Big Blue View
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The New York Giants could turn out to be the type of team that relies on dominant defense and hopes to get opportunistic, big-play offense in 2025.
While the offense endured an up-and-down day Tuesday against the Jets, the defense clearly won the day against the Jets’ offense. Particularly the Giants’ defensive front seven.
“I think we did well,” said star defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence, who took a handful of team reps after sitting out Saturday’s preseason game against the Buffalo Bills. “Still learning, learning how to communicate through different things and learning who’s rushing beside you and just honing in on your technique more. We’ve got a few more weeks to get that down, but I think we just keep getting better and progressing every day.
“Every day I see improvement. Guys not making the same mistakes, so that’s the best thing to ask for right now.”
Safety Jevon Holland, one of the team’s key free-agent acquisitions, agreed with Lawrence that there has been improvement.
“I mean, I think so, I would hope so, otherwise we’re not going to win a lot of games if we don’t,” Holland said. “We are definitely taking steps together and growing, steadily improving.”
The teams matched up in 1-on-1 drills before the team periods began. Abdul Carter split the two reps I saw against Olu Fashanu, the Jets left tackle who was Carter’s Penn State teammate. Carter beat him inside on one rep, but Fashanu did neutralize Carter when he tried to beat him to the outside.
Both Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux appeared to get the better of right tackle Armand Membou, with Burns beating Membou badly to the inside.
Roy Robertson-Harris bulled his way into drawing an egregious holding penalty, though I could not see who the offensive lineman was.
There has been concern about the Giants’ run defense. Last season they were 24th in the league, giving up 4.6 yards per rushing attempt.
Tuesday, the run defense looked excellent.
There was one significant run by Braelon Allen of the Jets on a stretch play toward Kayvon Thibodeaux, but otherwise the run defense seemed stingy.
On the first play of 11-on-11, Thibodeaux and corrnerback Tae Banks set the tone, crashing into the backfield to stop Breece Hall for a loss of yardage.
Linebacker Micah McFadden was in the backfield for a couple of tackles for loss.
Working with the second- and third teams, rookie defensive tackle Darius Alexander had what would have been a tackle for loss and a run stop at the line of scrimmage.
Lawrence likes what he is seeing from the third-round pick.
“He’s growing a lot, honestly. And he’s a willing learner. He’s humble,” Lawrence said. “I like his attitude. He comes out here, whatever Coach Dre or I say to him, he corrects it the next day. So I love the way he responds to adversity.
“B Cox [assistant defensive line coach Bryan Cox] is on him...
