Bennett's Production Sliding

By Andrew Lecointe

 

Andrew Weber — US Presswire

New York Giants TE Martellus Bennett started the season very well, scoring a touchdown in each of his first three games. It appeared as if Bennett was becoming a favorite target of QB Eli Manning right away. Bennett had previously spent his first four seasons with the Dallas Cowboys.

Bennett wasn’t getting the opportunities he may have wanted in Dallas because of TE Jason Witten. Witten has been very productive with the Cowboys, developing a rapport with QB Tony Romo. Bennett was labeled as an immature individual with selfish tendencies, even though he hadn’t received much playing time.

The Giants lost TE Jake Ballard and TE Travis Beckum in last year’s Super Bowl to torn ACL injuries. Going into the season, the Giants knew they needed to address that position. They got Bennett for cheap. It has been somewhat of a bargain so far.

However, he has not gotten into the end zone since Week 3 against the Carolina Panthers. The Giants have struggled a lot in the red zone, and the red zone struggles definitely correlates with the lack of production from their biggest body in that part of the field.

Manning hasn’t stopped going to Bennett either. Even though Bennett only caught four passes in their humiliating loss against the Cincinnati Bengals, Bennett was targeted by Manning 10 times, second most times he’s been targeted this season.

Bennett suffered a hyper-extended knee last month in their win against the Cleveland Browns. The injury looked bad, but Bennett came back out and played the rest of the game. However, that injury is bothering him today, which is part of the reason Manning is having red zone problems.

The Giants red zone issues is an indictment of their entire offense. However, if they want to get back to being proficient in that area of the field, they might want to look at Bennett first.

Share On FacebookShare StumbleUpon

You May Also Like