New York Giants' offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride has watched the Giants struggle for three games, turning the ball over 13 times, being last in the league in rushing, having Eli Manning get sacked seven times a week ago and being shut out by the Carolina Panthers.
As the veteran offensive coordinator tries to get the Giants' attack moving again, the job is complicated by the rash of injuries that will cause the Giants to field an inexperienced offensive line on Sunday vs. the Kansas City Chiefs.
"We went through a tough time our first year here when we made the decision to depart the Kurt Warner era and go into the Eli Manning era. You understood there was going to be some growth and some growing pains and there were. Now it's not the quarterback position, but it's some other spots, in the backs and in the line, you're going through some growing pains as well," Gilbride said this week. "It's never pleasant, but the good thing is we're working at it and I think no one has quit and they've hung together. They're doing all of those things right and you hope it pays off."
Gilbride was asked if the Giants would use the no-huddle or make any other schematic changes to try and help the young line.
"We’ll try to do whatever we can to galvanize this group and give them a chance," Gilbride said. "The big thing is can you intellectually handle the scheme, the schematic challenges that are inherent in their defensive approach, which is quite significant.
"You try to do some things like that to give yourself a scheme when you're not just able to line up and knock people off the ball. You try to give illusions of one thing and, in fact, come back and do something different. That's what we did. You can only do that so many times. You're not going to do that 60 plays a game. You're not going to fool them 60 plays a game. You need to execute and that's where we have to upgrade."
Gilbride also admitted that the constant juggling of the offensive line and the lack of practice time together has hampered the offense.
"Seemingly we've been doing that all year, so it's not a departure from what's been going on. Even when we've had guys, they've been injured and not playing the full allotment of practice time. It's something you wish you weren't as familiar with as we are, but we've been doing it all along," Gilbride said. "I guess down the road it will be good for us, but right now it does unquestionably slow down your progress."