What the Giants Must Fix Before Returning from Bye Week

The New York Giants are enjoying a much-needed bye this week, sitting atop the NFC East, a position they’ll keep regardless of what happens in the division this coming weekend.

While the players are off enjoying a mini vacation of sorts, general manager Joe Schoen and head coach John Harbaugh are not resting; both want to ensure the Giants maintain their place atop the division when they resume play in Week 9 with a road game against the Philadelphia Eagles.

While Schoen, Harbaugh, and the rest of the Giants’ braintrust plot how they intend to handle the final days before the trade deadline and future roster moves, here are two things that should be at the top of their to-do list to keep them in the crow’s nest.

Defense: Defensive Line Depth

By far the most disappointing development of the 2026 season has been the performance of the defensive line depth behind starters Shelby Harris and D.J. Reader.

Second-year man Darius Alexander, whom the team undoubtedly hoped would continue to build on the flashes he showed at the end of last season, has been hot and cold, particularly in run defense.

C.J. Okoye has been a disappointment since the Giants acquired him in a trade with Baltimore, which received the Giants’ 2028 seventh-round draft pick.

Okoye has played 82 defensive snaps, 41 against the run, and has four tackles to show for it, two of them for loss. He was a healthy scratch for the team’s Week 6 game against the New Orleans Saints.

And rookie Bobby Jamison-Travis, who has played 38 defensive snaps (27 against the run), is still getting his feet wet after being inactive for the first five games of the season.

As a result, when Harris and Reader need a breather, the Giants have become more susceptible to big-play runs, with opposing rushers averaging 4.4 yards per carry when one or both are on the field and 5.2 yards per carry when neither is.

The Giants have added defensive lineman Dean Lowry to the mix, signing him to the practice squad this week. But if Big Blue does nothing else this week, it has to zero in on the defensive line, given what the braintrust has seen so far from the depth.

Offense: Better Production Running Between the Tackles

The Giants’ running game had a huge moment last week against the Texans, exploding for a season-best 188 yards (the fourth-best rushing total in the league in Week 7) on 34 carries, with 180 of those yards coming from the running backs.

But overall this season, most of the Giants’ rushing woes have come on between-the-tackles runs.

Per Next Gen Stats, only Tyrone Tracy Jr. (+1.6) and Devin Singletary (+0.3) have positive Rush EPA figures, while lead running back Cam Skattebo sits at -8.8.

Further, Skattebo’s rushing success rate between the tackles this season is 37.3%, the fourth-lowest among 15 running backs with at least 50 attempts.

While not all interior rushing struggles fall solely on the offensive line, it’s still an area Big Blue would like to improve moving forward. Some of those struggles have been on Skattebo himself for not always following his blocks.

Whatever the issue, the Giants will want to fix it when they return from the bye, especially with the Eagles (11.6% run stuff rate, 26th in the league) and Commanders (10.5% run stuff rate, 31st in the league) struggling to stop runs between the tackles.

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