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Cover 4: What to look for coming out of the bye

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With the team returning from the bye week, the Giants.com crew discusses what to look for in the second half of the season.

John Schmeelk: As the Giants head into the second half of the season, what adjustments opposing teams are making towards the Giants and how might it impact their effectiveness, especially on the offensive side of the ball? In Week 8, we saw the Seahawks begin to key on Daniel Jones' running ability. On many plays, they sent their backside linebacker up the field, instead of following the running back down the line. It limited Jones to only 20 rushing yards on six carries.

Seattle also committed a lot of personnel to stop the run, which is not anything different than what other teams have done this season, but they were more effective. With Evan Neal, Ben Bredeson and Daniel Bellinger out with injuries, the Giants had their least effective running game of the season. Saquon Barkley finished with only 53 yards on 20 carries. The team finished with only 225 yards, their lowest total of the season.

NFL teams have eight weeks of tape to study what Brian Daboll and Mike Kafka have put into this offense and how it works. They know the personnel limitations of the Giants' roster. The opponent will adjust to what they have seen. The Giants' playbook is famously thick, so let's see what answers the coaching staff comes back with to counter whatever adjustments opponents bring to the playing field.

Dan Salomone: Divisional games separate the contenders, and we'll see how the Giants fare in a back-loaded schedule. The Giants played just one NFC East opponent in the first half, a 23-16 loss to the Cowboys on Monday Night Football at MetLife Stadium. They come out of the break with back-to-back home games against the Lions and Texans, who are combined 3-12-1, but then comes a stretch of crucial divisional games. They play at Dallas on Thanksgiving Day, home vs. Washington and Philadelphia, and then at Washington – all in consecutive weeks.

The Eagles, whom the Giants play on the road in the regular-season finale, sit atop the league as the only remaining unbeaten team. The Cowboys, meanwhile, improved to 6-2 before their bye week, and the Commanders had climbed back to .500 with three consecutive wins until falling to the 7-1 Vikings after holing a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter. The surest way to the postseason is by winning your divisional games, which the Giants have not done consistently since their last berth. They are 9-22 against the NFC East since the start of the 2017 season.

Re-live the season with the best photos from the Giants' 2022 playoff campaign.

Lance Medow: Based on the performance against the Seahawks, the let's see how the offense performs without a strong run game. Seattle was very effective in containing both Saquon Barkley and Daniel Jones on the ground and as a result, Jones attempted 31 passes and was sacked five times. It's a copycat league, so clearly upcoming opponents will try to do the same. How does the offense respond and will members of the receiving corps step up? Darius Slayton has taken full advantage of his opportunities and in the second half of the season, Wan'Dale Robinson will be a player to watch now that's he's back in the mix following a knee injury that sidelined him for four games. With Daniel Bellinger recovering from eye surgery, tight end Lawrence Cager could see more work and given his length and previous experience as a receiver, he's also someone who could emerge as a playmaker.

On defense, it's all about that unit's ability to stop the run. Although they had a solid performance against the Seahawks, holding them to 87 yards on 25 attempts, four backs over the first seven games surpassed the century mark. In the final nine games, they're going to see several different backs including D'Andre Swift, Ezekiel Elliott, Tony Pollard, Miles Sanders, Dalvin Cook and Jonathan Taylor. How they perform against that group of versatile players will tell an awful lot about how the team navigates the second half and how opposing quarterbacks can attack the defense overall.

Matt Citak: How the second half of the 2022 season turns out for the Giants will depend on numerous factors, perhaps none more important than the performance of quarterback Daniel Jones.

The first eight games led to mixed results for Jones. The fourth-year quarterback has completed a career-best 65 percent of his passes and has earned a passer rating of 88.0, just narrowly beating out his previous high of 87.7. He leads the NFL with five game-winning drives, while he has already run for 363 yards on 64 carries, putting him on pace to easily top his previous career-highs in both yards and attempts. His three touchdowns on the ground are the most he's had in a season, and there are still nine games to go.

All of those numbers are great. However, Jones is also averaging a career-low 174.9 passing yards per game and has only thrown six touchdown passes in eight games. This is not entirely the young quarterback's fault, as the Giants rank in the Top 5 in rush attempts, yards and touchdowns on the season. With Saquon Barkley enjoying such a successful season, the offense has not needed Jones to do as much. But when they have needed him most, Jones has stepped up and led the offense down the field for points almost every time.

Potentially the most impressive part of Jones' development this season has been his improved ball security. After eight games, the 25-year-old has thrown only two interceptions and lost just two fumbles. The four total turnovers puts him on pace to shatter his career-low of 10 turnovers in 11 games last season. Jones' ability to protect the football has kept the Giants in close games, and will play a large role in the offense's success in the second half of the season.

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