Everyone breathed a sigh of relief last week when the North Carolina doctor gave a better assessment of Schwartz’s dislocated toe. This meant Schwartz would be able to return quicker, with many eyeing a start after 2 or possibly 3 games. Yesterday we learned that by placing Schwartz on the short term IR, he will not be able to return until the Nov 3 game (after the Week 8 bye) vs IND. So Schwartz will lose SEVEN games. The last time I checked, that was not 2-3 games. To say this is not good is the understatement of the year.
Without Schwartz, who is a solid Guard, the OL is in tatters. Pugh is probably the best of the remaining lot, and even he looked inconsistent in preseason. Beatty and Walton are both returning from a bad injury, so their form is a question mark. Mosley has a back injury, and even when he was in there he was the weakest link. The Giants signed G Adam Snyder, a player released by the 49ers. He’s “average minus,” says Wonder. Charles Brown is a backup, not a starter. The rookie, Weston Richburg, is… a rookie. So here’s the deal, Giants fans- the OL is going to be held together with scotch tape and sticky glue. Good luck with that.
McAdoo, for his part, will run a lot more screens in order to help keep opposing DLs from pinning their ears back too much. But even so, Eli Manning is going to be in trouble back there. You have to know that the Giants are going to run the ball A LOT this year. They have little choice. And at least the small ball west coast offense will get the ball out of Eli’s hands quickly so he doesn’t get killed. And speaking of getting killed, what are the chances that Eli’s consecutive starts streak ends in 2014? We think that is likely. He’s getting older. At 33, you take longer to heal from injury. It all adds up to more storm clouds than sunny skies. That’s what the loss of Schwartz does for an already shaky OL. That’s not negativism, that’s objective observation. We’ll be rooting for the best, but this is a rebuilding year to us.
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