Andrew Thomas has had a pretty good summer, but it ended with an awful preseason finale.
The starting left tackle and last year’s fourth overall pick in the draft struggled mightily while playing the first half of Sunday’s 22-20 loss to the Patriots at MetLife Stadium.
He allowed two sacks and another quarterback pressure, leaving the Giants and their fans with little optimism that he and the offensive line can provide the kind of improvement on last year’s performance that seems necessary for the team to find any success in 2021.
“It started out a little slow,” Thomas said. “There are things I have to improve on.”
It may have been an anomaly for Thomas. He looked much steadier and stronger in training camp practices that were held in front of few eyes than he did in front of Sunday’s large crowd and television audience.
“I’ve seen a lot from Andrew,” Joe Judge said of Thomas’ overall preseason performance. “Overall he’s done a solid job for us . . . He’s going to be a better player a month from now, two months from now, and at the end of the season. He’s got to keep on improving as a young player in this league and keep making strides going forward.”
Thomas, at least, knows where things went wrong on Sunday.
“I’m trying to be very consistent in my set,” he said. “When I watch film the first thing I look at is my set. In my mind I’m setting to a spot and not necessarily looking at the rusher. I look at that and see if I’m square. Then after that I look at my hand placement. On the first [sack allowed on Sunday] I have to try to stay square as long as possible and not open up on the third jab.”
Thomas said he is confident he and the offensive line will have a much better showing in the regular season than they did to close out the preseason. For many Giants fans, though, they’ll need convincing performances before they believe that.
With just two weeks until that opener, is there enough time to make all the corrections necessary?
“Definitely,” Thomas said. “That’s a lot of time to practice and a lot of time to watch film. It’s a lot of time.”
