NY Giants Week 8 Defensive Review: Run Defense Implodes Against Eagles

⏹Brian Burns

Positioning himself via contain into another sack for a loss of 16 yards, Burns barely missed on two more sack attempts while totaling four more tackles and a whole lot of hustle and contain.  

Burns was able to lay the biggest hit of the night on the Eagles’ quarterback when he ran him to the yard marker and knocked him flying out of bounds, forcing a fourth-down tush push on which the officials robbed the Giants of what should have been a huge turnover.  

Burns’ sack gives him 10 on the year, the league lead that he shares with the Browns’ Myles Garrett, whose five sacks this week gave him 10.  

Burns continued to make effort plays all over the field, but his solo pass rushes were stifled for the most part.

⏹Kayvon Thibodeaux

We thought Thibodeaux played another high-effort, physical game on the edge, but none of his pass rushes got home despite his aggressive approach.  

He shared Burns’ big hit on a scrambling Hurts with one of his own near the sideline that nearly became a turnover via deflection, but no luck.  

Thibodeaux finished with five total tackles. He was also involved in two of the officiating errors that helped hand the Eagles the game.  

On a second-quarter tush push, Thibodeaux made the tackle and ripped the ball out of Hurts’ hands well before he was done or moving. Still, the officials declared that forward motion had been stopped, even though the play was far from over, and these tush pushes are notorious for being allowed to run forever.  

This call was easy for the naked eye to see, as it did not occur in the pile but on the edge of the push, where the entire stadium could see that the ball was ripped from Hurts's hand long before he stopped moving forward.  

This absurd call cost the Giants what should have been a huge turnover in a 7-7 game. Who knows how the game would have evolved from there? 

Later on, a blatant Eagles false start was ignored by the same “tush push” official (line judge Kevin Codey) in favor of Thibodeaux, who reacted to the movement and was called for being offside. This bad call came in the red zone and helped the Eagles score another touchdown.   

⏹Abdul Carter 

Carter drew a rare holding penalty against tackle Lane Johnson early on with a breathtaking edge that drew a blatant chokehold.  On every subsequent chokehold by Johnson on Carter, referee Brad Rogers kept the flag in his pocket.  

Carter made a nice face-up tackle in the run game, for no gain, and pressured the quarterback on each of the defense’s four sacks. That’s right, the rookie had a hand in every big play by the defense.  

Finishing off those pressures would be nice. This kid sure deserves a better statistical fate than he’s getting, both in uncalled penalties against him and the luck of the pocket crashes that his edge rushes invariably force.  

Carter did finish near the top of the tackle column with five total tackles, besides all the pressures that his edge rushes created.  He still has only 0.5 sacks on the season, and that half sack came on opening day.

⏹Victor Dimukeje

This veteran got a handful of rotation snaps and did not flash.

Inside Linebackers 

⏹Bobby Okereke

Okereke started the game fast with a good play to run the quarterback out of bounds for a sack and a failed field goal. He followed that up with a nice open field tackle at midfield to force a fourth down.  

That was the extent of Okereke’s playmaking, even though he did lead the defense in total tackles with eight.  

We didn’t spot any egregious read errors on Okereke’s part; it was the total lack of physicality at the point of attack that helped make this defense soft this week.  

⏹Darius Muasau

On the opening 65-yard Barkley touchdown run, the play was there for Muasau to make at the line of scrimmage, but he took the wrong gap and left the space wide open for the exploit. 

Muasau’s got to better read the flow of this play.  He made the same error on Barkley’s first touch two weeks ago that went for big yards.  

As hard as it is to imagine, Muasau’s game went downhill from there.  He was the major problem on so many of the Eagles’ big runs; it’s hard to assign so much blame on one player, but Muasau just was not up to the task.  

The Eagles attacked him relentlessly.  He showed zero instinct at the line of scrimmage, and his reads were more often wrong than right.  

The few times he got to the edge to defend a wide run, he lacked the goods to finish the play.  He finished with two total tackles despite rarely leaving the field.  

We wouldn’t be averse to benching Muasau and inserting Neville Hewitt in his place, as something needs to be done at this position to calm the leaks.  

Muasau is showing himself lacking in athleticism, speed, and instinct.  He has shown no feel for the game, and it’s hurting this defense.

Defensive Backs

⏹Cor’Dale Flott

With Paulson Adebo out, Flott was promoted to CB1 and proved he’s still a very good CB2 —but no way he's a CB1. 

It doesn’t mean that Flott isn’t a valuable player, but he was no match for having to follow WR Devonta Smith all over the field.  

Flott allowed Smith catches of 15, 26, 11, and 12 yards in less than two quarters of play, when Flott had to leave the game with a concussion after teammate Bobby Okereke accidentally struck him in the head.  

Flott finished the day with two tackles on those early Smith catches and did not return after the injury.

⏹Dru Phillips 

Starting the game in typical Phillips fashion by making plays all along the line of scrimmage, Phillips was the first Giants defender to step up and make a form tackle on Barkley, showing the football instinct to properly read the play and step into the gap for the firm tackle.  

He next made a great play to track an end-around all the way across the field, taking the perfect angle, and making the vicious tackle for a gain of only 1 yard.  

It seemed like the Eagles tried to run away from Phillips with respect to his playmaking abilities around the line of scrimmage.  

In coverage, he knocked away one ball and was not beaten or attacked once in the air.  It’s rare when Phillips isn’t targeted through the air, and this week was one of those days.

⏹Deonte Banks

For the first time in ages, Banks was not the defense’s biggest problem out there.  The Eagles found their edge on only a couple of wide runs, and none of them resulted in big gains as Banks actually stayed outside in his contain for once.  

