The New York Giants defense was one of the worst in the NFL last season, finishing 30th out of 32 teams, allowing 377 yards and 28.2 points per game.
That was enough to get the coaching staff fired (along with other things) and replaced by a more aggressive, creative bunch. This year, the Giants’ defense will be run by new coordinator Patrick Graham, who coached the Giants’ defensive line under Ben McAdoo from 2016-17.
Graham was hired by new head coach Joe Judge, who worked with Bill Belichick’s staff in New England from 2012-15. He met with the Giants’ media pool via Zoom on Tuesday to discuss the progress of the team’s new-look defense.
With a glut of new faces who have never played together before, Graham told reporters that the focus in the beginning stages of training camp was to “learn the fundamentals” and eventually become “multiple within the scheme.”
The Giants’ pass rush has been less than satisfactory the past few seasons. Graham acknowledged that he has some decent options (Markus Golden, Kyler Fackrell, Oshane Ximines) but warned that rushing the passer is different in the NFL than it is in college.
“We’re trying to figure out what everyone does well,” he said.
Graham iterated that in the beginning it will be “trial and error” and it was way too early to talk about any rotation.
Graham would not disclose the information every Giant reporter and fan what to know — will he run a 4-3 or a 3-4? His answer was inconclusive as he simply said that all his schemes will “bend together” and that they will mostly run sub packages so the base defense was insignificant.
Graham was asked about the Giants’ big ticket defensive lineman, Leonard Williams, who is playing this season under the $16.1 million franchise tag.
Graham also loves the effort he’s seeing from second-year nose tackle Dexter Lawrence.
“He plays with really high levels of effort,” said Graham. “When those big guys are the leaders in effort, you can feel that on the field.”
All in all, Graham’s presser showed a completely different side of the man who was here three seasons ago under McAdoo. Much more open and informative.
