Ben Johnson offers high praise for the Giants' defense despite the statistics

Ben Johnson was very complimentary when talking about New York's defensive line this afternoon.

New York Giants defense lines up against the Philadelphia Eagles during a Thursday Night Football game between the New York Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on Oct. 9, 2025. | Julian Leshay Guadalupe/NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Giants have one of the league's most talented defensive lines from top to bottom. Ben Johnson is certainly well aware of that fact.

Ben Johnson opened his press conference by talking about the Giants.

"Arguably this is the best defensive front" the team will face this season. pic.twitter.com/BMVIBsWegj

— Nicholas Moreano (@NicholasMoreano) November 5, 2025

The Giants have FOUR former first-round picks starting along their defensive line. Two of whom (Abdul Carter and Kayvon Thibodeaux) were selected in the top five of their respective class. One of the other ones (Brian Burns) currently leads the NFL with 11 sacks. The fourth (Dexter Lawrence II) is lauded as one of the best defensive tackles in the entire NFL.

With all that talent, New York's line must be absolutely taking over games, right? They must be leading the league in sacks!

Well, not exactly.

Burns is certainly reaping the benefits of not receiving double teams on every play, but the three others have combined for 3.5 sacks. Lawrence is in the midst of his least productive season since his rookie year in 2019. Carter, who was lauded as a generational prospect in this year's draft, only has a half-sack through the first half of the season.

More importantly, they've also given up the fourth-most points in the NFL (249). They've given up 33, 38, and 34 points over the last three games. All of which, unsurprisingly, have resulted in losses. Why have they unperformed to the level they have thus far?

For starters, they've played very poorly against the run. Like, uncharacteristically bad. They've allowed the second-most rushing yards in the league, and that's really only because Chicago put up 283 yards on the ground against Cincinnati last week. They've also given up 5.5 yards per attempt to opposing offenses. Teams are running on them at will.

This is pathetic by the Giants. They’re the worst run defense in the NFL by the numbers and it’s obvious by the eye test too. Missed tackles. Banks again.
Not all coaching. Not the point. Both can be true. The DC is bland and repetitive and the players aren’t tackling.
There’s…

— Dan Schneier (@DanSchneierNFL) November 2, 2025

They actually have been nearly as bad at slowing down opponents' passing attacks, as well. They've given up the sixth-most passing yards in the league (2241) and have allowed 15 passing touchdowns. Bad all the way around.

The stats say the Giants' defense isn't very good... at all. The stats rarely tell the whole story, though. They still have a lot of good players on their defensive front.

Based on what they've shown lately, I like the Bears' chances of keeping the good times going in the running game on Sunday. They will still have their work cut out for them on the line of scrimmage, though.

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