The New York Giants talked … and talked … and talked as the season approached about being a physical football team. Even as the Giants were building the foundation of their offense, “we know it will be physical” was the answer you would get when asking what it might look like.
We saw the physicality the Giants want to bring to the table during Sunday’s 28-20 victory over the Dallas Cowboys, with Dallas COO Stephen Jones even admitting “they outphysicaled us.”
The poster child for that physicality,
and for the kind of football team head coach John Harbaugh wants the Giants to be, is 300-pound fullback Patrick Ricard.
After nine seasons as a member of the Baltimore Ravens with Harbaugh, Ricard followed the coach to the Giants in free agency.
Sunday, Ricard played 37 offensive snaps as the Giants ran 37 times for 165 yards (4.5 yards per attempt) and held the ball for 36:40.
If you haven’t done the math, 37 snaps per game for 17 games would come out to 629 snaps. Ricard played a career-high 698 snaps for the Ravens in 2022, the only time he surpassed 600 snaps. He played only 274 snaps last season.
“The jobs and the roles that he’s being asked to play are built into our offense,” Harbaugh said. “Not everybody has those, but a lot of people do.
“There’s a lot of things that Pat can do that nobody else can do. Nobody in the world can do some of the things that Pat Ricard can do. And that’s good for us. That’s unique for us. So, it helps us be who we are. It builds into our team persona, our team identity. And we love that. We love that about him as a player.”
Ricard’s job boils down to hitting guys on the other team. Hard. Clearing holes for running backs or keeping pass rushers off quarterback Jaxson Dart. He is forever trying to remind defenders why he has the nickname “Pancake Pat.”
“Whatever the coaches ask for me to do to help his team win, I’m going to do,” Ricard said. “I mean, look, I was an undrafted defensive lineman. I played D-line, I played offense, I played both sides of the ball. I played special teams. Line me up in the backfield, on the line, in the slot, have me do this, that. Whatever it is, I’m going to try my best.”
One thing Ricard’s job rarely includes is touching the ball. In 133 career regular-season games, Ricard has 11 carries and 49 pass receptions.
He doesn’t care. He knows what he is good at.
“I played defense for most of my life, so for me to play on offense, I (couldn’t) care less if I ever get the ball,” Ricard said. “For me, it’s all about, I want to impose my will on defenses, and I have the most fun when I’m pancaking people and I’m springing big blocks for my guys to have success, getting lots of points, getting a lot of first downs, winning.”
“If the ball comes my way, cool. If not, then I’m not going to be getting in (Matt) Nagy’s face like, ‘I need the ball,’ or getting mad at Jaxson for not giving me the ball. It’s fine by me because these guys that are on my team, they’re playmakers, dynamic, and I feel like they would be better with the ball in their hands and me blocking for them. So, that’s what I’m cool with.”
‘Secret sauce’
Ricard played both ways for the Ravens in his first three NFL seasons, totalling 225 snaps as a defensive tackle. He has been a full-time fullback since 2020.
“Early on, I didn’t play offense in college, so for me it was like they had to almost limit what I could do my first maybe couple years just because I was still learning the position and learning offense in general,” Ricard said. “But I feel like now it’s like I’ve been in – I’ve had (senior offensive assistant) Greg Roman as my run game coordinator, offense coordinator, and now being back in his scheme, it’s like there’s so much to build off of to where they can plug and piece me in any spots.”
Ricard really has one job. Block people, and do it with authority. At this point in his career, he can do it from just about every spot or angle imaginable. Sunday, he was in a true fullback alignment 15 times, was an inline tight end seven times, in the slot 11 times and aligned as a wide receiver four times.
“Motion me, shift me, to where – I’ve done it all to the point where I can execute it at a really high level to where I feel like that’s like what G-Ro (Greg Roman) said about me is like I’m like the spaghetti sauce on the offense,” Ricard said. “I’m like the secret sauce to where you put me in different spots to get the advantage, and I’m usually a mismatch of who I’m blocking because I’m usually bigger than them, to where I think it’s really an advantage for the offense.
“And it’s a lot of fun. It’s a lot of fun to be in this offense, to be moved around a lot in motion and shift and be in different spots. It’s almost like Where’s Waldo on Sundays, and it can be a lot for a defense to defend.”
The Giants’ way
The smashmouth style that Harbaugh has brought back to the Giants is reminiscent of the Giants’ championship teams of the Super Bowl era. Those teams generally dominated the line of scrimmage. They were gritty, not pretty. They had physical defenses. They had physical run games. And, by the way, they featured fullbacks.
The Bill Parcells teams had Maurice Carthon. The Tom Coughlin teams had Madison Hedgecock and Henry Hynoski.
When I posted the ‘Kudos and Wet Willies’ after Sunday’s victory over the Dallas Cowboys, I did not included Ricard in the ‘Kudos’. BBV commenters let me know about the oversight. Ricard has been feeling the love from Giants fans.
“I definitely felt it when I signed here and I’ve been around,” Ricard said. “But after this game, my social media has been flooding with just so much support from Giants fans just telling me how much they love how I play, MVP of the game, all this stuff. And I think it’s more of just how excited they are to have a fullback and the way I play.
“I’m all for it, I love it. I’m (going to) continue to play hard and do whatever I can to help the Giants keep getting wins.”
‘Hungry and humble’
New head coaches always bring a handful of their favorite players from prior coaching stops to help ease the transition and build a culture. Ricard is, of course, one of several ex-Ravens now wearing a Giants uniform.
Ricard has been impressed by his new teammates from the start.
“I just see how hungry and how humble everybody is here,” Ricard said. “They just – they want – there’s so many guys here that want to prove themselves. They want to win, and you just see it with how they work, how they prepare, and how much they love each other.
“I remember when I first got here for OTAs, just seeing how much the guys are cheering each other on in our running workouts and being there for one another and hanging out in the locker room two hours after we were done for the day. And I’m thinking, I’m like, ‘Wow, New York City is right across the river, right there, and guys would rather be in the locker room hanging out two hours after.’ So, I feel like that was just things I noticed right away, and I think it’s so important for a team to want to win and want to be crazed, loving one another and working hard.”
Hungry and humble is actually a great way to describe Ricard. Hungry to deliver pain to opposing defenses and win football games, and humble about how good he has been at his job for a decade now.
