How can Giants' 21st-ranked offense improve? Find the end zone

The Giants offense, so far this season, has struggled, to say the least.

The offense ranks 21st in the league in scoring with an average of 15 points per game.

No offense can continue to live by field goals alone.

As wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson said, “We were able to throw the ball, but at the end of the day, we’ve got to score points and score touchdowns.”

The Giants' most recent game, and loss, seems long ago. It was Thursday against the Cowboys, and it included five field goals from Greg Joseph. That’s not enough.

“I think we've done a pretty consistent job of moving the ball over the past three weeks, specifically,” wide receiver Darius Slayton said. “I think outside of game one [a loss to the Vikings], I think last three games, like I said, we've moved the ball really well. We've gotten into scoring position fairly consistently. We just haven't been able to finish in the red zone like we wanted to, obviously, this last game, specifically.”

Malik Nabers has been the intended receiver on 38.2% of Daniel Jones’ targets. That’s the highest percentage in the league. His 35 receptions lead the league. He’s had three drops.

Nabers had 12 catches for 115 yards on Thursday night. He has 35 receptions for 386 yards and three touchdowns in four games.

Nabers sustained a concussion late in the  20-15 loss to the Cowboys. Coach Brian Daboll will update Nabers’ condition on Wednesday.

Slayton found reason for optimism on a Zoom call this week.

“I think on offense, we've done a good job establishing the run game at times,” Slayton said. “In the Washington game, we ran it really well. We ran it pretty well against Cleveland. Not as great against Dallas, but most of that was self-inflicted wounds. I think we've also done a pretty good job on offense of being efficient. I think we've wanted to maybe hit some of the more explosive, bigger plays. We've hit a couple of them, obviously could have hit more, but we've done a good job of being efficient, moving the chains and sustaining drives.”

Slayton has seen a lot as a Giant. Drafted by the team in the fifth round in 2019, he is a veteran in every way. He is sometimes part player and part spokesman for the team.

A few seasons ago, Slayton wasn’t playing a lot for the Giants. With that in mind, Slayton was asked about Jalin Hyatt this season. Hyatt can fly, but he hasn’t found a groove in the 2024 offense.

“That's the NFL,” Slayton said. “It's a very competitive league. Specifically, our team, we have a lot of good players on our team. Your maybe lack of playing or involvement at times is not always an indictment on you. Sometimes it's just the situation you're in, the people you're around.

“Obviously Jalin knows he’s a talented player. He knows he can help his team win. And we know he's a talented player. We know he can help this team win. But it's a long year. We've only played four games. The kind of dark reality of the NFL, sooner or later, somebody's going to get hurt. Stuff happens. In one way, shape, or form, this opportunity will come. For us as players, your job is just to be ready for whenever that opportunity presents itself.”

Among the issues for the Giants is the relative lack of deep shots from the offense.

Slayton did not disagree with that.

“Yeah, I think we've tried to get the shots up,” he said. “We've gotten them up a couple of times, we just haven't converted on them at as high of a clip as we would want to. And the reality of deep shots is you only hit — everybody hits a small percentage of them anyways. They're not easy plays to complete, but obviously we'd like to have completed more than we have to this point. But all you can do is get the shots up and try to make them when you get them.”

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.