Ben McAdoo, New York Giants
In McAdoo’s first year as Giants head coach, New York finished 11-5 and made the postseason — a substantial improvement upon the previous year when he was offensive coordinator. However, that improvement came in two areas, neither having to do with offense. First, the Giants went from 30th to second in defensive efficiency. Second, they regressed to the mean in close games — mostly because Tom Coughlin’s clock management was so bad in 2015 that having anyone but him made for a substantial improvement.
On offense — McAdoo’s area of expertise — the Giants were 22nd in efficiency, a decline from 2015. They used ’11’ personnel — one back, one tight end and three wide receivers — a stunning 92 percent of the time, per Sharp Football, nearly 200 more total plays than any other team. This made things predictable for opposing defenses, allowing them to, at times, make an offense featuring Eli Manning, Odell Beckham Jr. and Sterling Shepard look obsolete.
That’s partly because, schematically, McAdoo’s offense is obsolete.
McAdoo is a Mike McCarthy protege, having worked with him in Green Bay as the Packers’ tight ends and later quarterbacks coach. His offense very much resembles his mentor’s. The Giants, like the Packers, put receivers in far too many one-on-one situations instead of scheming them open. The difference is that instead of Aaron Rodgers, they have Eli Manning.
It doesn’t help that the Giants had next to no rushing attack, or that their offensive line was terrible. But McAdoo made the offense even more predictable by throwing the same personnel at opposing teams over 90 percent of the time. New York’s improvement had less to do with him and more to do with free agent signings and Landon Collins’ development turning their defense into a juggernaut.
Let’s keep that in mind as we head into next season.