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The New York Giants were in need of a shot in the arm on offense this past offseason and landed the top wide receiver in former Detroit Lion Kenny Golladay.
Golladay was sidelined most of training camp with a hamstring issue and did not play in any of the Giants’ preseason games. That led to some anxiety among Giants fans, wondering how Golladay would mesh with quarterback Daniel Jones when the regular season rolled around.
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That moment came last Sunday when the Giants opened their 2021 schedule at home against the Denver Broncos. Golladay played 85 percent of the offensive snaps and caught four passes for 64 yards.
Several of those catches were what are we classify as “contested,” meaning the receiver is covered by defender(s) but comes out of the pack with the football.
ones has a penchant for throwing into tight windows and the Giants felt Golladay — who has made a career out of such catches — would help Jones out immensely.
“I wouldn’t just say he can have the mindset of, ‘letting me throw it into coverage,'” said Golladay on Monday. “But in this league, there’s going to be tight coverage. I’m just glad I was able to make those plays because everything isn’t going to be just wide open. I do want him to have that trust in me and I know that’s going to take time.”
The Giants had just seven points on the board until the final seconds of the game. Not exactly what they had planned for the afternoon. They moved the football incrementally but failed to complete drives for one reason or another.
Golladay believes things will round into shape going forward and not only will the Giants be more efficient but could become explosive.
“I can speak for everyone in we try to go into every game trying to be explosive. We want to make those explosive plays. Of course, I’m going to say I want myself and the rest of the guys on the offense to come in with just that mindset and just dominate and have explosive plays,” Golladay said.
But first, Golladay and Jones have to strengthen their rapport.
“We’ve just got to build from here and I feel like we’ll do that. Like I said, we got practice that will help us with that. Then just being able to get those balls from him in the game, that was good because then you can just see a little bit of what I can do. Just to help him and just help the team,” he said.
They’ve got only a few days to do that this week as they face the Washington Football Team on the road on Thursday night.
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