NY Giants’ Leonard Williams already off to absolutely dominant start

As a group, the NY Giants’ pass rush struggled to generate much pressure on Broncos QB Teddy Bridgewater, but Leonard Williams had a strong Week 1 debut

The NY Giants are banking on Leonard Williams being a foundational piece of the defense for years to come, and the veteran lineman is already off to a dominant start to the 2021 campaign.

At times during Sunday’s Week 1 loss to the Denver Broncos, Williams was nearly unblockable, and it showed in his three tackle performance.

In addition to his production in the box score, Pro Football Focus also credits Williams with six total pressures of Broncos quarterback Teddy Bridgewater, including two quarterback hits. Williams produced a 77.6 overall grade in Sunday’s game, and an 80.9 run-stopping grade.

Unfortunately for the NY Giants, the pass rush wasn’t consistent enough against Bridgewater throughout the game, as the Broncos’ quarterback frequently had plenty of time to find mismatches over the short and intermediate portions of the field and made some big plays while improvising out of the pocket, as well.

“From what I’ve seen watching film is we were focusing on getting middle push and not giving Teddy a step-up area,” Williams said Monday afternoon on a conference call. “And I think we did a good job of collapsing the pocket in the front of him and not allowing him to step into his throws. But like you said, we weren’t being consistent at making him feel uncomfortable.”

Williams will need to be just as disruptive on Thursday night against the Washington Football Team, and quarterback Taylor Heinicke, who completed 73.3 percent of his passes Sunday, in relief of Ryan Fitzpatrick, for 122 yards and a touchdown.

Matt Lombardo is FanSided’s National NFL Insider and writes Between The Hash Marks each Wednesday. Email Matt: Matt.Lombardo@FanSided.com.