There was nothing great about the 18 snaps the Giants’ starting offensive line logged Friday in preseason opening loss to the Steelers. There also was nothing egregious and, in this case, no news is better than bad news.
“We did some good things, other things we could do better,’’ right guard Justin Pugh said.
For one night, the young tackles held up. Ereck Flowers on the left side and Bobby Hart on the right side did not allow a pressure, quarterback hit or sack in their 12 pass-block opportunities, according to Pro Football Focus.
As far as coach Ben McAdoo’s stated of goal of establishing a presence in the run game, well, that will have to wait at least another week. The Giants ran it 23 times and averaged just 3.2 yards per attempt. Paul Perkins, the starting running back, gained 7 yards on his first carry but then lost 4 and 2 yards on his next two tries, finishing with 3 yards on five attempts.
“I think there’s a lot of promising things out there, everybody did really well, everybody saw the holes really well,’’ Perkins said. “Offensive line did a really good job blocking. When there were holes, there were holes, and the stuff we were messing up on were minor fundamental things, something easy that we can clean up.’’
McAdoo said there were “some hits and some misses’’ in the running game and pointed out Perkins’ longest run of the night as wasteful.
“First play of the ballgame, Perkins was one-on-one with the safety, we need more than 7 yards there, he’s got to make him miss, he’s got to work him over,’’ McAdoo said. “We got to at least get a first down out of that play.’’
The Giants came out of the game healthy. The only injuries were to S Duke Ihenacho (hamstring) and LB Calvin Munson (knee), and neither was serious.
McAdoo after studying the play of quarterbacks Josh Johnson and Geno Smith: “They both did some good things in the ballgame but there were definitely some inconsistencies.’’
Competition for the last job at tight end is heating up. McAdoo said Will Tye “had some wiggle, did some good things on special teams, which will help him.’’
As for Matt LaCosse, McAdoo said, “We need to get him to stay on his feet. He slipped down a few times, a couple guys did in the game. He needs to stay on his feet a little better but he’ll have plenty of opportunities.’’
Aldrick Rosas drilling a 52-yard field goal was exactly what the Giants wanted to see from the rookie. McAdoo admitted he flirted with the idea of going for a 53-yarder late in the game, with the Giants down eight points, to further test Rosas.
“I wanted to kick it there, but I also wanted to give the guys a chance to go down and score to tie the ballgame or give us a chance to tie the ballgame,’’ McAdoo said.