Giants offensive lineman Justin Pugh stood in front of his locker at MetLife Stadium a few minutes before midnight Monday steadfastly defending his fellow lineman Ereck Flowers.
The 0-2 Giants had just concluded another abysmal offensive performance in a 24-10 loss to the 2-0 Detroit Lions, and Flowers, their left tackle, in particular had been glaringly exposed in front of a nationally televised audience, giving up three sacks to Lions defensive end Ezekiel “Ziggy” Ansah.
“I’ve been in his shoes before…The NFL is tough to play tackle. I can tell you that firsthand. And to play left tackle in the NFL is very, very hard,” said Pugh, who was drafted by the Giants in the first round in 2013 out of Syracuse.
He continued, “So everyone wants to come and take shots at Ereck. That’s trying to kick somebody while they’re down. He knows he didn’t do what he was supposed to do tonight. He’s 23 years old going out there trying to do everything he can…It hurts me to see one of my teammates, someone I try to help out, get beat up like that because it’s tough to go out there and play that position. I didn’t play great. Go put my film on. It’s five guys…We can do a better job. We can run the ball better. So when it comes to offensive line play, it’s all five of us…So if you’re going to come bash us, don’t bash one guy.”
Pugh’s viewpoint was plausible in that collectively, the Giants’ offense continued to be in crisis, failing to score at least 20 points for the eighth consecutive game dating back to last season. Furthermore, the entirety of the Giants’ offensive line has been suspect since the 2015 campaign, and to compound their current struggles, Pugh was moved from left guard to right tackle early in the first quarter against the Lions after the starter at that position, Bobby Hart, gave up a sack and injured his right ankle.
Hart was subsequently sidelined for the remainder of the evening and Pugh was moved to a spot on the line at which he hadn’t taken a single snap since the last game of the 2015 season.
The Giants will travel to Philadelphia this Sunday to meet up with the Eagles, an NFC East division rival, confronting another forceful pass rushing defensive unit. But they have more concerns than just the offensive line. Quarterback Eli Manning has been subpar in the first two games of this season. Wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., who had a limited role in his season debut Monday, is still not fully recovered from a high ankle sprain, and the running game continues to be ineffective. Additionally, the special teams unit has been more of a negative than a positive so far.
“We have to analyze everything we’re doing,” said Giants head coach Ben McAdoo. “We can’t pull points out of a hat. We have to block better. We have to handle the ball better. We can’t turn the ball over.”
Simple football not easily resolved.