Film breakdown: Giants’ missed opportunities vs. Eagles on offense

During Monday’s press conference with the media, New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll commented on “four or five” opportunities for big plays that the Giants’ offense couldn’t - for one reason or another - capitalize on.

The Giants have struggled to create explosive plays all season. New York currently ranks last in the NFL,with only 33 total explosive plays (20 yards or more). The next-lowest team is the Los Angeles Rams with 35 and the Pittsburgh Steelers with 38.

New York’s offense only has 21 explosive plays through the air. The Ravens are the second-lowest with 27. The inability to consistently threaten teams with explosive playmaking ability is one of the many reasons why the Giants have struggled to establish the run.

Darius Slayton has done a solid job in 50-50 situations over the last month, but the Giants' passing attack remains an issue. When the Giants were winning, Daniel Jones was efficient as a passer, specifically on play-action passes.

Now, the Giants are inefficient on the ground, defenses understand what the Giants try to do with Jones on the bootleg, and the quick game passing attack has been erratic and, at times, not used often enough.

Despite the frustrating nature of the Giants' passing attack, New York had - as Daboll stated - several opportunities downfield that were not explored. Many of these plays were longer developing routes that left an already bad Giants protection vulnerable.

Still, much like the loss against Detroit, there were opportunities deep that New York could not connect on. The Giants are not a talented enough team to leave explosive plays on the field when a wide receiver clearly has vertical separation.

I wanted to review some of the tape and see which plays coach Daboll may be referencing, so here are a few plays that fit the description from Sunday’s loss against the Eagles.