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The New York Giants have been longing for a dominant offensive line for some time now. Many critics point to the offensive line as the poster child for all of the Giants’ recent woes.
While some of that may be true, the Giants have taken measures this offseason to address the line by using three of their five first draft picks this season on linemen and also signed veteran swing tackle Cam Fleming, a former Cowboy and Patriot.
Perhaps the biggest boost the Giants gave to the effort of reviving their offensive line has been the hiring of Marc Colombo has the unit coach.
Colombo, a former NFL offensive lineman who stands 6-feet-8, was a first round pick of the Chicago Bears in 2002 but it wasn’t until he got to Dallas in 2005 that his career took off.
The head coach in Dallas at the time was a man named Bill Parcells, who Colombo credits with “reviving his career.” Colombo takes a piece of what learned from the Hall of Fame coach with his to New Jersey these days and to this day says he’d still “run through a wall for him.”
Hopefully his players will be willing to do that for him someday. Colombo does not only consider himself the O-line coach, he also considers himself part of the unit.
“I’m an O-line guy,” he said. “Close that O-line door and we’re a unit together and that’s what we’re trying to build around here.”
So, what can Giant fans expect out of the offensive line this season? Colombo told the Giants beat pool via a video conference call on Friday to expect a nasty, competitive group.
“I think it’s work ethic, it’s a nasty attitude, going out there and just kind of imposing our will on the defense. Flying around, that’s non-negotiable,” Colombo said.
Colombo had some praise for starting left guard Will Hernandez and rookie center prospect Shane Lemieux, both of whom he lauded for their toughness. But his highest praise was for Nick Gates, the versatile third-year swing-man who the team just signed to a contract extension.
Colombo said he loves Gates at center, calling him an “alpha male” when he slides into the position. He also said he prefers a big center and Gates stands at 6-foot-5.
“We like big centers,” Colombo said. “I worked with Travis Frederick in Dallas and he’s a big center. Big, athletic, strong. We’re looking for centers that can anchor the middle. One of the biggest things is getting depth right off the bat at center, just so he can kind of be the ultimate helper in there.”
Colombo’s biggest task will be finding left tackle and perhaps he has to look no further than first-round pick Andrew Thomas, who experts believe will a turnkey solution for the Giants at left tackle now that veteran Nate Solder opted out due to coronavirus concerns. Colombo said Thomas needs doom fine tuning but the talent is there.
“Andrew is a tremendous football player. At this level, it’s about fine-tuning some of those details,” Colombo said. “I love where Andrew is heading. Again, we have a long way to go. But he has the right mindset, he’s smart, he knows where some of his deficiencies are right now and he’s working every day to get better. There are not a lot of deficiencies.”
The main thing Colombo is stressing is righteous of Joe Judge’s book — attention to detail. That is something the Giants’ line has been lacking for some time.
“They know it wasn’t right previously. It never is when you lose a coaching staff,” Colombo said. “When you come back this year, they’re hungry. Having a conversation with each one of them, they want to get better. It’s our job as coaches to put them in a position to succeed. That’s my job, just trying to get in there, again, and just hammer them with every little detail and make them understand why. Why this is the right way to do it. They’ve bought in so far, and they’ll continue to keep buying in. We’re just going to keep pressing every single day to get as good as we possibly can, as quickly as we can.”
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