EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- It's four games into the season and the New York Giants are still trying to find their way. They're 1-3 with an offense that is near the bottom of the league in points, a defense that is slightly above average and a special teams unit that has been shaky at best.
At least it looks better than last season, when the Giants (1-3) were outscored 89-17 by the Dallas Cowboys in their two meetings and finished 6-11 overall.
New York had a chance to win late in the fourth quarter of the 20-15 loss to Dallas on Thursday night. The Giants also could've conceivably won Week 2 in Washington had their kicking situation been more settled.
Progress. The bar may be low, but the Giants seem to be improving, if ever so slightly.
"I'd say there is certainly things that we can do better. But each week, the consistency in whether it's techniques or whether it's fundamentals, those things have slowly been improving," coach Brian Daboll said. "It's not where we need them to be, no question about it. There's games we've performed well in the red zone and then there's games that we haven't. So, the consistency factor really needs to improve."
Daboll & Co. are still searching for the identity that coaches often say takes a quarter of the season to establish -- currently we're through four weeks of a 17-game season.
"We'll take a look at that over the next couple days," Daboll said heading into the mini-bye following a Thursday night game. "But, again, you've got to do a good job of improving throughout the season and that's what we'll try to do."
In other words, the search goes on. The problem is finding where this team is really good, or where there is potential to get there. Sure, they're average in some areas, subpar in others, but where do these Giants really stand out?
The only primary offense, defense or special teams stats where the Giants are inside the top 10 are sacks and sacks allowed per pass attempt. That alone is a major step in the right direction considering how this roster was built.
The Giants are invested heavily in their defensive line after trading for outside linebacker Brian Burns this offseason. They also put a lot of resources into fixing their offensive line in free agency, adding three veteran starters in guards Jon Runyan and Greg Van Roten and right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor.
The new-look offensive line is allowing sacks on just 6.24% of their pass attempts. That is good for 12th in the NFL. The Giants were dead last averaging a sack every 16.4% of their pass attempts last season.
Better pass protection has the Giants a respectable 16th in the NFL with quarterback Daniel Jones averaging 211.5 passing yards per game.
"Offensive line is one of those positions in the NFL where it's like wine," Eluemunor said. "It's better over age."
It's not to say that line is a finished product. The Giants are still dead last averaging 3.44 yards per rush. That's in part a product of averaging 1.1 yard per rush against the Cowboys and their league-worst run defense.
The Giants also haven't been able to hit on deep shots like they desire. Jones has connected on just 2 of 14 passes that have travelled over 20+ air yards, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.
Based on everything they did this offseason and summer, the Giants wanted to be a quick-passing offense that then used heavy protections to hit deep balls downfield. That hasn't necessarily materialized.
"We've tried to get the shots up. We've gotten them up a couple times. We just haven't converted on them at as high of a clip as we'd want to," wide receiver Darius Slayton said.
The Giants' defense, more than the offense, appears to have started developing a clear-cut identity. They are going to be able to affect opposing quarterbacks with pressure behind a defensive line featuring Burns, dominant nose tackle Dexter Lawrence II and outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux.
The Giants are third in the NFL with 15 sacks through four weeks. They're 10th with a 48.3% pass rush win rate and 12th averaging 6.2 sacks per pass attempt.
Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen's group is also eighth in red zone defense, allowing opponents to score on just 40% of their possessions inside the 20-yard line.
It hasn't been perfect (Burns is still trying to hit his stride), but at least the plan for the Giants' defense is starting to come into focus -- more so than the offense.
Rush the passer, pressure the quarterback, play seven in coverage in the red zone to prevent touchdowns. That is what the Giants, under Bowen, want to be.
As Daboll told his team after Thursday's loss to the Cowboys, "disappointed but not discouraged."