Giants Defensive Legend Says NY Giants Defense is Learning How to Win Games

The New York Giants defense has talent and should be a lot better than its current league rankings after nine games—29th overall, 30th against the run, 24th against the pass, and 26th in points allowed — currently indicate.

So why aren’t they?

“I think it's kind of a tale of two teams,” retired Giants legend and Pro Football Hall of Fame legacy candidate Carl Banks told New York Giants On SI last Friday via phone during an appearance in East Lansing as part of the Venmo pop-up event before the Michigan State-Michigan gridiron clash this past weekend.

“There are times where they're playing above the stats, and then they just, it seems, take on the personality that they've been trying to shed for the better part of a season and a half now, where it's just the lapses in details. 

“When you look at the talent and you look at the individuals, you see where this team can be, and then when you look at games, there's some growth that has to happen. But I do feel like they're getting to a place where they're learning how to win games.”

To Banks’ point regarding the defense, which has had some injury issues all season long, in Weeks 1-3, Big Blue, which was still kind of rounding into shape, allowed opponents 405.3 yards per game, 153.3 rushing yards/game, and 252 passing yards/game.

In Weeks 4-8, two of those numbers improved: 368.6 yards/game and 222.4 passing yards/game. Meanwhile, the rushing yardage, thanks to the Giants allowing 267 yards on the ground to the Eagles, swelled to 146.2 yards per game.

It’s progress, but it’s also been slow, and more of a case of one step forward, two steps back for a Giants defense that has enough talent to be a top-15 unit.

The challenge for the Giants' defense, and in particular head coach Brian Daboll and defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, is that it's a race against the clock to show enough forward progress in these final nine games to avoid having team ownership enact a change.

“I use the term mental endurance and mental stamina,” Banks said when asked why there has been a struggle with consistency on the defensive side of the ball.

“I mean, it's when you have not been in a culture that has emphasized details and having the type of players that can execute, you have to learn how to do that. 

“It's painful, but every lesson, every loss where you can point to one particular thing is the lesson that they have to learn and that they have to go through to get to a point culturally to where they demand of themselves a complete football game.”

Win as a unit, lose as a unit