That rumble you heard on Tuesday was the sound of things being shaken up in East Rutherford, where head coach Joe Judge finally reached the boiling point with the offense and sent now-former offensive coordinator Jason Garrett packing.
The timing is curious, to say the least, as rather than make a move before the bye week, the decision came after the Giants were embarrassed on national television by the Bucs on Monday night.
Why wait to decide after the bye week was in the books?
"We had played a stretch of three games leading into it where I thought as a team we were making some progress overall," Judge explained Tuesday. "There were some things we had to address and change and improve on, but ultimately, I thought going into the bye week giving it a little bit more time going forward. I just want to make sure that we continue to make progress in the right direction."
So here they are, in search of a spark as they desperately try to salvage a season fast slipping away from them to top their six wins from a year ago. They'll get their chance against the Philadelphia Eagles, whom they're seeing for the first time this week.
Here's a look at the key storylines developing this week.
Who's Calling Plays?
Judge denied a report that he named Freddie Kitchens, currently the team's senior offensive assistant, Garrett's replacement as the play-caller. Instead, he said the game plan development will be a collaborative effort (which is how it has always been) and that the actual game-day roles are still to be determined.
"We’re going to talk as a staff and we’re going to go through a number of things with the offensive staff throughout the week," Judge said, adding, "We’ll make those decisions and get everything ironed out before the game."
Given that Kitchens was Judge's first choice last year to fill in Garrett when he contracted COVID-19 last year, it's probably a safe assumption that Kitchens will call the plays moving forward.
How Will the Offense Change?
Probably not all that much, as it's much too late in the season to install new packages and concepts or to swap out players.
But what Kitchens, or whoever gets the headset Sunday, can do is mix up the play selection and route concepts to put the players in a far better position to find success.
Judge didn't specify what might change when he spoke to the media Tuesday night, but his expectations were made pretty clear that he wants to see better production.
"There’s going to be a lot of the same players out there and it’ll still be elements of the playbook that we’ll have out there," Judge said. "We’ll see as new wrinkles develop and new schemes and concepts that may be included. Ultimately, we have to put the players in position to execute, but we’ve got to find something to go ahead and give us an opportunity to change things up a little bit."
What about the Defense?
The defense has flown under the radar in the Monday night fiasco with all the focus on the offense. But the unit was just as much to blame for the debacle.
One issue was the lack of a pass rush. Bucs quarterback Tom Brady averaged 1.95 seconds when not under pressure and 3.10 seconds when he WAS under pressure.
"We’ve got to do a better job of getting off the field and they did a good job of finding some matchups," Judge said. "They did a good job last night in terms of getting the ball out very quickly, having answers before the snap and isolating some positions that negated the pass rush. We obviously have to do a better job of that."
Will the Giants ever get all their injured skill makers back?
The Giants got back left tackle Andrew Thomas and running back Saquon Barkley and were missing only receiver Sterling Shepard (quad) on Monday night. But then tight end Kyle Rudolph suffered an injury, making his status for Sunday's game unknown.
How will the Giants respond to this latest adversity?
If adversity builds character, then the Giants should be up for a character award.
But on Monday night, scans of the Giants sideline raised some questions regarding the players' demeanor, whose body language looked subdued and defeated.
After the game, Judge didn't want to hear it. “I thought our guys were in tune to the game, competitive," he said.
Judge also dug his heels in further, determined to get this program on track.
"I’m in charge of this team," he said. "I don’t point fingers. I don’t make excuses. We’re going to get this right.
"I just told the players, you just show up on Wednesday ready to go, that’s it – you just show up ready to go.”
Will the players respond, or have things gone so far south that pretty soon, guys will be tuning out the coach?
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