Giants’ Week 13 Defense Didn’t Deliver Enough Plays to Stop the Bleeding

Youth truly is wasted on the young: New York Giants defensive edition.

For the second time in three weeks, Giants rookie outside linebacker Abdul Carter was penalized by interim head coach Mike Kafka for a breach in team rules. According to The Athletic, Carter didn’t show up on time for a special teams meeting because he allegedly wasn’t aware that he was supposed to be in the meeting.

That might not seem like a big deal, but the attention to the little details is what separates an ordinary Joe from a great player. Carter might not have sought to tick off Kafka, but in failing to dot his “I’s” and cross his “T’s,” he’s fast getting a reputation he probably doesn’t want.

Mistakes are going to happen, but this is the second time that Carter hasn’t paid attention to the details, and that’s not a mistake; it’s a pattern. And that Carter, when he was shown on the sideline during his benching, sitting on the bench with a coat on, looking disengaged, wasn’t much of a good look either.

General manager Joe Schoen noted that Carter is only 21. Sure, Carter isn’t going to necessarily be an expert on life–no one really is, regardless of age. But this is a young man who has played football at various levels for several years, and he knows the score and the importance of showing up on time for practices, meetings, and other team-related events.

Blaming the indiscretions on his age is lame. Carter needs to do better. Pure and simple. We think he will, but we need to be made believers that he does indeed get it.

Now onto the player reviews.

Defensive Line

Dexter Lawrence

One of the problems with this terrible Giants defense is that its best player isn't playing like it.

Lawrence’s lingering elbow injury has turned him into a non-entity most of the time. He’s still drawing enough double-teams, but he’s also not collapsing the front of the pocket with any of the kind of regularity that he once did.

When he did draw single-blocking, he was handled. His name did not appear on the stat sheet. The front of the Pats’ pocket was as clean as a whistle all night long.

Give Lawrence for gutting it out and playing through the injury, but this unit needs the disruptive force that he has been, which it is not getting.

Roy Robertson-Harris

The Patriots ran right at Robertson-Harris early on for a short-yardage first down. Still, he eventually produced the best interior defense in the pit with two big run stops, one good inside pass rush that was a legit pressure, and several more short yardage plays that forced a rare second half punt.

We thought Robertson-Harris’s second half was surging until last week’s invisible performance, but this week, he was back to holding his gaps and making plays.

Darius Alexander

After last week’s two sacks, we were surprised that this week it was Alexander whose game was invisible. Alexander didn’t dent the stat sheet and only managed a rare stumble upfield on passing downs.

Alexander did hold up rather well against several run-game double teams, which is a plus for his game, but the pass-rush and pursuit flashes that occurred last week were missing tonight.

Rakeem Nunez-Roches

Also failing to disrupt anything inside, Nunez-Roches’s game showed some flashes this week, but he was only able to find the ball once, and it was in pursuit.

He did not hold up well at the point of attack.

D.J. Davidson

Another non-entity last week, Davidson responded a bit better with a decent upfield pass rush and some solid work inside defending double teams.

Outside Linebackers

New York Giants outside linebacker Abdul Carter | Lon Horwedel-Imagn Images

Brian Burns

The ball was coming out so fast and so easily that Burns’s pass rush game, which sure looked active and dangerous on both edges, was neutralized by the numerous quick completions.

Burns did manage a tackle for loss when he played contain vs. a run, but he was otherwise not disruptive throughout.

In fact, he failed big-time when, on an inside blitz, his contain failed to keep the quarterback in the pocket, allowing a short completion to the running back who had chipped him and whom Burns had otherwise allowed free access to the untended flat.

This innocuous play went for 36 too-easy yards.

Abdul Carter

Benched for the second time in three weeks–this time for the entire first quarter–the absence of Carter in that quarter helped the Pats build their early 17-0 lead.

By the time Carter was finally allowed on the field, the leaks were sprouting all over the field.

While Carter’s presence might not have stopped all the bleeding, his talent did impact things along the way.

He made several close-down tackles against the run, he recorded his first full sack as a pro with a third-down contain sack, and he finished with several edge pressures and four total tackles.

Like fellow rookie Jaxson Dart, Carter needs to better value the intangible things that keep him on the field, where his importance is very tangible.

Chauncey Golston

Getting a healthy diet of strongside snaps, most of them on passing downs, Golston was a complete non-entity who was content to hold his contain on runs while failing to threaten his edge on any of his passing downs.

Golston was one of many front-seven players succumbing to the general malaise that has infected this unit and turned it into a league laughingstock.

Tomon Fox

Signed to the roster this week, Fox got about a dozen edge snaps and did not affect the game in the least. He was waived after the game.

Inside Linebackers

Bobby Okerke

Okereke was once again more productive against the run than the pass this week, totaling seven tackles that included a neat finish in the red zone in flat coverage to eventually force a field goal.

He had a handful of short-yardage wins and was sent on several inside blitzes that did not get home, but at least showed that the new defensive coordinator was trying out there.

Early on, Okereke was left to cover receiver Stefon Diggs in the short zone, which wasn’t fair.

