New York Giants 2021 Season Rewind: Where They Went Wrong on Defense

The Giants defense got back on track following a slow start, but thanks to some injuries, the unit wasn't quite as effective as it was a year earlier.

Author:
Michael Lee and Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Jan 14, 2022 8:00 AM EST

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New York Giants

The 2020 New York Giants' defense finished the season strong and was the primary reason they remained in the playoff race. They finished ninth in points allowed with an average of 22 and 12th in yards per game with 349. Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham laid the framework for a versatile, multi-front defense that rarely established trends to exploit.

Graham unlocked career years out of safety Jabrill Peppers, inside linebacker Blake Martinez, defensive lineman Leonard Williams, and cornerback James Bradberry. Graham earned postseason buzz for head coaching, and the New York Jets attempted to interview the coach, but Graham was content as the right-hand man to head coach Joe Judge, so he remained on staff.

Optimism surrounded the Giants during the 2021 free-agent spending spree. After his eleven-sack season, New York retained Williams to a three-year, $63-million contract. The Giants also upgraded their second cornerback spot opposite James Bradberry after recognizing that one of the weaknesses on the 2020 defense was their inability to consistently play man coverage with second cornerback Isaac Yiadom.

Thus in came Adoree Jackson, the Titans former first-round pick, who was signed to a three-year, $39-million deal. Jackson missed Weeks 13-16 with COVID-19 and a quadriceps injury for the Titans. Still, he was very effective and a difference-maker in coverage when healthy. He didn't flash in terms of game-changing plays, but his film checked out.

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The edge position was the other "weakness" heading into the 2021 offseason. New York sought to sign Leonard Floyd from the Rams, but he ultimately decided to return to Los Angeles and play alongside Aaron Donald. New York also allowed Kyler Fackrell to walk in free agency, the edge signing with the Los Angeles Chargers. These occurrences made it even more necessary to upgrade the edge group.

New York peppered the edge position in free agency, signing Ifeadi Odenigbo and Ryan Anderson, but both made zero impact during the season, Odenigbo not a fit for the defensive scheme the Giants ran. However, the true upgrade came in the second round of the draft when New York selected Azeez Ojulari out of Georgia. The rookie stepped into action and made an immediate impact. Through 17 games, he recorded 39 pressures and a team-leading 8.0 sacks.

Ojulari was a hit, and rookie fourth-round pick Elerson Smith flashed towards the end of the season before landing on injured reserve a second time, as did waiver wire pickup Quincy Roche. The edge group is young and exciting, though we'd expect another piece to be added, especially if the team moves on from Lorenzo Carter and Oshane Ximines.

So what went wrong? How did the defense go from ninth in scoring and 12th in yards allowed to 23rd in scoring and 20th in yards allowed? Why was there a drop-off with Dalvin Tomlinson, the only major contributor not returning in 2021?

The answer is complicated.

For starters, the defense was worse because the offense was significantly worse than in 2020--and the offense wasn't that great to begin with in 2020, mind you. The offense continuously failed to maintain drives, score points, and keep their defense on the sidelines to rest.

Furthermore, the injuries sustained by the Giants' defense were costly, specifically to Martinez. Martinez was incredibly valuable to Graham's system and the Giants' personnel. New York had little behind Martinez. Tae Crowder was moved into Martinez's role, and it was too much for the 2020 "Mr. Irrelevant" selection.

Crowder was set to start next to Martinez in base and nickel situations, but Martinez's injury meant plugging an inconsistent linebacker into an every-down role like Crowder. Reggie Ragland, a two-down linebacker who struggles in coverage, was then relied on to start next to Crowder. These two formed the duo at linebacker, which led to many mistakes at the second level.

The loss of Tomlinson created worry about the Giants' inability to run TITE front defense where there are three down linemen between the tackles. Danny Shelton failed to fill Tomlinson's role, but Austin Johnson stepped in valiantly, especially as a pass rusher. On early downs, he did enough to make the continuity of the defense stay intact.

However, Martinez's absence did not allow the linebackers to consistently be in position when runs were spilled into the C-Gap and outside. Teams had more success running outside zone against New York, and their run defense wasn't as strong as it had been in 2020.

Another early reason for demise in 2021 was Graham's inability to adjust to offensive coordinators. Pat Shurmur and Scott Turner tore through Patrick Graham's middle-of-the-field closed defense. The voids in Graham's zone coverage were exploited, and it took several weeks until the defense found a consistent rhythm.

The Giants' uptick in man coverage didn't transpire in an every-down type of way. New York's man coverage percentage was around the same from 2020 to 2021, give or take. However, Graham's confidence to use man coverage in 3rd-and-short situations was evident.

The Giants weren't scared to employ man coverage in the red zone and these 3rd-and-short situations. In Week 9, Graham devised an excellent defense in the red zone to eliminate Tyreek Hill and Travis Kelce. Graham did a great job taking away the middle of the field with man double buzz; this put a lot of pressure on Bradberry and Jackson outside, but the two cornerbacks did their jobs well.

The red zone defense kept the "bend don't break" label alive for much of the middle part of the season. However, once quarterback Mike Glennon took over for the injured Daniel Jones, the defense crumbled down the stretch of games. This was a product of fatigue rather than a lack of enthusiasm to play.

It took a while for the cohesiveness of the Giants' defense to finally come to fruition. It was interesting because football is a game of taking advantage of opportunities.

The season outlook might have been much different if the offense didn't spoil an excellent effort by Bradberry on an interception late in the fourth quarter against Washington in Week 2. If Adoree' Jackson doesn't drop an easy Matt Ryan interception in Week 3, then the Giants more than likely win that game as well.

The Giants' defense wasn't bad in 2021, but they let seemingly easy chances slip right through their fingers, and the impression of the unit would be much different if they secured these simple chances.

The lack of consistency with holding onto opportunities was coupled with the poor offense that disadvantaged the defense. That said, we're not worried about the defensive personnel at any level. We think there could be upgrades at a few positions depending on who the new defensive coordinator is, but the defense is the furthermost thing from the problem with this Giants' team.

If New York can upgrade their offensive line and give Daniel Jones a real chance to lead an offense that better fits the talent they have, the defense can hopefully be better rested to take advantage of the opportunities presented in any given game.