The only key piece from that unit that remains is Ereck Flowers. It’s an incredible feat of circumstance and unexplained resilience. Flowers is not only still with the team, he’s still starting, despite any sort of significant track record of success. To date, it’s one of the biggest upsets of the season.
If you watched the Giants’ 20-15 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, it didn’t take long for Flowers’ presence to be recognized. For an offensive lineman, that’s never a good thing. He committed penalties on two of the first three plays and it didn’t get much better as the game progressed.cheap nfl nike jerseys china
Flowers allowed a second-quarter sack and seven total pressures, according to Pro Football Focus.
“Got to get better,” he said, while also noting he doesn’t listen to the ever-growing outside call for him to lose his starting job.
Flowers wasn’t the only Giants offensive lineman to struggle against a dominant Jaguars defensive front (right guard Patrick Omameh finished with the lowest PFF grade). But Flowers serves as the most noticeable and easiest target considering his history, which includes being an outcast in the offensive line room and getting into an altercation with Flaherty back when Tom Coughlin was still the coach.nfl nike jersey cheap
The staggering part through it all is that Flowers has outlasted two previous regimes. While Flaherty was on the Jacksonville sideline, Coughlin in a suite as an executive, and Ben McAdoo and Jerry Reese unemployed, Flowers made it to the regular season this year despite general manager Dave Gettleman’s desire to clean out the locker room and fix the offensive line.
The Giants have shifted Flowers from left tackle to right and handed him the starting job from the day he decided to show up in the middle of their offseason workout program. It likely had to do with his guaranteed rookie contract, which expires after this season (the Giants didn’t pick up the fifth-year option), and his lack of trade value. They did look into moving him this offseason.
Gettleman didn’t sign a veteran insurance policy for Flowers, in part because they signed a starting left tackle and right guard. You can only do so much.
