Green Bay Packers: Why they win, why they lose vs. NY Giants
Same Look, Different Play: The Giants promoted Ben McAdoo as their head coach in place of Tom Coughlin with the intention of their offense taking the next step as a well-balanced and prolific unit similar to Packer teams that the 39-year-old had been a part of from 2006 through 2013.
So far, though, the Big Blue offensive attack has been much ado about nothing in that they rank 25th in yards and 26th in scoring.
While the Giants did break the bank by adding big-name free agents on defense, they did little to nothing in attempting to significantly upgrade the other side of the ball.
Still, McAdoo doesn’t get a pass for this since his predictable ways as the team’s lead strategist and play caller have made Manning and friends an easy group to defend.
Specifically, the first-year head coach has fallen in love with his 11 personnel packages (one running back, one tight end and three receivers) and calls his plays out that formation at about a 90-percent clip. The league average in using that look—in case you were wondering—is 59 percent.
McAdoo, moreover, isn’t only a creature of habit when it comes to his personnel usage, there is also a redundancy in the way his plays are executed.
Take, for instance, his decision to call 15 of 16 running plays that went straight up the middle which only provided more fuel for his critics that have been quick to point out how McAdoo’s simple offense is an indication that he may have too much on his plate as both head coach and chief play caller.
In an attempt to defend his methods, the Homer City, PA. native publicly stated that he likes going with three receivers due to the fact that he has three “good players” in that particular personnel grouping in reference to his top three wideouts.
The problem with that is that one of those three pass catchers often seems to get cut out of the action, as was seen in a Week-12 win over Cleveland in which Sterling Shephard went the entire game without the ball being thrown his way.
Victor Cruz also knows what it’s like to get the cold shoulder, as he’s played in four games in which he’s received two targets or fewer.
McAdoo’s unimaginative game management is tough to comprehend considering that he stands on the sideline with a play sheet that’s roughly the size of a Budweiser billboard you might see on your drive home.
Now let’s take a look at why the Packers will lose