The bye week is a time to look under the hood and kick the tires to see what you have for the home stretch.
Offensive line coach Pat Flaherty, though, has been doing that with his tackle Will Beatty since the team drafted him in 2009. But as Beatty remains on pace to start the most games of his career, the evaluation week will be integral to how Beatty and the team performs in the final six games.
"His technique is getting better," Flaherty said. "He is still a little bit away from nosing up against the premier pass-rushers. I see a little growth each week with William. He's competing with some of the best pass-rushers. For the most part, he's holding his own.
"His ceiling, it's just hard to tell how good he can really be. He can really be good. He needs some work with it. He's not at that point yet. There are still some things technique-wise that he needs to correct. His assignments are much better than what they have been in the past."
Beginning with Week 3, Beatty has started every game at left tackle in addition to the opener as an extra tight end. Meanwhile, Sean Locklear began the season at left tackle and then took over for the injured David Diehl on the right side until his return last week.
"Sean did a nice job," said Flaherty, whose center and two guards have remained the same all season. "When he signed to be a New York Giant, he knew he was going to compete for a starting position and David Diehl won out the starting position in preseason. Because of any position when an injury occurs, you don't really lose your job, because of an injury. So that's why David was inserted back into the starting lineup."
While there is always more than one problem when an offense struggles as it has recently, it all starts up front. The Giants are currently ninth in the NFL in passing while the run game averages 111.4 yards per game (13th).
"Well, we need to, in all the runs, whether it's three-wide, regular or two-tights, we need to be on the same page better," said Flaherty. "There have been some games where we've been productive in the runs and there have been some games where we haven't been as productive. It really is something we as an offense have to step back and look at this week."
