The New York Giants experienced moderate success on offense in 2022, their first year under coordinator Mike Kafka.
Quarterback Daniel Jones took a significant leap in his development while running back Saquon Barkley returned to health and had a career year. However, the unit was limited due to injury, inconsistency and lacking talent at wide receiver.
This offseason, general manager Joe Schoen addressed the problem areas and created a stockpile at wide receiver in addition to acquiring tight end Darren Waller via trade.
The new pieces give Kafka hope that the offense can become more dynamic and, ideally, start faster.
“We need to start faster,” Kafka said on the Giants Huddle: Front Office Edition podcast. “For us as an offense, that’s probably the one thing that we’re emphasizing — just a fast start. I think we did as a team last year but as an offense specifically, I think we can get off to a better start.
“That was a big-time study for us as a group, as a staff. We went and talked to the players throughout the phases here. That’s been a huge emphasis.”
The addition of speed on offense should help the Giants do exactly that.
“I think any time you have flexibility in your scheme it gives you an advantage,” Kafka said. “Being able to move pieces around — put guys in the backfield, out of the backfield, spread the field, tighten and condense it. It just adds more, whether it’s gaps in the run game, adds more space on the field for defenders to defend. It gives you more multiplicity within the offense.”
Assuming the Giants can remain healthy, there are enough pieces on offense to create mismatches they wouldn’t have benefited from a season ago. No longer can a defense sell out on stopping the run or sell out on stopping the pass without the risk of getting beaten by the opposite.
But as Kafka notes, the big key in 2023 is starting fast. That will set the tone for each game and could result in their opponents playing from behind more often than not.
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