ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Justin Pugh can’t cure the Giants’ offensive line woes by himself in his second stint with the franchise he calls home.
But it was a sight for sore eyes when Pugh got elevated from the practice squad to start at left guard Sunday night against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium.
Pugh, 33, the Giants’ 2013 first-round pick, brings pedigree and perspective to a young line that didn’t have the ability or confidence to stop the bleeding during a disastrous first five weeks.
“I started my career 0-6,” Pugh said this week. “It was probably the toughest time to be here. Coach [Tom] Coughlin was under fire. I was a rookie. I thought what the hell was going on? I didn’t know what to do. And that’s what I told the guys: stay the course, keep working, keep doing your job.
“I’ve been through the ups and downs,” he added. “I’ve been to the playoffs here like they were last year. All you can continue to do is the little things every single day, and we’ll get where we want to be.”
It will be a long climb to get where they want to be.
The Giants offense allowed 51 quarterback hits and a league-high 30 sacks during their 1-4 start.
Tyrod Taylor had to start Sunday night’s game because Daniel Jones (neck) got hurt the previous week on a crushing sack by Miami Dolphins outside linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel.
Per NFL NextGen Stats, the Giants’ 85 QB pressures entering Sunday’s game were tied for third-worst in the league; their 43.4% pressure percentage was fourth-worst; and their 84 QB hurries were fourth-worst.
Jones has a -8.7 expected points added sack rating, per ESPN Stats & Info, the second-worst EPA on sacks ahead of only Washington’s Sam Howell (-9.7).
The average age on coach Bobby Johnson’s line is just 25.4 years old, and that was increased by nearly a year by Pugh’s temporary (for now) addition to the active roster. They look more like a rebuilding developmental unit than a team that can even compete in games.
But Johnson said there are no excuses.
“I look at it this way: this is a performance-based business,” the offensive line coach said Friday. “There’s a sign behind my desk that says, ‘Nobody cares. Work harder.’ Nobody wants to hear it’s developmental. And to be honest with you, my guys don’t wanna hear that. We wanna play better the next opportunity we have. And that’s how we approach it.”
That explains Pugh’s signing and relatively rapid ramp-up to the Week 6 lineup. The Giants are scrambling for answers just to be competent up front.
They even worked out former Cowboys tackle La’el Collins early in the week after he visited the Jets. But it’s not clear if Collins, 30, is healthy enough to play football.
Collins during the offseason had been rehabbing a torn ACL that he suffered last December. But the Cincinnati Bengals cut him off their reserve/physically unable to perform list in early September. And the Jets and Giants both let him leave their buildings this past week.
Brian Daboll’s review of Collins’ workout was: “He did a good job.”
Asked if Collins looked healthy enough to play football relatively soon, Daboll added: “I mean, he’s out there running in shorts. He did a good job. A good workout.”
So the search for reinforcements continues.
Pugh is already here, though, even if he hasn’t played in a game since tearing his right ACL with the Arizona Cardinals on Oct. 16, 2022, almost a year to the day Sunday.
Wednesday marked his first fully padded practice “for the first time in a year.” So he’s still knocking off the rust. And he weighs only 292 pounds.
But Pugh said he got comfortable with playing at a lighter weight in Arizona. And the only reason the Giants signed him to their practice squad on Oct. 3 was because he proved he was healthy during a Week 3 workout while the Giants were in Arizona.
Then he proved he was healthy enough to play in a game in practice this week.
“I’m right where I’d hoped to be,” he said. “The knee feels great.”
The hope now is that Pugh’s addition helps to gradually steady this offensive line for an improved midseason stretch.
When injured rookie center John Michael Schmitz (shoulder) returns, an interior trio of Pugh at left guard, Schmitz at center and Ben Bredeson at right guard would be by far the best inside protection Joe Schoen and Daboll have given their quarterback so far this season.
Bredeson has been pinch-hitting at center with Schmitz out, but he is much better and more valuable at guard.
Solidifying the interior is even more critical now because of the Giants’ dire injury and talent situation at tackle.
Left tackle Andrew Thomas (left hamstring) missed all of this week’s practices and a fifth straight game on Sunday, and his status for the future is unknown.
Right tackle Evan Neal has been battling a bad ankle sprain for several weeks. There was a sense he would push through it on Sunday night, despite being listed as questionable after sitting out Friday’s practice. But Neal’s health is something to monitor.
Backup tackle Matt Peart (shoulder) is also out, and guard Shane Lemieux (groin) was questionable Sunday. Josh Ezeudu has been overwhelmed at left tackle. And even if the Giants tried young Jalen Mayfield in Ezeudu’s place, these are not the teams to do it against.
The Bills and the Giants’ next two opponents, the Commanders and Jets, have relentless defensive lines and pass rushes.
Pugh’s value also should extend to the locker room. The Giants are short on glue guys, and Pugh has prioritized getting the linemen together, organizing O-line dinners and building chemistry.
“When you’re in the trenches fighting for a guy that you respect and know, you fight a little bit harder for that person,” Pugh said.
What matters, however, is how Pugh plays, how the line plays and quickly the Giants can become competent up front before the season spirals further out of control.
BARKLEY RETURNS
Saquon Barkley returned Sunday night from a three-game absence due to a high right ankle sprain suffered in a Week 2 win at Arizona. The Giants’ inactives were Jones, Thomas, Schmitz, Peart, defensive lineman D.J. Davidson (knee) and safeties Bobby McCain and Gervarrius Owens.
