Giants rue ‘very frustrating’ red zone woes: 'We just have to execute'

Scoring is down across the NFL, but the Giants are experiencing something a bit worse than the norm: Big Blue has scored just 60 points through four weeks and scored six touchdowns, none of which were scored in their home stadium.

“We've got to punch it in. We've got to finish drives,” quarterback Daniel Jones said after a touchdown-less 20-15 loss to the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday. “We did that well last week in Cleveland. We did that well in Washington. I don't think there's anything different about this football field. It's the same size and playing the same game, so we've just got to punch it in.”

On a short week, the Giants made two trips to the red zone but came away with just six points. New York went 3-for-3 in Week 2 at Washington and 3-for-4 last time in Cleveland, reverting back to an 0-for-3 day (with just three points scored) in the season opener at home to Minnesota.

“I’d say they’re all a bit different,” head coach Brian Daboll said Friday when asked about the red zone issues. “But that's what we'll do here the next couple days. Go back, revisit the first four games. See some of the things that are improving.

“You don't score that many points and only punt once. We’ve got to be able to generate and get the ball into the end zone. So, there's been some progress. We’ve got to finish those drives.”

Wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson, who was targeted twice in the red zone Thursday, added: “We just have to execute in the red zone. We're getting down there. We're doing what we have to do. We just can't have negative plays, and we’ve just got to finish with touchdowns instead of field goals. It's as simple as that.”

Jones pointed to the self-inflicted nature of the failure in the red zone.

“I think we just didn't execute in those positions,” the QB said after the game. “We got behind the sticks with some penalties and with some unforced errors and just didn't execute the same as we had leading up to that point. I thought we moved the ball well and drove it, but we didn't finish.”

Overall, the dissatisfaction at the end results is palpable.

“Very frustrating. Very frustrating. We're expected to score touchdowns and put points on the board,” Jones said. “And in a game that I felt like we were able to do a lot and move the ball well and execute a lot of stuff well, we didn't execute the red zone stuff and didn't punch it in so that's frustrating.”

Fourth down decisions

With touchdowns at a premium, the Giants had a great chance to score one on the first drive of the second half. But, even with nine minutes left in the third quarter and down 14-9, it was surprising to see Daboll decide to kick a fourth field goal of the game on a 4th-and-goal from the three-yard line.

“We were going to go for points on that one,” the head coach said after the game.

When asked why, he said, “It was a close game, so we didn't know what we would need at the end there. But we were going to kick it.”

ESPN's Seth Walder had the decision as a clear “go” situation, with the Giants gaining 3.9 percent in win probability by going for the touchdown. Ben Baldwin's 4th down decision bot had it as go, with the New York gaining 2.9 percent in win probability by going for it.

Daboll said Friday that “each game is a little bit different” with “how the game is being played” when making these kinds of decisions.

“You do what you need to do each game that you think you need to do to go ahead and give yourself a chance,” he said. “So, depending on how the game's going, the score, how the defense is playing, how the offense is playing, conversions. We went for, I don't know, four this year, whatever it may be, whether it was backed up a little bit or not. I think each game is a little different.”

On the previous drive, the Giants declined an offside penalty against Dallas to keep a 38-yard field goal on the board in the second quarter. Had they accepted the penalty, they would have had a 4th-and-3 from the Dallas 15-yard line down 14-6.

With touchdowns at a premium, an extra down and more aggressive strategy might be deployed.

Spreading ball around

After not getting much thrown his way in Week 1, rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers has become the primary focus of the Giants’ passing offense with 18, 12 and 15 targets over the next three games, which he converted into 30 catches for 320 yards and three touchdowns.

However, Nabers – who leads the NFL with a 38.2 percent target share – sustained a concussion in Thursday’s loss and even with the mini-bye his status is not a certainty for Week 5 in Seattle.

So far the wide receiver pairing of Nabers and Robinson has accounted for 90 of the 136 targets.

“You try to do what you can do to get the ball in your playmakers’ hands,” Daboll said. “I think those two guys are two good playmakers for us. You throw the ball, whatever it was, 40 times last night and they accounted for half of those and then the other pieces go.”

Daboll was left looking at the missed chances.

“I thought [Darius Slayton] did a good job of creating separation. He had a couple opportunities. He could’ve had about five [catches] for over a hundred [yards],” he said on Friday. “We ask those guys, the tight ends in particular, to block a fair amount, use them in protection. But, I'd say, everybody's viable on each and every play, but you certainly try to get the ball to the guys like a Malik, like a Wan’Dale, like a Slay that you think you can do some stuff with the ball in their hands.”

Robinson, who hauled in 11 receptions and 14 targets for 71 yards in the loss, said spreading the ball around more could help the offense but it is up to the receivers to make that happen.

“At the end of the day, guys have got to go out there and get open,” he said. “I think DJ just goes through his reads and once he sees what he sees, and delivers the ball to whoever.

“Just got to keep going each week and doing what we’ve got to do and doing what we can as an offense just to go out there and make plays.”