Giant investment in front of four paying dividends

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ — The New York Giants defense was without outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. Still, it didn’t seem to slow it down.

Thibodeaux’s backup, Azeez Ojulari, was consistently behind. He had two sacks and six pressures, which tied for the most of any player in Week 6. On the other side, outside linebacker Brian Burns had four pressures and two tackles for loss. Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence II chipped in with his seventh sack of the season, one half-sack off his career high. Keep in mind that’s six games into the season.

That’s what drives the Giants defense. New coordinator Shane Bowen’s group is making a name for itself by settling into the opposition’s backfield, specifically the front four.

“They can win one-on-one,” Bengals coach Zac Taylor said after his offense exploded for a 17-7 victory over the Giants. “They’ve really invested on that front, and it shows.”

It may not have been enough for the Giants to win, but it’s enough to generate optimism that this group is on the verge of being really good.

What the Giants hoped would happen when they traded for Burns from the Carolina Panthers this offseason has started to take shape. Their defense is first in the NFL with 26 sacks, four ahead of their closest rival, the Denver Broncos. The defense is in the top 10 in points (20.2 PPG) and yards allowed (314.0 YPG). He is consistently impacting high-end opposing quarterbacks and seems to be getting better every week.

The Giants defense held Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow, Dallas’ Dak Prescott and Seattle’s Geno Smith to less than 235 yards in consecutive games.

Burns believes there is more solid play for the defense.

“(The Bengals were) a good performance. It’s not the standard,” he said. “Some opportunities we (may) still have. We never want to get complacent. So if there are more plays to make, we should make them.”

In a week where the Giants (2-4) are preparing to face Saquon Barkley and the Philadelphia Eagles, the way the defense has played only further illustrates why general manager Joe Schoen will allow the runner to walk during an offseason focused on reallocating resources. Their primary goals were to improve the pass rush and offensive line, rather than investing top dollar on a running back.

Now, it seems prudent, even if Barkley is having a good season. He is fourth in the NFL in rushing with 482 yards through four games. Meanwhile, the Giants are getting production from rookie Tyrone Tracy Jr. He’s shown enough in the last two weeks to think he can become a starter as a fifth-round pick.

But now the Giants’ defense is their team’s strength. And it starts with Burns and Lawrence doing their part, which is necessary, considering they are the stars and the two highest-paid players on defense.

Burns is fifth in the NFL in pass-winning percentage at 26.3 percent, while Lawrence is redefining his position. He has 13 pressures and 11 quarterback hits from the nose tackle position. That’s more than double the pressures of any other nasal device.

Thibodeaux was the third piece of the puzzle. But he landed on injured reserve last weekend after tearing the scaphoid in one of his wrists and is bound to miss at least four games.

Ojulari stepped up Sunday night and the defense didn’t miss a beat. The pressure kept coming from the front four. The Giants had seven quarterback hits on Burrow, with the front four (which includes DT Rakeem Nunez-Roches) getting six of them.

“I thought our defense played really good football. … They played winning football,” coach Brian Daboll said.

Ojulari should be able to hold up in the short term. He is a player who was a 2021 second round pick out of the University of Georgia. He had eight sacks during a promising rookie season before injuries slowed him down in recent years.

Now, Ojulari is healthy. His 10 pressures in 86 passes this season gives him an 11.6% pressure rate. This is higher than Burns, albeit in a smaller sample size.

It’s still not a complete surprise that Ojulari was successful on Sunday night. I was patiently waiting for this opportunity. Lawrence, a defensive captain, even texted him last week saying, “It’s your time!”

It’s up to Bowen to make it work when Thibodeaux returns. This shouldn’t be a problem. So far he has made it work and his unit has been playing some good football in recent weeks.

The Giants defense has not allowed more than 21 points in any game. The Giants lost 28-6 in their opener to the Minnesota Vikings, but one of those scores came on a Daniel Jones pick-six.

The idea was that Bowen would sit back and rely solely on his front four. But it has shot more than expected. His 28.6% blitz rate is 11th in the league through six weeks. Their game plans vary depending on the opponent, keeping them off balance.

But it all starts with the Giants’ front four. The game plan is built around him, just as Schoen had hoped.

“We’ve been productive for the most part trying to hurt the quarterback,” Bowen said. “We’ve had some sacks from other places. I think it’s a product of those four as well.”

They are becoming the linchpins of not only the defense, but this Giants team.