Giants Country

New York Giants Defense Starting to Hit Its Stride

The turnaround has been quite impressive over the last few weeks.

Patricia Traina

New York Giants Defense Starting to Hit Its Stride
New York Giants Defense Starting to Hit Its Stride /
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It took a lot of blood, sweat, and perhaps even a few behind-the-scenes tears for the New York Giants defense, which over its first five games allowed an average of 30.6 points per game, averaged 9.2 missed tackles, generated just 12.8 pressures per game, and recorded only five sacks to get things turned around.

But after vowing to tighten the screws on the operation and get back to playing their brand of football, the Giants defense is suddenly playing up to its level, doing so with a combination of youth (corners Deonte Banks and Tre Hawkins and inside linebacker Micah McFadden) and veteran leadership such as defensive linemen Dexter Lawrence and Leonard Williams, safety Xavier McKinney, and linebacker Bobby Okereke.

The results have been encouraging. Over the last two games, the Giants have missed an average of just five tackles and have increased their pressures to an average of 23 per game.

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And in last week's win over Washington, the Giants doubled their season sack total in the first half alone before adding one more to give them 11 for the year.

"I think there are quite a few factors," Williams said when asked about the defense's turnaround. "We have a young team, there are some rookies that are starting on the team that had to adjust to the speed of the game, like where their teammates are going to be on certain plays, all these adjustments.

"It’s players from different systems, whether they are older or younger, they are coming into a new system and have to develop new ways of playing with each other. There are different ways people play with their front and backers, how they fit off of each other, and things like that."

The youth movement alone has certainly risen to the occasion. Banks, the team's first-round pick this past spring, is tied for eighth among his peers who have played at least 200 coverage snaps, posting a 55.6 percent completion rate against him.

Second-year linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux, who got off to a slow start and who has been deployed in coverage probably a little more than anyone would have thought (39 snaps, per PFF), leads the team by a wide margin in the sack column with 5.5 and is second in quarterback hits (7) behind Lawrence (9).

And speaking of Lawrence, who received his big payday in the off-season, PFF has him ranked as the second-best overall defensive interior lineman through seven weeks, behind Jalen Carter of the Eagles, Lawrence's 29 pressures just six behind league leader Aaron Donald of the Rams.

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According to Sports Information Solutions, defensive coordinator Wink Martindale, known for his penchant for the blitz, actually backed off that tactic for Weeks 4-6 when the Giants blitz percentages were season lows--nine percent against Miami and 19 percent against Buffalo, which would allow for the Giants to better stand up to the speed at receiver both teams boast.

Against the Commanders, Martindale was right back to throwing open the gates and letting his players hunt the quarterback against an offensive line that, coming into that game, had allowed the most sacks in the league. Commanders quarterback Sam Howell was blitzed on 63.6 percent of his dropbacks, going 12 of 25 for 161 yards with an interception.

Williams said he and his teammates enjoy being set loose to go after the quarterback.

"As a defender, we like to be known as hunters and people who get after it, and we are like a pack," he said. "To instill that mindset in a defense and have that as a group creates a nasty mentality.

"One thing Wink always says a lot that I love is, ‘We always hold the pen last,’ and I like that because even if offenses are audibling or checking or motioning or anything like that, we feel like we have the pen last and we are going to make them do what we want them to do, and I like that mindset, it’s fun."

 

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Patricia Traina
PATRICIA TRAINA

Patricia Traina has covered the New York Giants for 30+ seasons, and her work has appeared in multiple media outlets, including The Athletic, Forbes, Bleacher Report, and the Sports Illustrated media group. As a credentialed New York Giants press corps member, Patricia has also covered five Super Bowls (three featuring the Giants), the annual NFL draft, and the NFL Scouting Combine. She is the author of The Big 50: The Men and Moments that Made the New York Giants. In addition to her work with New York Giants On SI, Patricia hosts the Locked On Giants podcast. Patricia is also a member of the Pro Football Writers of America and the Football Writers Association of America.

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