After shocking the world last season and not only reaching the playoffs, but winning a game and advancing to the NFL Divisional Round, the NY Giants came into this year with expectations to build off what was a special season. Unfortunately, through three weeks, that has not been the case. At 1-2, the Giants are also lucky to not be 0-3.
The G-Men need to figure it out and figure it out quickly if they want to salvage the season before it’s too late. Big Blue Nation was filled with plenty of optimism four weeks ago, but now there are four major reasons Giants fans should be worried at this point in the campaign:
4. Tackling issues have been a nightmare for the Giants
After missing 49 tackles all of last season, the Giants missed 16 in Week 3 alone vs. the 49ers. Through three weeks, they have missed 29 tackles, already more than half of their total from the season prior. That is just not going to get it done in the NFL for a team with playoff aspirations looking to build off of their NFC Divisional Round appearance from last season.
The G-Men hoped that inside linebacker Bobby Okereke, who has been a sure-handed tackler in his career, would help patch up a defensive unit that lacked a presence in the middle of the field. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case thus far. In Week 3, Okereke accounted for three of the Giants' 16 missed tackles. As someone who has ranked within the top 15 of the NFL leaders in tackles each of the past two seasons, it’s on Okereke to set the tone and show the rest of the defense how it’s done.
This is an issue that needs to be fixed as soon as possible. The defense has to do its best to help out an offense that has clearly been out of sync through three games aside from one big half against the Cardinals in Week 2, and it starts with Okereke. He was paid a lot of money this offseason and named a team captain with the expectation that he’d make an immediate impact on the defensive end with his tackling ability.