The Giants are 0-5, and something had to give. Ben McAdoo took that step by handing over play calling responsibilities to offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan.
Ben McAdoo isn’t calling plays for the Giants. Mike Sullivan is.
Something’s got to change when you’re 0-5.
Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images
Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.
New York hasn’t been able to get the run game going at all. Coming into Sunday Night Football against the Broncos, the Giants were ranked 31st in the league with just 77.8 yards per game. The Giants averaged just 16.4 points per game, which ranks them near the bottom of the league.
The offensive line has been completely inept. And things looked especially grim with Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall both landing on injured reserve after Week 5.
So far, the change is working. New York kicked off Sunday night’s matchup with Denver with a 13-play, 69-yard field goal drive. It was the first time this season the Broncos defense allowed a score on an opponent’s opening possession.
Who is Mike Sullivan? Sullivan is in his second season as the Giants’ offensive coordinator. It’s his second stint in New York, where he previously was the wide receivers coach and then the quarterbacks coach from 2004 through 2011.
Sullivan said in September that he didn’t think predictability was the problem for the Giants.
“I think it goes a lot deeper than that,” Sullivan said, via Howie Kussoy of the New York Post. “I think we’ve certainly looked at the tape and haven’t necessarily had the sense of, ‘Oh man, they certainly had our playbook right here’ or ‘Holy cow, they must have been able to hear what we said on the headsets.’
“We haven’t been out there long enough to be predictable.”
What does this mean for the Giants? It’s possible that a fresh perspective on the offense will breathe some life into the Giants. It’s also hard for a head coach to manage the big picture aspects of a game and keep focused on calling plays.
With a porous offensive line, a shaky run game, and so much offensive talent sidelined with injuries, the change probably won’t fully right the ship. But the Giants have problems across the board, and the change may help start to get the offense back on track, which this team desperately needs.
See More:
