Shane Bowen Confident NY Giants Can Fix Struggling Defense

The last five quarters for the New York Giants' defense have been nothing short of a horror show.

Over those five quarters, the Giants' defense has given up 329 rushing yards and 71 points. There have also been, per TruMedia (via the Locked On Giants podcast) 29 instances in which a defender made initial contact with a ball carrier but failed to bring him to the ground, tied for 12th most in the league over that span.

Not good. Not good at all.

But the question is, why is this defensive unit, which, albeit has injuries among its top-15 talent, playing so poorly all of a sudden?

“There's a variety of issues I would say that showed up kind of throughout the game that reared their head, but I'm confident we can get them fixed,” defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said Thursday.

“Went through them with the guys, got to get back to work on the field, working through those things, but confident we can get them fixed.”

What sort of things are under scrutiny?

“I think specifically on Sunday, it was probably one of our worst tackling games,' Bowen said.

“I think just making sure we're defined in terms of where we're at in terms of gap control. Not lying to the guys behind us–it gets a little gray, then it gets a little loose. And then good backs find it, and they exploit it.

“So, making sure we're doing a good job of being where we're supposed to be, controlling our gaps.”

The tackling issue isn’t new to the Giants' defense, which is still struggling to achieve consistency.

On the season, the Giants have 109 instances in which the defender failed to bring down the ball carrier upon first contact, which ranks as the 11th worst mark in the league.

That in turn has led to the Giants' defense allowing opponents an average of 382.4 yards per game, fourth most in the league, including an average of 148.9 rushing yards per game, third most in the league.

“We have to get the fundamentals fixed,” Bowen said. “We have to make sure we're looking at the right guy. We have to have the right technique in man coverage, all that type of stuff. But let's make sure we don't lose sight of the play style and what that is.”

Unfortunately for Bowen and the Giants, the problem isn't isolated to one or two players, so a simple lineup change won't solve it.

Given the widespread problems of the defense, which, by the way, will see the league’s second-best passing offense on Sunday when the 49ers come to town, how do they get everything back on track in such a short period of time?

“I think right now for us, it's holistic,” Bowen said. “We have to make sure every single person, including myself, is doing a better job at executing our job, play in and play out.”

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