One of the biggest keys heading into this season for the New York Giants was to get All-Pro left tackle Andrew Thomas back into the fold and functioning at a high level.

Thomas went down after six games last season with the dreaded Lisfranc foot fracture and was lost for the season. He began training camp on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list and was being brought along slowly this summer. Thomas made his season debut two weeks ago against the Kansas City Chiefs, starting the game and playing the first 28 offensive snaps before being pulled.

Advertisement

Last week, Thomas played a full game at left tackle (76 snaps) and said he felt fine after a good week of practice, but felt some soreness after last week’s contest versus the Los Angeles Chargers.

“Normal soreness. If anything, my lungs are more tired than anything,” Thomas told reporters on Friday. “It was a good game. We got the win, so I’ll just keep building on that.”

Thomas was asked if he felt any effects as the game got deep into the second half.

“I was fine, honestly. Being up-tempo, I think that puts stress on everybody up front. You don’t get as much break when you’re huddling, but I think we did a good job handling it. Got a lot of reps with that this week to make sure we’re ready to go,” he said.

Advertisement

The up-tempo pace is due to a change at quarterback. Rookie Jaxson Dart is now under center. Since Thomas didn’t practice or play with Dart during the summer, blocking for Dart is still very new.

“The calls were pretty much the same,” said Thomas. “There was a little more window dressing on certain things, but the only difference was just being on the ball. We’ve had the plays in before.”

The Giants had their starting five offensive linemen play 100 percent of the snaps in a game for the first time in a year. They allowed six sacks, but overall, it was an encouraging performance.

“I guess you could say it’s the best (game we’ve played) because we won. Like I said after the game, selfishly, we’ve got to score more in the red zone. We’ve got to do a little bit better in the run game and try to protect Jaxson better,” Thomas said.

Advertisement

That won’t be an easy task. The Saints have a decent pass rush with Carl Granderson (who has a team-high 4.5 sacks) and Cameron Jordan, who ranks second among active NFL players with 124 career sacks (Von Miller, 131).

“They play a lot of different five-man fronts,” said Thomas. “Going back to that communication that you talked about, identifying the front. It’s a veteran group. A lot of those guys have played a long time together. The linebackers are really good, really instinctive, so we’ve got to make sure we’re reading our keys and making our blocks.”

This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: iants’ Andrew Thomas feels strong, aims to build on Week 4 win