Andrew Thomas cannot solve the Giants’ offensive line crisis by himself, but he can make it so one fewer alarm is sounding.
Except that Ezeudu, Peart and even Marcus McKethan in his NFL debut might be needed in rotations or to put out fires on the right side if guard Mark Glowinski and tackle Evan Neal do not clean up their mistakes after they allowed a combined 17 pressures and four sacks in Week 1.“You don’t just all of a sudden start making things up,” offensive line coach Bobby Johnson said. “I basically just make it black-and-white, and don’t handle them with kid gloves.
All eyes are on Neal, the 2022 first-round pick, who was advertised as much-improved after he tweaked his pass-blocking stance and hired outside trainers. Instead, the results — he graded No. 61 of 64 offensive tackles by Pro Football Focus — seemed the same as in his disappointing rookie season.“I disagree that it was the same as last year for him,” Johnson said. “He’s put a lot of time in. He continues to improve. But it doesn’t really matter because we are a group.
“It sometimes takes a little bit of time to get offensive line down — our position is mentally draining — but the issue is there, is a need to get it done quicker when you’re a team with playoff aspirations and there’s a spotlight on you specifically because you are a first-round pick,” said Schwartz, an analyst for SiriusXM NFL.“Do your practice habits change because you are not playing well? Are you not studying quite the same?” Schwartz said.