New York Giants: Davis Webb unimpressive versus Browns

New York Giants backup Davis Webb was the worst quarterback among the recognizable names who played in Thursday’s game versus the Cleveland Browns.

It’s the preseason. It’s still relatively early in the process. Everybody within the offense of the New York Giants, second-year quarterback Davis Webb included, is learning a new system and new offense under new head coach Pat Shurmur. Careers aren’t made off a couple of quarters in the second week of August. There’s no need to panic.

Get these comments out of your systems ahead of the weekend, Giants fans, because the All-22 film is only going to confirm what you believed to be true after Thursday’s preseason fixture between Big Blue and the Browns: Webb played poorly. OK, that’s putting it nice. The former third-round pick looked far more like a rookie than Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield, who shined and tossed a pair of touchdowns in his introduction to NFL action (as much action as one can see in the opening exhibition contest of a season).

Sure, Webb was a victim of missed blocks and poor blocking on some occasions, and Hunter Sharp was guilty of a drop. Such miscues and wasted opportunities aren’t concerning in the summer. More worrisome than Webb’s numbers or the fact that he only orchestrated a scoring drive after a Cleveland fumble gifted the Giants possession of the ball inside the red zone was how he performed under normal circumstances.

Webb appeared unprepared to face defensive linemen dropping back into coverage. He routinely zipped balls over the heads of targets. He tried to fit passes in tight windows more than once. By the time his night ended, Webb completed only 9 of 22 passes for a paltry 70 yards.

One immediate hot take is that the Giants, specifically former head coach Ben McAdoo, erred in not playing Webb once the 2017 campaign was lost and the decision was made that Eli Manning would, at the very least, no longer finish games under center. McAdoo instead started Geno Smith, a move that was followed by his dismissal and the firing of general manager Jerry Reese.

More from New York Giants

That’s fair and all, but what’s done is done. By all accounts, the current regime is high on the young man who sits second on the depth chart at the sport’s most important position, and he clearly needs reps and playing time now when the outcomes of games couldn’t matter less. Why, then, did Shurmur yank Webb from Thursday’s game with over a quarter of football remaining? Rookie Kyle Lauletta’s cup-of-coffee showing came and went with little fanfare, but things will have gone horribly wrong for the 2018 Giants if he plays a down between September and the end of the season.

Rookie running back Saquon Barkley generated headlines, not to mention New York’s top offensive highlight of the defeat, when he posted a 39-yard carry on the evening’s first snap. Obviously, it’s only a positive nothing about playing under the bright lights of a glorified NFL scrimmage seemed too big for the second overall pick. Barkley isn’t an issue. The Giants probably could have rested him after that journey down the field until next week.

Shurmur and the New York front office are attempting to win as quickly as possible while also building for the future. Throwing Webb out with the figurative bath water would be a massive overreaction on August 10 despite what many on Twitter and other social media platforms would lead you to believe. If anything, Webb should play more against the Detroit Lions on August 17 than he did in the loss to Cleveland.

What happens if Webb shows zero signs of improvement in at least a half of in-game competition versus the Lions? It’s an interesting question, as its answer will show plenty about what those running the club truly feel about his future and about the team’s current plan. Webb is still a project, but he was supposed to be ready for backup duties by August 2018. Not even the most optimistic Giants fan could look anyone in the eye and declare he’d feel comfortable starting Webb if Manning fell to injury.

Things change quickly in the NFL. Perhaps Webb will have quieted some doubters and critics before Christmas in August arrives. For now, it’s back to work, as scheduled, for Webb and the rest of the New York offense. That schedule remains written in pencil, not pen, following Webb’s lousy night at MetLife Stadium.