10 things to watch in preseason finale vs. Jets

One of the biggest positives to come out of Saturday’s game against the Texans was the performance of the offensive line. Left tackle Andrew Thomas, left guard Aaron Stinnie, centers John Michael Schmitz and Austin Schlottmann, right guard Greg Van Roten and right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor surrendered a total of zero pressures against the Texans’ pass rush. Daboll praised the veteran group for their performance and development this summer.

“That’s probably one of our more veteran groups now on our team,” Daboll said. “So, with those four players, and I’d say five include Stinnie, you have people that have played a lot of football, some at different spots, some together at other teams as well, and A.T. who’s been here and done it at a high level for the years he’s been in this league. So, I would say those four players that are communicating well with one another. I have a lot of confidence in that group. Their experience, their communication, their style of play, they’ve been good additions to our football team.

While the players undoubtedly deserve a ton of the credit, you cannot talk about the early success of the O-line without mentioning the unit’s coaches. Offensive line coach Carmen Bricillo and assistant offensive line coach James Ferentz have done a great job so far working with the veteran group, something the head coach made sure to point out Tuesday.

“Carm’s a good coach,” said Daboll. “We have crossed paths with him, not working, but with a lot of people that I’ve worked with. He’s done a nice job with them. I think they respect him. He’s coached two of them and got a good way about him. He’s got good leadership traits, good communication skills, good at the fundamentals, and I’ve thrown him in there every time. James Ferentz has been a good addition as well, who has played in this system for quite some time and played center, he can see it through their eyes. They’ve worked well together.”

In last weekend’s game against the Texans, quarterback Daniel Jones threw four passes that went at least 20 yards in the air, according to Pro Football Focus, two of which he completed. In his six games last year, Jones completed the same number of 20+ yard passes. He only attempted 12 such passes all season, and the maximum number of attempts he had in one single game was four.

The fact that Jones threw four passes that deep down the field in just one half against the Texans goes to show that the Giants are not going to be afraid to take some deep shots this year. Doing this should help open up the rest of the field for the offense, which should create a more balanced attack.

“Anytime you want to try to attack all areas of the field,” Daboll told the media. “I think there were 323 plays of 40 yards or more last year in all the games. So that accounts for less than one percent of the entire season, 0.9 percent exactly. So, you have to do a good job of threatening the vertical part of the field. No question about it. But you also have to be able to sustain drives. Anytime you can hit a big one, usually you’re going to have an opportunity to get some points on the board. And we’ve actively been doing that throughout OTAs and camp of pushing the ball down the field. But, again, you have to make the right decision when you’re playing quarterback. So, if they’re all playing deep and there’s a throw to Wan’Dale where you can gain 15, 18 yards on a run after catch, so be it.

“But definitely threatening the deep part of the field, intermediate, short, horizontal, that’s what you want to do offensively is to try to create as many mismatches as you can, whether it’s zone and you flood zones, whether it’s man-to-man and you’re using different type of plays, but trying to attack all areas of the field versus the defense to try to make it as tough on them as you can.”

Last week, Evan Neal returned to team drills for the first time in training camp. The third-year tackle, who was working his way back from last year’s foot injury, has been slowly ramped up as he inches closer to game action. While he is still unsure if Neal will play against the Jets on Saturday, Daboll hopes the young tackle will be able to suit up.

“Yeah, it’d be good,” the head coach said about Neal potentially taking the field in the preseason finale. “We’ll see how he does at practice today. We ramped him up a little bit more yesterday. Talked to the trainers. We’ll do what’s best for the player and for us.”

Since returning to team drills, Neal has looked strong in pass protection. The 6-foot-7, 340-pound tackle performed well during team drills against the Jets on Wednesday, which his head coach said was a valuable step in his recovery.

“He did a good job,” Daboll told the media. “Coming back, I’m not saying D.J., but he’s had a long layoff too, so being able to play and compete against another team, it was important to get him those reps. Hopefully, we’ll see him in the game.”

The Giants made a series of roster moves early in the week as they prepare for Saturday’s game.

The Giants signed defensive tackle Kyler Baugh, linebacker Trey Kiser, and defensive back Clayton Isbell. In corresponding moves, defensive lineman Ryder Anderson and wide receiver Dennis Houston were waived/injured while offensive tackle Yodny Cajuste was placed on injured reserve.

Baugh signed with the New Orleans Saints after going undrafted in April. He played 10 snaps in the Saints’ first preseason game before being waived last week.

The 6-foot-2, 305-pound defensive lineman began his collegiate career at Houston Baptist, where he spent three seasons (2019-21) before transferring to Minnesota, where he was teammates with Giants rookie safety Tyler Nubin. Baugh played in 26 games over his two seasons with the Golden Gophers and finished with 77 tackles, four sacks, seven tackles for loss, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and four passes defensed.

He was selected All-Big Ten honorable mention by the media both years at Minnesota.

Kiser spent time with the Jacksonville Jaguars this offseason before being released a few weeks ago.

The 6-foot, 224-pound linebacker spent three seasons at South Alabama, where he played on both defense and special teams. During his senior season, he played in all 13 games with 12 starts and registered 68 total tackles (29 solo), 2.5 sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss. Kiser earned All-Sun Belt Conference Honorable Mention recognition after the season.

He began his collegiate career at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M Junior College, where he was the program’s only first-team all-Southwest Junior College Football Conference selection as a freshman after posting 55 total tackles, including seven tackles for loss.

Isbell signed with the Carolina Panthers after going undrafted in April. His collegiate career began at Illinois State, where he played for three seasons and was named second-team All-MVFC as a redshirt junior in 2021. He then transferred to Utah for the 2022 campaign, where he played in 14 games with one start.

Due to the COVID-19 rules, Isbell gained an extra year of eligibility, which he spent at Coastal Carolina. In 13 games as a super senior, Isbell registered 89 tackles, three interceptions and eight pass breakups, which led to third-team All-Sun Belt honors.