A fourth-quarter short completion to Diggs also exploited Okereke’s lack of anticipation and side-to-side in-zone coverage.

The next play that Okereke makes in zone pass coverage will be his first.

Zaire Barnes

Getting tonight’s start alongside Okereke at inside linebacker, Barnes showed enough flashes out there to hold onto this role for the foreseeable future.

He filled a hole physically on his first snap, then was bear-hugged on a third-down run, the infraction uncalled.

Barnes made plays in space, and he held up very well to the rough stuff in the pit. He’s got a legit power presence that showed especially on a second-half inside blitz where he ran through a running back block to crash the pocket and record his first NFL sack.

Barnes led the defense with 11 total tackles and did not look like much of a liability out there in the least. We’re not sure if any of his coverage duties were misses, but there were too many wide-open running backs and tight ends, per usual.

We liked the angles that Barnes took on wide and off-tackle runs. He also held up well to O-linemen’s second-level blocks.

Barnes earned all of this week’s playing time with his stellar special teams play; it’s good to see a youngster climb the ladder the blue-collar way.

Barnes seems to have the frame to hold up as a regular inside linebacker. We think he’s got a bit of a “diamond in the rough” to his game.

Defensive Backs

Dec 1, 2025; Foxborough, Massachusetts, USA; New York Giants cornerback Dru Phillips (22) defends a pass intended for New England Patriots wide receiver Stefon Diggs (8) during the first quarter at Gillette Stadium. | David Butler II-Imagn Images

Paulson Adebo

Returning after missing five games with a knee injury, Adebo gave up a handful of easy 10-yard completions, and mixed in two good deep coverages with one miss in press at the line of scrimmage that turned into a 33-yard touchdown catch.

Adebo’s 10 total tackles included short completions he ran out of bounds, as well as several alert inside contains and run forces that showed solid defensive football instincts.

Adebo isn’t going to wow anybody with his physicality on these forces, but he’ll also never hesitate to stick his nose into any of these confrontations.

Note the absence from the field this week of the notoriously non-physical Deonte Banks and Korie Black.

At least the defense lined up three willing corners out there who are unafraid to stick their noses into the action. Let’s hope a message is being sent.

Cor’Dale Flott

We thought Flott was slow to close on a tight end red zone pattern in his zone that resulted in a too-easy 15-yard completion.

We don’t think Flott looks very comfortable playing zone, but he was also beaten on a fade for a much-too-easy touchdown. Flott’s ball awareness did not look good on this play.

Otherwise, we thought Flott played well. His coverages were tight, while he regularly stuck his nose into the action, even if his frame is squeaky-thin.

He still contributed with five total tackles and played the game hard, the way it’s supposed to be played.

Dru Phillips

There’s never any mistaking Phillips’ style: it is hard and aggressive from start to finish. The way. When he wasn’t filling inside holes this week, Phillips was giving up his body to play outside contain when required.

His one “big miss” came on the big Treveon Henderson 26-yard outside bounce, when Phillips came up too hard and overran his open-field contain; this was his play to make. He did not.

We love Phillips’ aggressiveness, but he must learn to temper it with discipline. Only then will he become a complete player, which we think he has the potential to become.

Of note were his two knockaways in coverage this week. One came against Diggs in the red zone, defending a fade very well.

The other one came while covering a back in the flat. There was no grabbing by Phillips in coverage this week.

Jevon Holland

Though Holland contributed with five tackles this week, he looked slow early on, whiffing on an open field tackle, and was not stout at the point of attack.

He was beaten badly in solo tight end coverage that should have been a touchdown – Holland was caught peeking into the backfield on this play – but a Patriots penalty bailed him out.

Holland was late to react on several plays in front of him and did not show the recovery speed that we saw in college.

In a secondary that is flailing and failing every week, Holland has not been a unifying factor. His high speed does not seem sufficient when needed.

Dane Belton

The more we see Belton play his position, the more we see a starting quality safety. His sack this week was a run-down of a scrambling quarterback. His seven total tackles came from everywhere and from every angle.

On the Henderson 36-yard run, he was the only DB who showed enough speed to run down the back. Belton knocked away a throw to a tight end, one of the few times when the Pats' tight end was defended.

Belton also blew up a running play in the backfield when he blitzed and took the proper angle. Somehow, he did not get credit for the finish, but he blew up the play for a big loss.

He continues to show up around the ball and remains the stoutest of all the secondary.

Tyler Nubin

This second-year player returned after missing two weeks with an injury. It seemed that the Patriots attacked Nubin’s zone on their second possession, Nubin giving up a wide open completion behind him to a tight end for 36 yards, while covering no one.

We can’t be sure who was responsible for the tight end on this play, but the number of completions that regularly occur behind Nubin is cause for wonder.

Nubin otherwise had an active game, recording six total tackles, one for a loss, and a very quick close on a third-down flat throw that forced a punt.

Nubin also shot a gap into the backfield on a running play but missed the tackle. It also seemed that every time Nubin blitzed around an edge, the edge was exploited behind him.

This may be the result of the defensive scheme rather than anything Nubin is doing wrong, but following the scheme. He plays the game at a high level of intensity.

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