The New York Giants have spent the offseason assembling a nightmare (in the best way) of a pass-rush. With Brian Burns, Abdul Carter, Kayvon Thibodeaux, and rookie Arvell Reese, new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson has enough talent to torment any and all quarterbacks in the league.
On paper, the hyper-fixation on the pass-rush makes perfect sense in a passing-happy league. The plan is simple: get an early lead and let the pass rushers delete opposing QBs trying to throw their way down the field to catch up quickly.
However, football games are won from the inside out, and the calling card of Big Blue's defense is facing a sneaky crisis. If New York cannot control the line of scrimmage, their potentially lethal pass-rush will spend the entire season neutralized by teams running the ball right down its throat. And they just have way too much talent for it to be wasted.
Stopping the run is the only way to unlock the Giants’ pass rush
The problem with building a lopsided defense is that pass rushing is an earned luxury. As Bleacher Report's Kristopher Knox recently detailed, the Giants' defensive tackle rotation took a franchise-cornerstone-sized hit following the trade of All-Pro anchor Dexter Lawrence, a void compounded by Roy Robertson-Harris’s torn Achilles earlier in the offseason.
While Knox notes the team has brought in stopgap veterans like D.J. Reader, Shelby Harris, and Leki Fotu to help, the interior of the defensive front figures to be a huge liability if left unchecked.
Without Lawrence eating double-teams for breakfast and being the focal point, opposing offensive coordinators will naturally try to beat Big Blue by running right up the middle -- something they weren't good at stopping even with Sexy Dexy on the line.
Every successful run on first and second down keeps Burns, Carter, and Thibodeaux from pinning their ears back and going hunting.
This is where Wilson’s coaching becomes the ultimate x-factor. Instead of letting the defensive interior become a liability that derails the pass rush, Wilson has the opportunity to flip the narrative by coaching up his young talent and maximizing his new veteran committee.
The biggest key to this turnaround is second-year defensive lineman Darius Alexander, who is primed for a second-year breakout. If the new DC can push Alexander to step up against the ground game, it changes the entire dynamic of the front.
Pair Alexander’s development with Bobby Jamison-Travis growing into a reliable space-eater, and the G-Men suddenly have a semi-young core capable of holding the line for the foreseeable future.
Mixing that with the veteran experience of Reader, Harris, and Fotu, Wilson can Frankenstein his way into a rotation that does just enough to keep opponents from running all over them. If the big bodies can do their job and force teams into obvious passing downs, it unlocks the roster's true power.
If Wilson can turn this team's biggest weakness on its head and get the middle guys to stop getting trampled on, it solves the puzzle. Keeping teams from running at will is the only way the Giants' scary pass-rushers will get the green light to go cause havoc.
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