James Bettcher (finally) deserves some credit in New York Giant win

New York Giants’ defensive coordinator James Bettcher made some key adjustments at halftime that played a significant role in the enormous win against the Buccaneers.

I’ve been as harsh (or harsher) on James Bettcher than almost anyone else throughout his lackadaisical tenure as the New York Giant defensive coordinator. Despite that, I’m going to give the coach his due here, as he played a major part in the crucial win Big Blue picked up yesterday. Even though many of the problems were started by him to begin with, he finally reached into his toolbox and tried new things — the results were terrific.

At halftime, you would have been hard-pressed to find a worse defensive performance over two-plus games in the history of the NFL. His unit was ranked dead last in Pro Football Focus’ pass-rush and coverage grade departments after two games, which is seemingly almost impossible to do – the unit somehow was playing even-worse after a half of play against Tampa. Apparently, Bettcher had finally seen enough (and possibly realized that he might not survive to coach even one-more game), and we saw a drastically new defense in the second-half as a result.

Many were killing Janoris Jenkins for getting absolutely scorched by Mike Evans in the first half. Evans had his way with Jenkins and the rest of the Big Blue ‘D’, going well over 100 yards receiving while also hauling in three touchdown grabs by halftime. Bettcher sticking with Jenkins in the second-half, in a time where almost anyone else would have gone away from him, was one of the main reasons the team was able to so-quickly turn around it’s play — hear me out.

Bettcher had to have realized that he was going to have to start to use exotic blitzes and bring the house to shake up the Buccaneers offense. The only way he could do that -and make it work- – was to trust his former all-pro cornerback to stay on an island with Evans in coverage. I give Bettcher all the credit in the world for having the guts to stick with ‘jackrabbit’, as he proved in the second-half that he still has a lot left in the tank.

Jenkins didn’t allow another reception by Evans until the final minute of the game, and although it was another big one, his lockdown defense (in mostly single coverage) opened the door for the Giant pass rushers to get after Jameis Winston – and get after him, they did. Bettch’ also utilized rookie Deandre Baker in a way that was much-more similar to how we saw him dominate for years in the SEC , which is having him close to the line of scrimmage where he can use his hands and positioning to make up for whatever he lacks in speed. The coach also trotted out veteran defensive back Michael Thomas in the second-half, and the usual special-teamer made an immense difference in a variety of ways.

The blitzes and looks that Bettcher used all-throughout the second-half were truly a thing of beauty. A perfect example of this came in the fourth quarter during crunch time, when the Buccaneers were lined up in trips-left. The Giants appeared to be undermanned on that side of the field, and even then, the coach sent a blitz from that area while flowing other players over from the middle of the field. Even though Chris Godwin made a great catch – and barley picked up the first down – it was so encouraging to see him dial up a disguise like this, and he did it time and time again yesterday. I’m not an advocate for the 3-4 defense in today’s NFL, but it can be effective is the offense has no idea where the pressure (and as a result the coverage) is coming from.

Dexter Lawrence played by-far his highest-percentage of snaps (43%) total, and it made a difference. Interior pressure is often the most-difficult type of pressure for a quarterback to deal with, and it had Jameis Winston all-sorts of messed up. Lawrence picked up the first sack of his young career, while chipping in another quarterback hit. In total, the Giants tallied four sacks and hit Jameis Winston ten times – it clearly had an effect on a gun-shy Winston down the stretch.

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Bettcher was also not afraid to put his rookie middle-linebacker, Ryan Connelly right in the middle of harm’s way – it paid off tremendously. I chose Connelly as my ‘X-factor’ of the game, and hinted that I thought he’d be right in the middle of that ever-elusive first defensive turnover, and he was. Bettcher had clearly done his homework on Winston, and he dropped Connelly in the perfect spot on the field to let the rookie make a play; the interception was possibly the biggest turning point of the entire game, in a contest that featured numerous.

I’m excited (I can’t believe im saying this) to go back and watch the All-22 film today to see more of what Bettcher was doing, maybe even-more excited than I am to watch Daniel Jones’ performance again. Who knows if this will keep up -the evidence on the field for the majority of the time says it wont – but James Bettchers’ adjustments prolonged not only his tenure as the defensive coordinator, but the team’s seasons in general.

For one day, at least, let’s give Bettcher his credit – he deserves it.

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