New York Giants Practice Report: Day 1 Defense vs. New York Jets Offense

What did we see from the New York Giants in joint practice against the New York Jets?

Aug 12, 2025; Florham Park, NJ, USA; at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center. The Giants and Jets participate in a joint practice at the Jets' training facility in Florham Park. | Michael Karas-NorthJersey.com / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Florham Park, N.J. –Day 1 of joint practices between the New York Giants and the New York Jets went about as expected for the Giants defense.

Upfront, the Giants had a strong day, consistently generating pressure on Justin Fields and the rest of the Jets' quarterback room.

Despite the success of the Giants' pass-rush, the Jets' passing attack still found plenty of success throughout the day.

Jets quarterback Justin Fields used his legs to extend plays and buy time in the backfield before letting it fly to receivers that, even if they were covered, weren’t truly contested.

The Giants' secondary has a reputation for not making plays on the ball, and they continued that trend against the Jets.

While the secondary eventually settled in, they were still unable to take the ball away from the Jets despite some forced and errant passes.

The most impressive individual secondary play of the day was safety Tyler Nubin holding his own in man coverage against Jets receiver Garrett Wilson, which is more than most members of the secondary can say. Nubin forced an incompletion.

Safety Jevon Holland, who faced the Jets plenty as a member of the Miami Dolphins, was the most consistent secondary defender for the Giants.

Holland got his hand in on a few passes, including one that was a perfectly timed and placed punchout to force the incompletion.

Dexter Lawrence II had himself a day against the Jets, manhandling the interior of the offensive line and condensing the pocket on Fields, forcing him to roll out.

Abdul Carter’s usage continued to be impressively versatile for a rookie. It’s rare for a rookie to pick up multiple positions, but Carter lined up along the defensive line, as an off-ball linebacker, and even in the slot, on some plays.

Carter had several plays where he looked like the real deal, including one where he read a screen to the running back, tracked it the whole way, and then contained the back to the inside after the catch. Unfortunately, no other Giants defenders were in the vicinity.

The Giants were working on some pressure packages as well on Tuesday, including one play that saw seven defenders on the line of scrimmage for an all-out blitz that was quickly thwarted by a dump-off to the running back.

Safety Dane Belton, one of the standouts this camp and preseason cycle, spent a lot of time working in the slot on Tuesday. Three safety sets were always a possibility, and Belton, who played a safety/linebacker-hybrid role at Iowa, looked comfortable in the slot.

While the pass defense had its ups and downs, the Giants' defensive front dominated the Jets in the run game.

It’s hard to even compliment the Giants' linebackers or defensive backs for the run stops, as it was mostly the defensive line blowing up plays almost every time.

Defensive linemen Elijah Chatman andDarius Alexander, and outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux all made monster run stops against the Jets on Tuesday.

Both teams were chippy for a good portion of the day, with plenty of trash talk and shoving, but toward the end of practice, things got intense.

Jets defensive lineman Phidarian Mathis and Giants offensive lineman Aaron Stinnie went to the ground during a run play, and Mathis ended up on top, then started throwing punches.

The Giants' defense lacked discipline overall, and it was clear that the chippiness, missed assignments, and penalties were a clear sign of that. 

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