The New York Giants' coaching staff must be thrilled with the offense over the last three weeks, as rookies Jaxson Dart and Cam Skattebo have helped this team earn wins over the Chargers and, most recently, the Philadelphia Eagles. However, let's not overlook how well the defense has also played.
The G-Men have to love what they are seeing out of their two-time Pro Bowl linebacker Brian Burns, who leads the team in sacks with seven and tackles for a loss with nine in six games this season. After having five sacks in the first four games of the season, including two in Week 1 against the Commanders, Burns did not have one against the Saints in Week 5, but last week, there goes Spider-Man as he has two sacks on Jalen Hurts, which had the MetLife Stadium crowd erupting with cheers.
If Burns keeps this up, he may be chasing Michael Strahan's single-season franchise sack record of 22.5, as he is looking like a first-team All-Pro right now. While Shane Bowen has to be ecstatic about what he is seeing from the veteran pass rusher on the field, his postgame comments after last week's win are even more of a reason for the Giants' defensive coordinator to smile.
Brian Burns credits Shane Bowen for the defense's success last week
After the Philly drubbing, Burns gave the fans love on the field, calling it "special." The media also asked him about Bowen's non-disguised scheme after the victory over the Birds, which he credits to the Giants' defensive coordinator, stating that he "called a great game" and "changed the picture for Jalen."
A lot of chatter about #Giants DC Shane Bowen's non-disguised scheme lately. Here's Brian Burns:
— Ryan Dunleavy (@rydunleavy) October 10, 2025
“Shane called a great game. He mixed it up. A lot of simulated (pressures). He changed the picture for Jalen. Made him hold the ball and gave us opportunities to get after the ball.”
Clearly, the results paid off as the defense allowed 17 points and limited Jalen Hurts to only nine dropbacks under pressure. This should give Giants fans optimism about this defense, as they can expect to continue creating issues for opposing quarterbacks.
Despite being 4-2, the Denver Broncos' offense, led by quarterback Bo Nix, has struggled at times this year. Although they won last week against the New York Jets, they only managed to score 13 points. Big Blue's defense will look to limit the Broncos again. As you can imagine, Burns will be hungry for more sacks this weekend and will be looking to apply the pressure once again.
New York's offense will certainly have its work cut out for it this week against a talented Denver defense. Still, if Big Blue wants to win this matchup, they'll need their defense to step up with Spider-Man continuing to perform the way he has this season, as well as Bowen calling another great game from the sidelines.