One way Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride might resuscitate his slumping unit Sunday is by employing a no-huddle, two-minute offense.
Gilbride said when you’re trying to remedy a unit’s woes, you typically “go back to the things that are your core.” He then pointed out that historically the Giants’ offense has performed well in the no-huddle and revealed it’s “absolutely” under consideration to be used.
“You don’t want me to tip my hand now, do you?” Gilbride said.
The primary advantage of the no-huddle offense is utilizing a quicker tempo and perhaps allowing your offense to get into rhythm while also making it more difficult for the defense to sub players in and out.
Gilbride said last Sunday, when the Giants took over with 4:02 to go in the game, trailing the Steelers 24-20, they went to the two-minute offense — but they also went three-and-out, after two incompletions and a sack.
“Doesn’t always work,” Gilbride said. “But it has been something we’ve been very good at, and hopefully we’re going to recover and get back to that.”
The struggling Giants would like to get back to what they’ve been for the last year and a half, which has been a superb offensive outfit. Last year they averaged 24.6 points per game (ninth-best in the NFL), then upped it to 25.5 points in the playoffs. This year the Giants are averaging 28.2 points (sixth-best), highlighted by 41-point explosions versus both the Buccaneers and Browns and a 36-point performance against the Panthers.
But the last two weeks, the offense scored just 22 points against the Cowboys and 13 against the Steelers, averaging only 17.5 in the two-game spurt.
“It has been a long while [since we’ve struggled],” Gilbride said. “It wasn’t something we expected to happen. We certainly appreciated the ability level of the two defenses we’ve played, but we expected to perform a lot better than we did. Was it jarring? Yeah, it was. There’s no question about it.”
Gilbride admitted the health of Hakeem Nicks (knee) and Ahmad Bradshaw (foot) have forced him to alter his play calling. He also insisted that players besides Eli Manning (one touchdown, four interceptions the last three weeks) need to perform.
“He gets way too much credit when things go well; he gets way too much blame when things don’t go well because that position only performs as well as the guys around him,” Gilbride said. “It’s not just him, trust me. It’s all of us. We’ve all got to do a better job.”