The New York Giants are trying to answer questions about what went wrong this year. The offense played the largest part in why the team finished 7-9 following a six-game losing streak to start the year off. Eli Manning and the wide receivers never appeared to be on the same page and people in the front office took notice. Days after owner John Mara ripped the unit as "broken", head coach Tom Coughlin agreed.
Mara got right to the point in his end-of-year press conference, "Seven-and-nine stinks." The owner put everyone on notice, telling reporters that he certainly expected there to be some changes in all aspects of the team. While Coughlin is safe, others remain uncertain of their return. The biggest thing Mara had to say during the press conference was a dig at the offensive unit.
Manning toss a team-record 27 interceptions while getting sacked 39 times. They ranked 28th in yards and points scored while putting up just 83.3 rushing yards a game.
"I think our offense is broken right now and we need to fix that," Mara said, via Newsday.com. "We need to make some improvements on our defense, too, but obviously on the offensive side of the ball, we have to improve. We can't go into next season with the same personnel."
The Giants offense came under fire early. Both wide receiver Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks held out for a portion of OTAs and team mini-camps due to contract disagreements. Cruz wanted a new long-term deal, while Nicks held out to likely send a message. The result was missing key time with Manning developing chemistry and getting into a rhythm.
During an appearance on WFAN, Coughlin agreed with Mara noted that Manning "lost trust" in both receivers over the course of the season and a lot of that was due to their limited time together before the season started. The three lacked a lot of miscommunication and the coach noted that normally after an interception, they would talk on the sideline and everyone was "trying to run a different route" than expected.
Coughlin expects this to change come next season and so does Cruz. Speaking for the first time since undergoing a minor knee surgery, the wide receiver admitted the holdouts certainly hurt the offense more than he expected and everyone intends on putting in more offseason work.
"I think that's the one thing we lacked, was kind of that continuity from a receiver standpoint with our quarterback," Cruz said, via NJ.com. "And I want to build that earlier this year, whether he have to set some time apart with the receivers and Eli whenever he's ready and schedule it right so we can build not only on the field but off the field. We want to get to know each other more and stuff like that. I feel like there was a little bit of a disconnect there that we want to get back for this football team."
