Washington Commanders' Eric Bieniemy: New York Giants Defense 'Very, Very Impressive'
The New York Giants are off to a disastrous 1-5 start, but Washington Commanders offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy remains impressed by the defense coordinated by Wink Martindale.
Ahead of the Week 7 matchup between the two NFC East foes, Bieniemy was very complimentary of the defense for the Giants.
“I saw a pretty good aggressive defense last week fly around and pretty much shut Buffalo down," Bieniemy said. "That's a good offense, who've done a number of things throughout the course of the years with the personnel that they have. I thought that defense did a great job of just playing sound football. "Obviously, it didn't end the right way, but I'll tell you what, this is the league."
With Tyrod Taylor in at quarterback for the injured Daniel Jones, the Giants managed just nine points against the Bills in Week 6, all of which came on field goals by Graham Gano. However, they held quarterback Josh Allen, receiver Stefon Diggs and a potent Bills offense to just 14 points.
Edge rusher Kayon Thibodeaux and the New York Giants will take on the Washington Commanders in Week 7.
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Bieniemy stressed that despite the Giants currently being in the basement of the NFC East, it's important that the Commanders don't take them lightly.
"Obviously, you got to make sure that regardless of what their record is, we have to make sure that our attitude and mindset is in the right place because we're not here to play down to a record," Bieniemy said. "We are here to play an NFL team that's pretty good. They've had some unfortunate luck, but our job is to make sure that we're taking care of business. But that defense is very, very impressive.”
What's interesting is that despite an impressive showing against the Bills a week ago, the Giants didn't record a sack. Quarterback Sam Howell has been sacked a staggering 34 times in six games for the Commanders. Keeping edge rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux from wreaking havoc may very well decide the outcome of Sunday afternoon's game.
The 3-3 Commanders are currently 2.5-point road favorites against the struggling Giants. If Howell and the Commanders hope to remain in the NFC playoff picture, this is a crucial game for them.
