New York Giants Eyeing Quantum Leap for Offense in Year 2 Under Jason Garrett

Offensive coordinator Jason Garrett knows last year wasn't good enough, and just as he's looking for the offense to improve in Year 2, he too is seeking to improve as a play-caller.

Giants offensive coordinator Jason Garrett is the first to admit that last year, his first season as an offensive coordinator since 2010 when he was with Dallas, could have been better.

That's just one of many things Garrett has focused on addressing in Year 2 of the Joe Judge era.  

"I think every year you go back and evaluate what you did and how you did it and ways you can do things better," he said in his first public comments this year. 

"Sometimes you say, ‘Hey, we like how we do it that way.’ Other times you say, ‘Hey, we've got to teach that differently or come up with a new thought or a new idea.’ I think that's just part of the process and that's how you grow and evolve as an individual coach and as a unit and ultimately as a team."

Judge shuffled the offensive coaching staff by re-assigning Freddie Kitchens from tights ends coach to senior offensive assistant and hiring Pat Flaherty as an offensive consultant.

Those additions weren't necessarily a direct response to the job Garrett did in his first year as Giants offensive coordinator, where the Giants offense finished 31st in the league and 31st in scoring. Rather they were designed to add more ideas to help sift through the big picture to optimize the offense.

Garrett, who last year refused to make excuses for the offense's performance, did admit that the challenges brought on by the pandemic made things more complicated than anticipated, especially for teams who were trying to install a new system.

"I think the challenge of last year for everybody around the league was you had limited time in training camp and no preseason games," he said. 

"It was hard putting a new system in at the outset. You're wondering what that volume is, what guys can handle because the year isn't a typical year. 

"You don't get the reps on the field in practice and then the preseason games. So you had to grow and evolve and try to make those assessments as you went early on in the year and again I thought we got better as the year went on."

Indeed, Garrett, early last season, let it slip that the coaches were still trying to get to know the strengths and weaknesses of the players. 

That process wasn't helped following the early season losses of running back Saquon Barkley so early in the season or Sterling Shepard, the latter of whom missed several weeks.

Those reasons could be why Judge decided to stick with Garrett, who interviewed for the Los Angeles Chargers head coaching vacancy but wasn't hired.

The good news for Garrett is that in addition to having a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the players returning from last year, the team also added receivers Kenny Golladay, Kadarius Toney, and John Ross; and tight end Kyle Rudolph.  

"I think any time you add pieces, whether it's in the draft or free agency, you're obviously doing that to help improve your team, create competition, get guys out there that can help you and make plays and become more explosive," Garrett said. 

"I think the biggest thing we tried to do as coaches is try to evaluate the strengths of all of our players and try to feature them in that regard."

While Garrett is encouraged by how the offense has been progressing this spring, he reminded reporters that there's still a long way to go before a definitive assessment can be made on the offense's progress.

"That's the process we are in right now," he said. "We take it day-by-day. We are excited about this opportunity today, Wednesday. You learn from Tuesday. You try to get better on Wednesday and keep moving forward. So the guys are working hard. We love their approach. They are embracing what we are doing and hopefully we are getting better each and every day."

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More from Giants Country 

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• Joe Judge Provides an Update on Saquon Barkley's Rehab 
• Giants to Hold Joint Training Camp Practices with Cleveland 
• Daniel Jones Provides Encouraging Update Regarding Relationship with Kenny Golladay

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