Andrew Thomas cannot solve the Giants’ offensive line crisis by himself, but he can make it so one fewer alarm is sounding.
The left tackle, a second-team All-Pro last year, said that he took team reps for the first time this week during practice on Friday, and he expects to be a “game-time decision” Sunday against the Cardinals.
He injured his hamstring in the first quarter of the 40-0 loss to the Cowboys last Sunday night, but gutted through until he was removed in the fourth.
“It’s progressed pretty fast, I think, from where it was after the game. I didn’t feel too bad moving around,” Thomas told The Post. “It’s a long season and you don’t want to stress something and it lingers. With a hamstring, it’s just the ability to be able to run off the ball, so if it feels good when I’m moving around, then I’ll go.”
If Thomas, who officially is listed as questionable, can’t play, Josh Ezeudu and Matt Peart both are options at left tackle.
Except that Ezeudu, Peart and even Marcus McKethan in his NFL debut might be needed in rotations or to put out fires on the right side if guard Mark Glowinski and tackle Evan Neal do not clean up their mistakes after they allowed a combined 17 pressures and four sacks (of seven total allowed) in Week 1.
“You don’t just all of a sudden start making things up,” offensive line coach Bobby Johnson said. “I basically just make it black-and-white, and don’t handle them with kid gloves. All of them, as professionals, want honesty: Here’s the issue, here’s how we are going to give you tools to fix it and then we move on from it.”
What caused the problems? Johnson only said that he “saw a lot of issues,” whether technical, physical or other.
“More often than not,” Johnson said, “you find out it’s more you than the opponent.”
That’s not as encouraging as it initially sounds. If the issues were specific to the Cowboys — the game followed a familiar script for the rivalry — then it might not be so concerning that the Cardinals are salivating after a six-sack performance of their own.
All eyes are on Neal, the 2022 first-round pick, who was advertised as much-improved after he tweaked his pass-blocking stance and hired outside trainers. Instead, the results — he graded No. 61 of 64 offensive tackles by Pro Football Focus — seemed the same as in his disappointing rookie season.
“I disagree that it was the same as last year for him,” Johnson said. “He’s put a lot of time in. He continues to improve. But it doesn’t really matter because we are a group. We are not a collection of individuals. Obviously, it wasn’t what we wanted.”
Neal declined The Post’s interview request after practice Friday because he has “been answering questions all week.”
Former Giants offensive lineman Geoff Schwartz has seen young players whose careers split in both directions at the kind of fork in the road that could be nearing with Neal.
“It sometimes takes a little bit of time to get offensive line down — our position is mentally draining — but the issue is there, is a need to get it done quicker when you’re a team with playoff aspirations and there’s a spotlight on you specifically because you are a first-round pick,” said Schwartz, an analyst for SiriusXM NFL.
So, what did Neal’s teammates presumably look for this week?
“Do your practice habits change because you are not playing well? Are you not studying quite the same?” Schwartz said. “It’s totally normal to watch the film and not feel great about it, but how do you respond the next week in practice? Is your thought about how you can get better as a player?
All the struggles and inexperience — center John Michael Schmitz is a rookie — alongside Thomas could make him feel forced to take the pressure off his teammates. That has risks.
“We’re very eager because we didn’t take advantage of one of our 17 guaranteed opportunities,” Thomas said. “I’ve attacked the rehab. I want to contribute any time I can, but if I’m out there not at my best I’m more of a hindrance than anything.”
That would be a scary proposition for the Giants.