ClutchPoints
The New York Giants were a perfect 3-0 during the preseason and the team that finished 3-14 a year ago looked like it had a purpose, a swagger and the potential to show dramatic improvement in the 2025 regular season.
Unfortunately for the Giants, head coach Brian Daboll and the team’s fans, they also have the most difficult schedule in the league, one that will be very difficult to overcome even though the team looks quite a bit stronger than it did a year ago.
The Giants appear to have a defense that is capable of opening eyes around the NFL and cause major problems for opposing quarterbacks. Every defense that has the ability to take over a game needs at least one player who is going to intimidate opponents on an every-game basis. The Giants appear to have that player in rookie linebacker Abdul Carter.
The Giants’ first-round draft choice from Penn State is listed as starting right outside linebacker and he appears to be a player who is going to be a fantastic edge rusher. He certainly took off from that position last year with the Nittany Lions and demonstrated that he was capable of taking over any game.
Carter has 12.0 sacks a year ago and he led the nation with 24 tackles for loss. The All-American had 43 tackles, 4 passes defensed and 2 forced fumbles last year, and his success meant he came to the Giants with a boatload of confidence.
He has looked like a dominant player in the summer and he will have a chance to assert himself early in the season. The Giants will be up against it throughout the year, and they begin a brutal stretch in Week 3 when they face the Chiefs, Chargers, Saints, Eagles, Broncos and Eagles again in a six-week stretch.
If they are going to have any hope of success, it might come in the first two weeks of the season when they open with road games against the Commanders and Cowboys. The Giants will be clear underdogs in both games, but if the defense comes out firing and Carter can get to Jayden Daniels and Dak Prescott, a message will be sent to the rest of the league.
The Giants are going to play significantly better defense this year after finishing 24th in that category a year ago. The defensive front seven looks dangerous, and the combination of Carter and Brian Burns as the two outside pass rushers will lead the way.
Look for Carter to win Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.
Russell Wilson has an opportunity to jump-start the offense, just as he did with the Seahawks, Broncos and Steelers. As he approaches the 14th season of his career, he gets yet another opportunity to show that he can lead an offense to respectability.
The Giants had the 30th-ranked offense in the league...