He finished with three total tackles while rarely coming off the field, given that Paulson Adebo was inactive.  

Banks was rarely targeted, as the Eagles were content to run the ball all day and throw it at the single coverage they were winning.  

Banks will surely draw some kudos from the coaches for this week’s game, in which he didn’t do a whole lot but didn't get beaten.

⏹Korie Black

Once Flott went out, this seventh-round rookie, waived by the Giants, signed to the Jets practice squad, and then poached by the Giants just a week ago, was thrown into the fray at corner over Nic Jones.  

The Eagles tested the rookie a couple of times, and we thought he held up reasonably well.  

On his first challenge, he was called for interference on a sideline route in which the wideout initiated contact and maintained it.  It should have been a no-call.  

On a subsequent deep ball, Black had good positioning and actually looked back for the ball.  He went up for the INT, but he was out-muscled by his opponent for the touchdown.  

As one can imagine, we were impressed that Black knew enough to look back for the ball, something that the current crop of young Giants corners rarely do.  

We liked Black’s length and his ability to stay with his man.  Perhaps there’s something here to develop.  

He needs to get stronger and more physical, but he also showed more speed and athleticism than we’re accustomed to seeing from backup corners.  

The kid earned some more playing time with his play this week.

⏹Tyler Nubin

After getting a rare pass knockaway in coverage on WR Devonta Smith, Nubin’s game went quickly downhill.  

He not only took a bad angle on the Barkley 65-yard touchdown run, but he also showed an alarmingly slow reaction speed to the moment, and then an alarming lack of open field speed.  

On other plays, Nubin showed such a poor instinct for the flow of the play that he’s become something of an empty vessel out there.  He never gets himself into position or reacts properly to the play to get in on it.  

His five total tackles could not mask the poor blitzing, the poor angling, or the lack of suddenness in his movements. The more he plays, the less he looks like he belongs out there.

⏹Dane Belton

Once Jevon Holland returns to the field, Belton needs to be inserted into the starting lineup and never come off the field.  It sure looks like the Giants have found themselves a starting safety in Belton, as he played the position with smarts, instinct, and physicality.  

While others are running aimlessly around in the secondary, Belton is properly reading plays and getting to where the ball is going before it gets there.  

He’s playing with NFL instinct out there, and since he has the goods to tackle and stick, he needs to be out there all the time.  

Of Belton’s seven tackles, several had slobber-knocker written all over them.  He’s one of the few big hitters on this defense, and the only true hitter in the secondary.  He needs to play.

⏹Raheem Layne 

This weekend’s call-up from the practice squad (with Jevon Holland inactive), Layne got a handful of late-game snaps and impressed with a vicious hit and finish of a short completion in front of him.  

It was the type of hit that this secondary is lacking. 

Special Teams

⏹Graham Gano 

Returning to the field of play after missing four games with a groin injury, Gano converted two field goal attempts (47, 34) and two extra points.  

His kicks were smoothly struck and anxiety-free, unlike all the place kicks in Gano’s absence.  

The coaches kept Gano off kickoffs, which is an initiative we heartily support, given his age and susceptibility to injury at his advanced NFL age.

⏹Jamie Gillan

Mr. Inconsistency got his team off to a bad start when his opening kickoff went too far across the goal line, where it was downed for a touchback, giving the Eagles a cheap field position edge at the 35-yard line.  

Gillan’s subsequent kickoffs were shorter and returned aggressively by the Eagles to the PHI 47, PHI 42, and the PHI 28.  That's an excellent starting field position for the three Eagles drives that Gillan had a hand in.  

Gillan actually had to make the solo tackle on the Eagles’ longest kickoff return, as his coverage unit wasn’t quite up to par.  

He also dropped-kicked one of the more pathetic onside kicks in modern NFL history, bouncing it harmlessly on one bounce right into the arms of a waiting Eagle.  

As for Gillan’s four punts, they were better.  Two were fair caught, one went out of bounds at the PHI 13, and a 58-yard boomer was returned for 17 yards.

⏹Casey Kreiter 

More reliable deep-snapping from the Giants vet.

⏹Gunner Olszewski 

The Eagles punted once this week, a 57-yarder that Olszewski was forced to fair catch.  

He returned three kickoffs successfully (NYG 31, NYG 31, and NYG 35) before the Eagles wised up and kicked it away from him. 

⏹Devin Singletary 

With Deonte Banks needing to play major snaps on defense, the coaches switched Singletary back to kickoff returns.  

On the three Olszewski returns, Singletary got a piece of an Eagle with every block.  His two kickoff returns went to the NYG 25 and the NYG 31. 

⏹Neville Hewitt

Leading the special teams with two tackles, Newitt split them up between punt coverage and kickoff coverage.

⏹Art Green

After forcing a fair catch on the team’s first punt of the day, Green had to leave the game with a hamstring injury and did not return. 

⏹Beaux Collins

The rookie wideout replaced Green on gunner duties and fared well against single blocking.  He did not have to face any double teams.

⏹Nic Jones

Playing gunner on all four of the team’s punts, Jones was neutralized by solo blocking on two of them, not a good result.  

Jones also failed on one kickoff coverage when he lost his edge containment, whiffing on a tackle attempt and giving up extra yardage due to the combination of a mental/physical lapse.

⏹Dane Belton

Contributing once again on specials, as he seems to do every week, Belton came up with another of his team-leading tackles on kickoff coverage.

⏹Victor Dimukeje

This veteran linebacker contributed with a solo tackle on one of Philadelphia’s big kickoff returns.