Russell Wilson's arm can't be the Giants' only red-zone option
Giants running back Cam Skattebo runs the ball in the second half against the Cowboys on Sunday in Arlington, Texas. Credit: AP/Jerome Miron
The sight of Russell Wilson’s moonball Sunday must’ve been a joy to the Giants. This was what they hoped for after signing the 36-year-old quarterback.
All three starting receivers caught a pass of at least 35 yards. Two deep passes, one to Malik Nabers and another to Wan’Dale Robinson, went for touchdowns in the final three minutes of regulation.
The offense scored 37 points, a marvel considering the Giants scored that many points in a game only once last season. And yet, there’s still one glaring problem: an inability to finish in the red zone.
Through two games, the Giants are the NFL’s second-worst team in red-zone efficiency (14.3%). They started the season 0-for-6 in scoring touchdowns in the red zone until Cam Skattebo’s 1-yard run Sunday.
Wilson silenced critics for a week with a 450-yard, three touchdown performance against the Cowboys, but the Giants are still 0-2. Not finishing drives deep in opponent's territory is concerning since Wilson’s moonball can’t be relied upon on every play.
“It really just comes down to execution, negative plays, penalties, things like that,” Robinson said. “Just got to clean those things up and be better down there in that red area.”
Wilson is 3-for-16 in the red zone in two games. The 16 attempts are tied for the NFL’s most with Carolina’s Bryce Young but the completion percentage (18.8%) is the NFL’s worst.
It gets even worse inside the opposing 10-yard line. Wilson is a paltry 1-for-11, again throwing the most attempts from that close. Only Jacksonville’s Trevor Lawrence has thrown at least 10 passes in that range and he's 4-for-10.
The funny thing is, Wilson leads the NFL with eight completions of 25 yards or more. It's like a golfer who drives the ball well down the fairway, yet can’t putt well.
Is that another sign of Wilson’s age catching up to him? Is it an indictment of the Giants’ run game, or the receivers not getting open? Perhaps all three but the red-zone plan is placing too much on Wilson’s shoulders and not getting enough back.
“We have to do a good job of executing, usually the things that you need to do each and every week,” coach Brian Daboll said. “Particularly when the area of the field gets tighter, the spacing is less, the force is more, we have to continue to work in that area on both sides of the ball.”
Another culprit is the run game, ranked 28th in yards per game. The Giants’ offensive line hasn’t done enough to create holes. In two games, the longest run by a tailback is Skattebo’s 24-yard scamper Sunday. The next longest? A 9-yard run by Tyrone Tracy Jr.
Consider this from Week 1: The Giants got to the Commanders’ 3-yard line with 2:57 left in regulation, trailing 21-6. Offensive coordinator Mike Kafka called four consecutive passes, all of them incomplete.
It had Tracy surprised and critical last week when he said the Giants needed to run the ball more in that area of the field. Daboll denied that those comments played a role in Tracy starting at kick returner and not running back against the Cowboys. Regardless, Tracy had a point.
The Giants had all three timeouts and the two-minute warning in Washington. One run wouldn't have hurt before trusting the pass. But it appears there's more trust in Wilson than in a more balanced offense. Maybe that’s why they've run on only 10 of 26 red-zone plays in two games.
That’s not a good recipe when Wilson hasn’t been on target.
“It's just practice,” Robinson said. "You’ve got to continue to practice and work it and at the end of the day, it's on us to go out there and execute."
Wilson was brought here to change things. He emphasized last week that finishing in the red zone was a priority after losing to the Commanders.
The offense showed great promise Sunday in Dallas. Yet the red-zone problems remained an issue. That's on Kafka and Daboll to figure out. The Giants can’t just bank on Wilson’s deep ball. If they want to win their home opener Sunday night against 0-2 Kansas City, finishing drives with touchdowns would surely help.
Giants LB Board placed on IR
The Giants placed linebacker Chris Board on injured reserve Tuesday after he left Sunday's loss with a chest injury. Linebacker Swayze Bozeman was signed to the active roster after being elevated from the practice squad before the game.
Linebackers Neville Hewitt, Curtis Jacobs and receiver Dalen Cambre were signed to the practice squad. Tight end Qadir Ismail and defensive back Patrick McMorris were waived.
Evan Barnes covers the Giants for Newsday. He previously covered the Brooklyn Nets, Memphis football and the Memphis Grizzlies and also covered prep sports in Los Angeles.
