The New York Giants are 3-6 after nine games and possibly headed toward another sub-.500 season. That doesn’t mean the season has not been interesting, however.

Here are the biggest surprises of the season for Giants thus far.

Offensive upgrades have not helped

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

The Giants averaged 17.5 points per game in 2020, 31st in the NFL. That caused them to go out this past offseason and add multiple weapons to the offense that could help them get into the end zone.

That plan has failed miserably. Injuries and poor utilization of the new and existing resources have only increased they offensive production by two points per game.

That hasn’t been enough until the last three games when the defense woke up and began playing to the level they played last season.

Daniel Jones is not having that 'breakout' season

Jay Biggerstaff-USA TODAY Sports

This was the season that third-year quarterback Daniel Jones was supposed to prove to the Giants and the football world that was worthy of the sixth overall pick back in 2019.

Many thought Jones would take off given the all the help the Giants have plied him with. Not so.

Through nine games, Jones has yet to do that. He has just eight touchdown passes and has averaged just 228 yards passing per game. Between him and backup Mike Glennon, they have completed under 65 percent of their passes, 21st in the NFL. Although that completion percentage is the highest in Jones’ short NFL career, it’s still below the NFL average.

Jones has accomplished one thing, however. He has cut down on his turnovers. He has five interceptions and three lost fumbles through nine games. In his first 27 games as a pro, he threw 22 interceptions and lost 17 fumbles.

Discipline is lacking

Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images

Last year under first-year head coach Joe Judge, the Giants averaged 5.1 penalties per game, good enough for eighth-best in the league. They were a disciplined bunch.

This year, they are averaging 6.4 penalties per game, 14th best in the league.

Those penalty yards are costing them an average of 51.7 yards per game as opposed to just 39.6 yards per game last season.

The increase in penalties aren’t the only issue. It’s the type of infractions and when thy occur that has hurt the team the most. False starts, offsides and taunting penalties — all discipline related — have cost them games this season.

Red zone failures

AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

The offseason acquisitions of the 6-foot-4 Kenny Golladay and the 6-foot-6 Kyle Rudolph were supposed to help the Giants increase their red zone efficiency, which was next to last in the league (46.3 percent) in 2020.

They haven’t. The Giants actually have a lower scoring percentage (44 percent) in the red zone than last season.

With all the tall receivers (they also have 6-foot-6 wideout Collin Johnson on the roster) you would think they would attempt more corner fades to jump balls to their bigger targets but they sample haven’t. And the ones they have attempted have been embarrassingly bad as if they do not practice the play at all.