Early-season criticisms of the Giants’ defense best have been written in pencil.
A unit that missed 16 tackles against the 49ers, surrendered 524 yards against the Dolphins and didn’t force a takeaway during a 1-3 start suddenly looks resurgent after stymying the high-powered Bills (in a 14-9 loss) and overpowering the Commanders en route to a 14-7 victory.
With games against the Jets (ranked No. 30 in total offense) on Sunday followed by the Raiders (No. 30 in scoring offense) on deck, the defense could be on the cusp of a season-turning stretch under coordinator Wink Martindale.
“One thing Wink always says that I love is, ‘We always hold the pen last,’ ” defensive tackle Leonard Williams said. “And I like that mindset because even if offenses are audibling, 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.”
The Jets entered the season boasting of a potentially “historical” defense, like the 1985 Bears or Seahawks’ Legion of Boom.
The Giants spoke a quieter confidence that is growing after Williams, Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeaux combined for 4.5 of a season-high six sacks against the Commanders.
“We like to be known as hunters and people who get after it — and we are like a pack,” Williams said. “To instill that mindset in a defense and have that as a group really creates a nasty mentality.”
Relying on the defense’s two-highest paid players and the workhorse Thibodeaux — logging 94.5 percent of the defensive snaps over the last three games — as “hunters” is a blueprint that could be replicated against a patchwork offensive line missing its two best starters.
The Jets rank No. 27 in sacks allowed per game (3.3).
“I thought our front did a good job. That’s where it starts,” head coach Brian Daboll said. “Chemistry, [more time] playing together, I think all those things are in play with that. But one week has nothing to do with the next. We’re going to have to do a good job of getting ready to play this week.”
It took the Giants longer than expected to get here considering that a nucleus returning for a second year in Martindale’s blitz-happy scheme (30.3 percent of snaps, down from a league-high 39.7 percent last season) was supplemented by run-stuffers A’Shawn Robinson and Rakeem Nunez-Roches, linebackers Bobby Okereke and Isaiah Simmons, and rookie cornerbacks Deonte Banks and Tre Hawkins.
“You have to be a four-quarter defense,” Thibodeaux said. “We’ve been able to stop teams in the beginning of the game, but we had to learn to finish.”
What went wrong early on?
It took weeks for Okereke to settle in as the new signal-caller, to develop a rotation of Simmons (passing downs) and Micah McFadden (rushing downs) next to Okereke, to scrap the preseason plan of moving top cornerback Adoree’ Jackson from the perimeter into the slot and thus replace Hawkins with Cor’Dale Flott in nickel packages, and to figure out the right substitution pattern that keeps Lawrence and Williams fresh (sitting together on first downs).
“There are some rookies that are starting on the team that have to get adjusted to the speed of the game, like where their teammates are going to be on certain plays,” Williams said. “Players from different systems — whether they are older or younger — coming into a new system 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. Throughout the beginning of the season when we knew we were struggling in those areas, we tried to harness in and correct those areas.”
Jets linebacker C.J. Mosley — who called signals for Martindale when the two were with the Ravens — knows what the Giants‘ defense is supposed to look like when it’s humming.
“His defense is going to be aggressive,” Mosley said. “Run and hit, fly around and have fun, be physical, and the front line is going to be some big juggernauts.”
The Jets already believe they are a juggernaut defense.
The Giants think they might have discovered the path to one.
“I think we also take pride in wanting to be the best defense any time we step on the field, no matter what team it’s against,” Williams said. “We are competing against their offense, but we are also competing against the whole field — and we will continue to be that way.”
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