NY Giants’ pass-rush is a serious problem.

The NY Giants have given little-to-no resistance in the pass-rushing department the last two weeks. The EDGE position must be addressed in the offseason and it’s holding this defense back.

The NY Giants defense is being held back from its full potential.

The NY Giants have a good defense for the first time since 2016. At times this year, the defense has been really good, other times it’s been elite, and other times the group simply didn’t compete long enough to stay in a game.

The Giants’ loss to the Browns epitomizes why the team needs the “blue-goose” pass-rusher that Dave Gettleman so stubbornly (and unusually proudly) brags about seemingly in every press conference he’s had since taking over the personnel department in 2017.

New York finally has some intriguing and young, talented players all over the defense. The group seems to have a steady amount of depth and a healthy blend of different size and speed combinations that has allowed Pat Graham’s group to thrive for most of 2020.

Unfortunately for the Giants, the pass rush has failed them the past two weeks. A glaring trend in the last two weeks was how calm, comfortable, and easy it was for both Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield. Both players stayed in the pocket with all the time in the world and they both ran and picked up yards and first downs with their legs when they needed to.

In the two biggest games of the season, the NY Giants defense didn’t bring their A-game nor did they rise to the occasion to continue their momentum riding high from a four-game win streak.

In the past two weeks combined, the NY Giants’ wrecking crew has only caused two total sacks and five quarterback hits. That simply won’t cut it in today’s NFL. After having an impressive showing week-after-week during the team’s win streak, the pass rushers have again become a lifeless group that’s quickly become a disappearing act as one of the team’s strengths.

Niko Lalos, Cam Brown, Carter Coughlin, and Jabaal Sheard all were nice, feel-good stories while the fun (and victories) lasted. But now, the Giants got punched in the mouth back to back weeks, they didn’t even really show up for either game, and their overused zone coverage scheme was thrashed by Cleveland again and again.

The Brownies offense made a living Sunday Night just taking whatever the defense was giving up either in front of them and behind them. Seemingly every pass play consisted of Jarvis Landry, Rashard Higgins, and Austin Hooper just running by, through, and around defenders sitting in empty spaces in zone coverage. The Cleveland players simply ran to the wide-open areas and Baker found them all night and was dealing to the best of his abilities.

Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham must mix up his defense much more than he has the past two weeks. The glitz and glamor behind the “genius” of the ex-Yale product’s defense has completely stopped. This defense has been disappointing for two consecutive weeks and made absolutely zero impactful or game-changing plays.

It all starts upfront with the pass rush. With a ferocious pass rush, every aspect of an offense crumbles and begins to fail. The timing is thrown off, every second and step becomes critical, and the defense can deploy so much more than it currently is. Just ask Russell Wilson how frustrated and confused he was when the Giants marched into Seattle and shocked the entire NFL world two weeks ago. In that game (which feels like ages ago), the New York pass rush was relentless from start to finish and constantly in the backfield all game.

While it’s too late to sign an impactful player such as Clay Matthews, Big Blue needs to upgrade their front seven this offseason. They need to draft impact pass rushers early and they need to keep building up the unit.

Behind the quarterback, having a blindside tackle and a superstar pass rusher is probably 2A and 2B in terms of highest value positions in football. It’s been a while since the NY Giants have had a dominant force off the edge a la Jason Pierre-Paul, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Michael Strahan, amongst many more.

The NY Giants’ defense can return to prominence again in 2021. Having a consistent, high-end pass rusher can make all the difference for this potent group.