New York Giants tight ends coach Derek Dooley says it’s hard to get skill players involved and producing when they’re riding the pine hurt.
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The New York Giants have seen a lack of production from their skill position players this season. High-priced free agent wide receiver Kenny Golladay, who has repeatedly expressed his frustrations, is the perfect example.
Golladay was brought in to be a big-play receiver who makes contested catches and serves as a primary red zone threat. But to date, he has just 26 receptions for 409 yards and zero touchdowns.
Similarly, tight end Kyle Rudolph has 19 receptions for 165 yards and one touchdown. Rookie wide receiver Kadarius Toney has just 35 receptions for 392 yards and no touchdowns. And fellow wide receiver Sterling Shepard has 32 catches for 324 yards and one touchdown.
You can go on down the line and the production from those players just isn’t there. So, how do the Giants get these guys more involved?
Tight ends coach Derek Dooley explained the difficultly in a very straightforward way on Thursday.
“Obviously, the first key element of getting the skill players involved is having them dress out on game day, which is a really important thing. It’s hard to get them the ball when they’re in the sweat suit,” Dooley said.
And there you pretty much have it.
The Giants currently lead the NFL in players on injured reserve and that doesn’t even count the number of starts missed due to injury. For example, Golladay and Toney have missed three games, Shepard has missed seven games, Rudolph missed a game and running back Saquon Barkley has missed four games.
Again, you can just keep going down the line and finding more of the same.
Even when the Giants’ skill players are healthy and on the field, the production has been lacking. Part of that is likely due to rust and rapport issues, but Dooley suggests there’s more to it.
“When you’re on good offenses, which all of us on our staff have been a part of, not only are the good players playing with a great spirit, but then when the other guys, the role players, get an opportunity they pounce on it,” Dooley said.
For the Giants, the role players have been just as banged up as the starters. The same issues persist there in terms of continuity and familiarity. It’s become a revolving door at nearly every position.
“Obviously, the results are not what we want and that’s our job to try to get a better result,” Dooley added.
The Giants have just five games remaining to figure it out. Unfortunately, with injuries now plaguing their quarterbacks, an turn of the corner is going to be much more difficult than it would have been just a few weeks ago.
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