How Shane Bowen Plans to Re-define Being "Aggressive" for Giants' Defense

New York Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen wants this forthcoming iteration of the Giants defense to be aggressive.

Well, sort of. Bowen isn’t going to unleash the hounds via the blitz quite as often as Wink Martindale, his predecessor, did. Instead, he’s going to take a different approach to being aggressive in a way that opponents will hopefully respect.

“Yeah, I think there is a fine line between being schematically aggressive and being play-style aggressive,” Bowen said before the Giants concluded their mandatory minicamp on Wednesday.

“Like the play style ain't going to change. We're going to be physical; we’re going to be tough. We’ve got a high standard for that. We turn the tape on, and we want teams to see us flying around, hitting people, not turning down contact, being decisive in our decisions, and being aggressive with our breaks.”

In Bowen’s opinion, a defense can be aggressive outside of the scheme just as much within it. After almost three months of installing the various concepts and plays, he was looking to run the defense, Bowen said, is no longer “new” but is the Giant's defense or the way they’re going to approach things moving forward.

“I would start with our style, our fundamentals, being smart players, playing with great effort,” Bowen said when asked to describe how he wants his base defense to look.

“Really being able to play with physicality and toughness and finding dependable dudes in terms of scheme. I think we're multiple. I think there is going to be multiplicity in the back end.

“We will have some front variation depending on the down and situation. Ultimately, the scheme for me is finding what fits our players best. We have to do a good job as a coaching staff figuring that out as we go, as we have been through the spring, and we can evaluate. As we get into training camp, we continue that evaluation.”

Bowen has been fortunate in that he’s quickly been able to tap into what his players do best while witnessing their growth as they continued the various installs throughout the spring.

“Yeah, I think there has been a lot of growth with their understanding of what we're asking them to do,” Bowen said.

That growth has also extended to the coaching staff, where Bowen has encouraged a collaborative approach.

“I think that's grown. As time has gone on and guys get an understanding of my expectations, my standard, and what I'm looking for from certain things, they gradually learn. It gradually increases their ability to go out there and do it right and for coaches to teach it.”

In short, the process continues–it will always continue. But Bowen has been pleased with how the unit is taking shape.

“It's been good this spring. I feel like we've taken some big strides,” he said.

But despite the progress, Bowen knows that the unit is still a ways away from being a finished product, a process that will likely continue beyond training camp.

“We’ve got to be able to take the next step in the teaching progression, take the things from the meetings to the walk-through to the field, and ultimately, when they start playing these other opponents, how our scheme and game plan is going to adjust according to personnel,” he said.