The pieces were supposed to help the New York Giants finally turn the corner and get on track to finish in the top half of the league in terms of records.

An improved and veteran offensive line, a legitimate No. 1 receiver. 1, the most promising draft class in general manager Joe Schoen’s three seasons at the helm, an increased pass rush, head coach Brian Daboll calling the plays offensively — all of which were supposed to help the Giants shake off the ugliness of the 2023 season and to begin tracing an upward path back to respectability.

But instead, the Giants sit 2-7 midway through the season with far more questions than answers. The team will almost certainly be looking for a new quarterback after this season after Daniel Jones has proven time and time again that he can’t step up to the big spots when a true franchise quarterback is needed.

The team is also likely to reevaluate its young defensive secondary, which has struggled not only with play, but maturity. They’ll no doubt realize that a solid-looking draft class (at least so far) may not be close enough to reverse years of previous draft irresponsibility by previous regimes.

Schoen and Daboll have already received a vote of confidence from co-owner John Mara, but we’ve heard this song before with other head coaches being sent packing.

Of course, this time, it’s possible that both men are safe because MAra has realized that she can’t keep starting from scratch with new leadership and philosophies, and that these things take time.

But it’s probably safe to say that if the Giants keep spinning their wheels in 2025, Mara and co-owner Steve Tisch could be forced out.

Head coach Brian Daboll has taken over the game this year, but it doesn’t seem to matter. The Giants are dead last in points per game average (15.4), with their average slightly worse than in 2023 when they finished with 15.6 points per game.

They also struggled with conversions at 36.22%, 22nd), the red zone was a dead zone for them in terms of touchdowns (40% conversion rate) and explosive plays (20+ of meters) were. There haven’t been any this season either – the Giants’ 18 passing plays of 20+ yards are tied for second with the Browns and Bears.

And the Giants lead the league in dropped passes (24).

In the running game, rookie Tyrone Tracy, Jr. was a steal on draft day, but overall the Giants are ranked 19th with an average of 114.7 yards per game and are tied for 29th (with the Jets ) for last touchdowns (5). ).

The funny thing is, the Giants are seventh in average time of possession (31:29), so it’s not like the opportunities weren’t there. The execution, however, did not.

Brian Burns may not have the eye-popping sack numbers or even lead the team in sacks — that honor belongs to All-World defensive end Dexter Lawrence II — but his addition to the passing game has paid off so far.

According to NextGen Stats, Burns, who has lined up on both left and right tackle almost equally this season, currently leads the Giants with 35 pressures and 17 rushing yards. He too ranks eighth among individual passengers in terms of margin pass gain rate (21%).

Speaking of the pass rush, which still leads the league in sacks despite last week’s quiet effort, Lawrence not only leads all defensive tackles in sacks with 9.0, but also has the third-most pressures at the position ( 28), despite seeing double-teams on a league-high 64.6% of his passes.

The Giants’ pass rush, in total, allowed opponents an average throw time of just 2.73 seconds, eighth in the league.

Instead, the Giants’ run defense remains a problem, especially when Lawrence gets a breather. New York ranks last in average rushing yards allowed per game (142.6), last in average rushing yards per attempt (5.2) and 28th in average pre-contact rushing yards per attempt (2, 13).

The run defense has also allowed 40 rushing plays of 10+ yards this season, third most in the league and ranks 19th at 16.2 percent.

The pass defense has been better, but one glaring stat that sticks out like a sore thumb is that the unit is 31st in interception rate (0.40%).

You almost have to feel for Giants special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial, who had three kickers and two punters and also had to change his kickoff and punter returners this season.

But that’s not where the problem was for the Giants special teams, who didn’t do a good job of turning over the field consistently or making a play that mattered when it mattered.

The Giants have converted 84.2 percent of their field goal attempts this season, 19th in the league. Opponents have averaged 31 yards per punt return, the sixth-most in the league, although their 82% touchback rate is the seventh-best mark this year.

To be fair, coaches aren’t the ones who drop passes, miss tackles or blow assignments. But seeing as Daboll seems to say every week that the Giants’ poor play and output starts with him, they might as well start there.

Pre-snap penalties, the ridiculous reliance on analytics, some jarring personnel decisions (like not carrying a backup kicker in Week 2, the kick return fiasco earlier in the year, and the apparently failed swing tackle plan that was since exposed due to Andrew Thomas’ injury) have all contributed to the Giants’ current mess.

Do you want more? Why was quarterback Daniel Jones brought back from a torn ACL, which before the injury he wasn’t playing that well? And why not take a slightly harder line with cornerback Deonte Banks, the first time his effort became a problem to nip this in the bud?

From a gameplay perspective, Daboll wasn’t bad, though again, we wish he relied less on analytics and more on common sense in games.

Meanwhile, he gives Shane Bowen credit for mixing up his game plans, including some that went beyond his core beliefs and previous pressure practices. Things would really pick up if they could figure out their run defense issues.