How Charlie Bullen Plans to Address Deficiencies in Giants Defense

Charlie Bullen, the newly minted defensive coordinator for the New York Giants, has a tall task ahead of him: find a way to salvage the league’s 30th-ranked defense, which this season has blown five late-game leads of 10+ points, and to stop the bleeding in the league’s worst run defense (157.2 yards per game, 5.93 yards per rushing attempt).

“Yeah, I think there are a couple of areas,” Bullen said in his first comments since being promoted to defensive coordinator by interim head coach Mike Kafka following the dismissal of Shane Bowen.

“ If you look at the big runs from the other day or any of the big runs this year, I think it's a combination of scheme–are we getting aligned correctly, and are we getting the adjustments communicated?

“It's also technique and fundamentals, as well as making or missing tackles. Like, one of the ones the other day got out technically; we could have been sounder up front and had guys there to get (Detroit Lions running back Jahmyr) Gibbs down, but we didn't make the tackle.

“In other areas, we didn't get the front adjusted correctly. So, it's really a couple of areas.”

Bullen, with input from the rest of the defensive staff and Kafka, is looking to address all of those areas.

One of the first things he’s implemented this week was bringing back a tackling circuit the team had done before, but now being done a bit differently, with the defensive backs doing tackling drills under the watchful eyes of defensive line coaches Andrew Patterson and Bryan Cox.

“That was a collective staff idea, just something that we felt like we needed to work on and emphasize,” Bullen said.

There are times when working on those types of fundamentals, tackling or whatever, it's more beneficial to do it in an individual setting. And sometimes it's more beneficial to do it in a group setting. And at that moment in time, we thought that we would go that route. And so that's why we did it that way.”

Run defense and fundamentals aside, Bullen will need to make sure the defense finishes it out should the Giants find themselves holding a late-game lead.

“Yeah, no doubt. You know, that's something that we have to fix. If you want to win games, you have to finish,” he said. “So, I think, again, going back to the run defense, anything that's not successful, you've got to look at why, and there are a couple of reasons why.

“Again, where can we schematically make sure that these guys can execute the call so that their plate is as clean as possible before the ball snaps, so they're in position and correctly aligned and can execute. And if that's an issue, then we've got to help them as coaches. And then, guys got to do their job, and when they have a chance to make a play, they've got to make it.”

There's only so much, in terms of the big picture, that Bullen, who is getting ready to call his first game as a coordinator at any level by doing call-it periods in practice to get into a flow, can change.

But that hasn’t stopped him from having a vision as to what he’d like the defense under his watch to resemble.

“My philosophy is always players over plays, and how can we as coaches, even as a position coach, maximize our players' abilities and put them in position to have success - A, for themselves, maximizing what they're good at, but then also defensively it helps us,” he said.

“If we're putting (outside linebacker Brian) Burns in advantageous situations or (defensive lineman) Dex (Lawrence II) in advantageous situations or (safety Jevón) Holland, that helps us.”

Rather than blow the whole thing up, Bullen, who credits Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph as a mentor, said there will be tweaks and alterations, but that the goal will be the same.

“I just want to put these guys in position to succeed so that their skill sets are maximized, and they can play as fast as possible,” he said.

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