The New York Giants' offense still appears off. The team is attempting to avoid the severe slump of last season, hoping to bounce back in 2014 a stronger unit. However, through three preseason games, the starters for the Giants have yet to leave a real positive impression. Early injuries in camp but inconsistencies during the games have worried the coaching staff that a repeat of last season could be looming. However, the players have no concerns heading into Week 1.
Eli Manning and Victor Cruz are not worried, but Tom Coughlin is. The head coach had some choice words about the Giants performance in their third preseason game, noting that the team is not showing any urgency or improvement on the field. Through 11 series in the preseason, the Giants starters have given in to five three-and-outs while eight ended in punts and one in a lost fumble.
"It's not written in stone about what you do in the last preseason game either,'' Coughlin said, via Paul Schwartz of the New York Post. "The idea is to come out of this having your team prepared throughout the course of these games so that when you head into the regular season you're ready to go. We still got some work to do along those lines.''
Manning is not worried. While the media might be making a big deal out of the preseason slumps, the quarterback notes that he believes improvements are coming and chemistry is building. He might want to hope that is true because Coughlin is threatening to make them play all of the final preseason games in order to show some kind of momentum heading into the season.
"No, I don't worry too much," Manning said, via the New York Daily News. "Obviously you want to go out there and you want to play well. You feel like you should be able to find completions and do things well. But you can't get worried at this point in time."
Cruz is echoing the words of the quarterback. The wide receiver comes in as the leader of the group that no longer features Hakeem Nicks, but does include an injured Odell Beckham Jr. He believes right now the Giants are just keeping things simple and basic which is why there has not been a lot of scoring of flashiness in these preseason games. He remains confident that what is happening now will be an indication of what is to come for the Giants.
"Mainly because we haven't shown a lot," Cruz said, via NJ.com. "We haven't given a lot of plays, tipped our hands on a lot of things we're showing [in practice]. It's pretty base stuff [in preseason games]. "We just have to do a better job of executing."
