Five Ways the Giants Can Finish the Season Strong

As the Giants begin the second half of their season, here’s a look at some areas where they stand a chance at finishing strong if they can show improvement.

There won’t be any playoffs for the 2020 Giants despite the weak NFC East, and while that’s disappointing though, it’s not necessarily all gloom and doom.

Go back and look at what the coaches have said about getting to know their players—what they can do well within the schemes and systems in place and what they can’t.

That process was never going to take place overnight. It certainly wasn’t going to take place unless there was some live competition against an opponent who, unlike in practice, might have had a different approach than the scripted version of training camp practices the team ran.

But all the while, head coach Joe Judge, his staff, and the players have claimed the franchise has made progress. That progress hasn’t manifested itself in the won-loss record, which is the ultimate litmus test.

For the optimists out there, the Giants managed to stand toe-to-toe with several teams projected to be playoff contenders at the start of the season (Steelers, Cowboys, Rams, Eagles, and Bucs).

With all that said, the Giants, now halfway through their 2020 season, have reached a point where being competitive is nice, but it’s also being stuck in neutral. 

Among their remaining eight games against Washington, the Eagles, the Bengals, the Seahawks, the Cardinals, the Ravens, and the Cowboys, if the Giants can win four of those games to get to a 5-11 record for 2020, that would be a big step in the right direction.

But the Giants need to do their part as well. Here’s a look at some areas from the first half of their season where they vastly need to show the improvement the coaches and players claim is being made but to date has not shown up where it counts the most.

Turnovers

Let’s get this one out of the way first since it’s been a hot topic (and rightfully so). The Giants, regardless of who the opponent is, cannot, repeat, cannot turn the ball over.

They’ve done so 15 times this season, which has resulted in 38 points—and if you consider most of their games have been close, it’s not hard to see why turnovers are a big no-no for this team in the second half of the season if they want to turn the corner.

Finishing Games

The echoes of former head coach Tom Coughlin yelling “Finish!” have yet to dissipate from the Meadowlands air, and rightfully so. Not only have the Giants at times had problems finishing plays, but on a grander scale, they’ve struggled to finish games.

The same argument also applies to finishing halves. In three games this season (Week 1 Steelers, Week 3 vs. 49ers, and Week 5 vs. Cowboys), the Giants let a lead or a tie slip away from them as they approached halftime, usually in the final two minutes of the half.

And so far, when the game was on the line, the Giants twice ( Week 5 vs. Cowboys and Week 7 vs. the Eagles) failed to clinch the win, bidding sayonara to their lead as they headed deep into the fourth quarter.

The Giants have been competitive in really all but that Week 3 loss to the 49ers, but until they get over the hump and start defending those last-ditch scoring drives by the opponent, they’re probably not going to win many games.

Good teams finish games. It’s that simple.

Improved Efficiency

For as good as the Giants defense has been, the unit has struggled to get off the field on third down.

Whether it’s been a breakdown in coverage, a missed assignment, or a penalty, opponents have converted 48.57% of their third-down attempts against the Giants, 27th in the league. 

That’s worse than how the Giants finished in 2019 when they allowed opponents to convert on 39.81% of their third-down attempts.

This year, Giants opponents have picked up eight first downs off of Giants penalties coming on third down, an average of one per game (and one too many).

Improved Red Zone Performance

The goal inside the red zone, obviously, is to score touchdowns, not field goals. So how have the Giants done here?

Well, on 22 trips, they’ve scored nine touchdowns, a 40.0% conversion rate. Three times this season, they’ve posted a big ol’ goose egg in the touchdown conversion column, and in one of those three games, against the 49ers in Week 3, they didn’t even get into the red zone.

Those red-zone woes are a big reason why the Giants are averaging a dismal 18.1 points per game, 31st in the league, and why their record so far is 1-7.

Daniel Jones

I mentioned turnovers as the first item the Giants need to clean up, a factor that can be tied mostly to Jones. 

But not only does Jones need to find a way to balance taking chances versus being smart with the ball in his hand, but the mental processing part of his game also needs to begin trending upward.

An argument can be made that in the first eight games of the season, Jones, playing in a new offense that isn’t like what he ran last year, was trying to get a feel for the offense's nuances. 

After eight games, there needs to be sign of progress. Jones, who appears to be struggling with his internal clock regarding how much time he has in the pocket, cannot keep missing open receivers down the field.