underperform

Almost every Giants’ fan expects that the offense is set to carry this team. With a returning Victor Cruz, second-round draft pick Sterling Shepard and dynamic Odell Beckham Jr, what could go wrong? Answer: everything.

The success of the offense depends on the offensive line. To be blunt, the offensive line does not look good. The Giants have Ereck Flowers, Justin Pugh, Weston Richburg, John Jerry and Marshall Newhouse as their starters. From the group, I only trust Pugh and Richburg to do well this year.

Flowers is predicted by many to take a step forward in his second year, but I wouldn’t necessarily jump to this conclusion. He showed flashes last year but was inconsistent. He also played through a lot of injuries, and in some cases, worsened them by playing instead of resting. He was not good this preseason, which questions how much he has developed since last year.

The right side should cause much concern to the team. The front office made no attempt to improve the line in both free agency or the draft. Reese must be seeing something we’re not. Jerry and Newhouse do not look like franchise linemen to me. The recent signing of Will Beatty adds some insurance, but he probably won’t be as productive as he used to be due to his injury history and time off.

Without a steady offensive line, both the running game and passing attack will not have any success. We’ve already been through seasons where the line struggled, causing the entire offense to underperform. A similar situation in 2013 led to the team firing former coordinator Kevin Gilbride, who was made the scapegoat for the offensive struggles when the line was the real culprit.

I don’t think Cruz will be the same player he once was, and the team should be happy if he is just average this year. Beckham will be the only threat on the Giants’ offense, drawing regular double teams and strategic gameplans. Eli Manning will need good protection to wait for routes to develop, and constant pressure by opposing defenses will not allow him to find open receivers. Manning isn’t getting any younger, and the offensive line has to give him time to throw the ball. If not, their running game must find openings in the line to have a balanced offense.

The brief success in the running game towards the end of last year will prove to be short-lived, and the committee approach will not work this year. The offensive line will be unable to create openings for the backs, and the running game will struggle as a result.

With other teams trying to eliminate Beckham on a weekly basis, they are daring Shepard, Cruz and the running backs to beat them. Unfortunately, the spotty offensive line is a major roadblock to this team’s offensive potential. To make it worse, the first-team offense didn’t look too good in the preseason, for whatever that’s worth.

Next: Will the Giants End Their Playoff Drought?