Several people are being held responsible for the disappointing start to the New York Giants season. Brian Daboll’s team sits at 1-3, but they were within reach of winning two of those contests. Though Daniel Jones and the offense have failed to meet expectations, much of the responsibility for the team's woes lies with the defense, including underperforming players like Brian Burns.
NY's big offseason trade acquisition has essentially been a non-factor through his first four games in East Rutherford. He only has one sack and had one of his worst professional performances against the Cowboys on Thursday Night Football. For a player earning the NFL's fourth-largest annual salary on defense, this kind of output will not suffice:
New York Giants pass rusher Brian Burns did not generate a single pressure on 25 pass rushes against the Dallas Cowboys. It was Burns' first career game without a pressure in which he had at least 10+ rushes.
— RJ Ochoa (@rjochoa) September 27, 2024
Burns matched up against Cowboys OT Terence Steele on 17/25 of his… pic.twitter.com/YvUsQqZwcx
Brian Burns continues to underwhelm Giants fans with poor start
Despite rushing the passer 25 times on Thursday, Burns failed to yield a QB pressure once. It was the first of such games in his six-year career, and it happened to be against a bitter division rival in a primetime showdown. This surely wasn’t what general manager Joe Schoen had in mind for him when he traded the No. 39 pick in the 2024 draft and a 2025 fifth-rounder to the Panthers.
The G-Men sacked Dak Prescott once in the close defeat, but Burns is not the only player to blame on the defensive line. He and Kayvon Thibodeaux have been disappointing, which allowed Dallas to double-team Dexter Lawrence on an astounding 80 percent of his pass-rushing snaps. Acquiring Burns was meant to take some of the load off Sexy Dexy and lessen attention on him from opposing offensive lines, yet that plan has failed miserably.
I can understand fans expecting Brian Burns to be something that he's never been in his NFL career.
— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) September 27, 2024
Can't sympathize with an NFL GM expecting that.
Many fans were critical of the decision when NY decided to trade for Burns, and they might have been right. Schoen rewarded him with a risky five-year, $141 million contract before playing a game in royal blue. However, he recorded eight sacks in 16 games last year and only eclipsed the double-digit mark once, so will the front office regret that decision?
There is still some time for the defense to turn it around, and there were a handful of positive signs from the loss. Still, Burns has yet to give NY fans a reason to believe in him, and he is stuck with the team for a long time. He has to get it going in a hurry.