New York Giants Preseason: 3 Big Things

Jul 24, 2014; Owings Mills, MD, USA; Baltimore Ravens secondary/assistant head coach Steve Spagnuolo speaks with the defensive backs during practice at Under Armour Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports

1. Spagnuolo can’t fix everything

The Giants run defense was about as horrible as it gets last night against the Jets. On several occasions the Giants starting defensive ends failed to take care of outside contain. To be fair this is a team that had to play without Robert Ayers who is their unquestioned leader up front on defense. Still it was horribly easy to run outside against the Giants last night.

The Giants made Ryan Fitzpatrick look like Peyton Manning last night. Fitzpatrick is a competent quarterback but the Giants shouldn’t have made it look that easy. The Giants defense got little to no rush with their defensive line. The secondary was a problem all night. It didn’t matter who the Giants put in the back-end the safety play was horrendous. Ereck Decker was the benefactor of Jeromy Miles’s inexperience, scoring a wide open touchdown because of it.

One thing is clear, Steve Spagnuolo cannot fix everything. People reacted like the defense would magically be fixed when it was announced that Spagnuolo would return as the defensive coordinator. However it doesn’t matter who your defensive coordinator is when you don’t have the talent on the defensive side of the football. The Giants have problems in all three levels of the defense. Three words characterize the Giants starting defense, soft, inexperienced and underequipped.

Next: The offensive line needs to be addressed