There have been positives to take note about Flowers, perhaps the only bright spot along the offensive line in Friday’s loss in the Giants preseason opener. Through his first two years in the league, Flowers has been slammed by fans and many in the media for some shaky displays, a particularly damning fact given that the Giants used a first round pick on him. But truthfully, Flowers was never as bad as he was made out to be and he has progressed each year he’s been in the league.
This offseason, he worked on conditioning and improving his hands, things that have shown in training camp as well as now in preseason.
“Ereck, I thought, was a bright spot in the game versus the first opponent we played. I think he got his hands inside, had a couple nice strikes and punches,” Giants head coach Ben McAdoo said on Thursday. “I thought he was bending pretty well and I look forward to him taking a jump this week.”
The offensive line as a whole is the weak spot for the Giants offense but the emergence of Flowers is promising. If he can continue his progress and become a solid left tackle, then the Giants have the makings of a decent group along the line.
Then again, in last week’s loss to the Steelers, the offensive line was porous, allowing the Giants quarterbacks to get hit and sacked a number of times in addition to failing to open holes for the running game.
Both indictments of an offensive line that, outside of Flowers, didn’t look very good.
“I’m excited about the direction that we’re headed in. Just watching the game film, we’re doing some good things. It has to transition to the games, though. I’m excited about going out there this week and getting some game action,” guard Justin Pugh said. “Obviously, it’s a little more of an extended week for us playing on a Monday night, and again on Saturday, so we have to make sure we’re taking care of our bodies this week and really starting to get into the flow of the regular season-type schedule and getting your body ready for that.”