New York Giants: 3 takeaways from Week 6 loss to Pats

3. Defense is better but lacks depth

The New York Giants are steadily improving as the season wears on. They are turning the corner despite using up to three rookies in the game at once as well as a revolving door, due to injury, at middle linebacker. Defensive coordinator James Betcher has dialed up more and different blitz packages. Thursday night they sacked Tom Brady three times and hit him six times.

In addition, the G-Men picked off the New England quarterback once and forced him into a pair of fumbles, one of which was returned by Markus Golden for a touchdown. As difficult as it is to believe, Blue Blue’s defense held up fairly well.

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New England scored five touchdowns during the game. One came off a blocked punt, one was scored on Van Noy’s fumble return, and one was scored by the Pats offense after a Jones interception turned the ball over on the Giants 20-yard line. That leaves two scores against that can be attributed to the defense.

Cornerback DeAndre Baker may still not be a good one-on-one pass defender, but his run-support his very good. He was part of a total effort to shut down the run. New England ran 34 times for 114 yards. Brandon Bolden had a 26-yard run, and Sony Michel, a 21-yarder. It fair to say that poor tackling had much to do with those big plays. That means on the other 32 attempts, the Pats only gained 67 yards or 2.1 yards per carry. Its a step in the right direction.

Maybe the biggest problem for the New York Giants defense is that they are on the field way too much. Big Blue’s D was on the field for close to 40 minutes. By the fourth quarter, they were completely gassed. More depth, as well as the offense holding on to the ball a few minutes longer, will help this group greatly.

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