The last thing Dave DeGuglielmo wanted to talk about was the eight sacks allowed by the Giants in their 26-7 loss to the Cardinals.
They happened, though.
“Good teams can pass block when everybody knows you have to throw the ball,’’ DeGuglielmo said Tuesday. “Good offensive lines can do that. We were not a good offensive line the other day. Yeah, I feel terrible about it. I feel terrible for the guy who is taking the hits, that’s who I feel terrible about it for.’’
Quarterback Daniel Jones took the hits and the offensive linemen took the brunt of the criticism from their coach. DeGuglielmo took over during the bye in Week 11 after Marc Colombo was fired, then the Giants beat the Bengals and Seahawks, with the line leading the way. The unit took a step back as a four-game winning streak came to an end Sunday and the colorful assistant did not mince words about the regression.
He was not happy with the way the line handled the tackle-end stunts by the Cardinals defensive line, breakdowns that caused several sacks.
“Well, I think if you watch the film it really hasn’t been handled well all year,’’ DeGuglielmo said.
The running game averaged a healthy 4.6 yards per attempt but ran it only 17 times, with a long gain of 16 yards.
“I don’t think our double-teams were very good,’’ DeGuglielmo said. “We’ve made that a point of emphasis and we just didn’t rise to the occasion.’’
Is it fair to day the way Jones struggled, laboring on a strained right hamstring, unable to run, that it was akin to playing with one hand tied behind his back?
“That’s probably fair, to an extent,’’ quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski said. “That’s one of the better things he does, that’s what makes him who he is. I can think of a couple of plays off the top of my head where he kind of broke out and got out and you could tell he wanted to run but he had to be a little bit smart with it. He threw one away and did what he had to do. Yeah, certainly limited.’’
It is no secret outside linebackers coach Bret Bielema is interested in returning to college. He was the head coach at Wisconsin and Arkansas and his name surfaces often when an opening arises. He has been linked to the job at Illinois, where Lovie Smith was recently fired. Bielema is well-versed in the Big Ten — he played at Iowa — and is from the state of Illinois.
“It’s always a blessing to hear your name mentioned for different opportunities but I really do just concentrate on my task at hand, here in the office grinding out for Sunday’s game,’’ Bielema said. “I worry about the job I have and hopefully people take notice of the job I do.’’
Freddie Kitchens made it through one year in Cleveland as the head coach. He went 6-10 in 2019 and then was dismissed, resurfacing as the Giants’ tight end coach. The Browns are 9-4 entering Sunday’s game with the Giants.
“Well, first of all, I couldn’t be happier for the fans of Cleveland,’’ Kitchens said. “They’ve waited a long time to have something like that to go to the games and cheer for. But there are no two teams that are ever the same. We say that every year. This team is playing very well. They’re very talented, they’ve always been very talented. They’re well-coached. They’re playing hard. They’re doing all of the things necessary to have a successful season.’’
