Big Blue View
The story coming into the New York Giants Week 4 game against the Los Angeles Chargers was the team’s decision to start rookie quarterback Jaxson Dart.
After the Giants’ upset victory over the Chargers, the story was the rookie quarterback getting his first win and doing so over an unbeaten team. Dart, however, credited the Giants’ defense with carrying the team to victory.
“I thought our defense carried us through this game,” he said after the win. “Our defense played at a really elite level. And as a quarterback when there’s pressure like that, and there’s guys always in the backfield, no matter who you are the game just speeds up.
“Our D-line knew that they had to be playing at a dominant level for us to win.”
It wasn’t a truly dominant performance for the Giants’ defense — their run defense remains a glaring problem. However the Giants’ pass rush was incredibly disruptive and went a long way toward making sure that the Giants didn’t have to try and win a shootout.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert was the target of a relentless assault Sunday afternoon. It was clear from the opening drive that the Giants’ pass rush was going to be a deciding factor, and that remained true for the entirety of the game. Perhaps it was due to the absence of guard Mekhi Becton, but the Chargers came into the game with a plan to throw the ball. Herbert dropped back to pass 41 times and the Giants recorded 27 total pressures, per PFF.
It didn’t take long before we saw the Chargers change the overall structure of their offense to deal with the pressure. Rather than continuing to attack the intermediate area of the field, they switched to quick timing passes and screens to get the ball out of Herbert’s hand as safely as possible.
The Giants are playing with a five-man line on this play, with defensive tackles D.J. Davidson as the 1-technique over the center’s right shoulder, Elijah Garcia as the 4-technique over the right tackle, and Darius Alexander as the 3-technique over the left guard’s outside shoulder. Brian Burns and Abdul Carter are lined up as stand-up rushers on the defensive left and right (respectively).
The Chargers call a six-man protection while Herbert runs the play-action boot with the fullback responsible for Abdul Carter.
Unfortunately for Herbert, the fullback is too slow to get into position to block Carter, who simply runs past him to pressure the quarterback. Herbert has to get rid of the ball, but has nowhere to go because Paulson Adebo and Tyler Nubin get — and stay — in fantastic position on the play-side, locking down wide receiver Keenan Allen and tight end Tyler Conklin.
A group effort
The Giants’ edge rushers have gotten all the credit, and attention, for the pressure on Herber. They weren’t, however, alone. The Giants’ defensive front as a whole contributed to their success disrupting Herbert and the Chargers’ passing offense....
