A Giants player said a curious thing about the Giants offense worth examining
More deep passes? But why, Dwyane Harris?
By
Jared Dubin
•
2 min read
The New York Giants have run their offense a bit differently for the last two seasons. Two years ago is when new head coach Ben McAdoo took over for Kevin Gilbride as the Giants offensive coordinator.
Since then, New York's passing offense has featured a much steadier diet of shorter, quicker passes than before. Under Gilbride the Giants had Eli throw passes that were deeper on average than almost any quarterback in the league.
Take a look at this progression, starting from Gilbride's first season through last year (aDOT = average depth of throw):
| YEAR | OC | aDOT |
| 2007 | Gilbride | 9.4 |
| 2008 | Gilbride | 9.3 |
| 2009 | Gilbride | 9.3 |
| 2010 | Gilbride | 9.5 |
| 2011 | Gilbride | 10.6 |
| 2012 | Gilbride | 10.1 |
| 2013 | Gilbride | 10.1 |
| 2014 | McAdoo | 9.2 |
| 2015 | McAdoo | 8.1 |
Manning never had an aDOT south of 9.3 yards under Gilbride, and was north of 10 in each of his former coordinator's final three seasons with the team. The first season under McAdoo saw Eli's aDOT take a steep drop of almost a full yard; and then it dropped 1.1 yards in his second season, to the lowest it's ever been.
Why is this relevant? Well, Giants receiver Dwayne Harris told the team's official website that McAdoo wants to get Eli back to throwing the ball down the field a bit more again.
"I think we're getting better just throwing the ball down the field more," Harris said. "We're definitely trying to work on throwing the ball down the field, throwing more deep passes."
Only 11 percent of Manning's passes traveled more than 20 yards in the air last season, per Pro Football Focus. That was the 19th-highest figure among starting quarterbacks. While that may seem like a problem, it largely was not. Manning's efficiency as a passer has been far better under McAdoo than it ever was under Gilbride, and last year he set a career-high in passer rating.
Take a look at another chart, this time ranking Manning's best seasons since 2007 by passer rating. The parenthetical represents that year's rank in aDOT from the chart above.
| YEAR (aDOT rank) | OC | QB RTG |
| 2015 (9) | McAdoo | 93.6 |
| 2009 (7) | Gilbride | 93.1 |
| 2011 (1) | Gilbride | 92.9 |
| 2014 (8) | McAdoo | 92.1 |
| 2012 (2) | Gilbride | 87.2 |
| 2008 (6) | Gilbride | 86.4 |
| 2010 (4) | Gilbride | 85.3 |
| 2007 (5) | Gilbride | 73.9 |
| 2013 (3) | Gilbride | 69.4 |
So what does that all mean? Well, it mostly means that Manning has generally been a better passer when asked to throw shorter passes, not longer ones. The Giants would do well to take selective shots down the field to Odell Beckham -- one of the best deep receivers in football -- but the rest of Manning's weapons are mostly the type that should be targeted on short-to-intermediate routes. And considering those ranges are most in line with how McAdoo runs his offense, it makes sense for the Giants to stick with what's been working rather than force Eli back into his old ways simply for "diversity of the offense's" sake.
