Before Thursday night’s game against the Philadelphia Eagles, there was plenty of media speculation that New York Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen might be out of a job if the defense played poorly against the Eagles and the Giants fell to 1-5.
Well, neither of those things happened. The Giants stunned the defending champion Eagles with a decisive 34-17 victory. Bowen’s defense was a big part of the reason.
- The Giants forced two turnovers, including an interception by Cor’Dale Flott that led to a game-clinching score.
- The Giants sacked Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts three times and pressured him 13 times. Hurts threw 33 passes.
- The Giants held Saquon Barkley to 58 yards on 12 carries, just 27 yards after he gained 31 on his first two carries.
Over the past three weeks, the Giants held the previously 3-0 Los Angeles Chargers to 18 points and the Eagles to 17.
Is it time, perhaps, to give the much-maligned Bowen some credit?
Giants edge defender Kayvon Thibodeaux said on Monday that Bowen has done “a great job of hearing out the players” and the defense is evolving as a result.
“I would say it starts with just open communication and trust with the coaches and the players. I think that we have that in this building and facility. But I think that Bowen has been elevating and changing and evolving on how he calls different games and his growth as well as our players and understanding what works and what doesn’t work, what we like,” Thibodeaux said. “I think Bowen does a great job of hearing out the players. I think the players do a great job of making sure they do what Bowen asked of us.”
That is an interesting perspective on a coordinator many have been uncertain had the ability or willingness to adapt his scheme to the players he has on the Giants roster.
Back in June Bowen had addressed the idea of needing to evolve as a coach.
“I think that’s a big part of coaching. We got to make sure we’re doing everything we can to put these guys individually in positions they’re most successful at, right, to make sure we’re comfortable,” Bowen said at the time.
“Obviously there is going to be different things within the scheme that you can’t always do certain things every single play, right? But doing our best to maximize their skillsets to what they’re most comfortable at, putting them in positions to do things.
“Always trying to evolve. You never want to stay the same. If you stay the same, you’re not improving, so always trying to evolve what we do.”
Four weeks into the season, the Giants were last in the league in run defense, giving up 6.1 yards per rushing attempt. Over the past two weeks, the Giants have given up just 161 rushing yards on 50 attempts (3.22 yards per rush). They remain 29th overall in yards allowed per rushing attempt, but their average is down to 5.1 yards allowed.
“I would definitely say when it comes to stopping a run, it’s definitely technique, discipline, all the things that we practice, but then it’s also mentality,” Thibodeaux said. “Coming into a game, you kind of got to know that a team is going to run, most teams are going to start off trying to run the ball. With a team like we played last week, you know, they got a great set of players that they can run the ball with and we’re going to have to step up to the plate.”
For years, line play and physicality have been question marks for the Giants. Is that changing?
“We’re going to play physical. We’re going to try to win the game up front and affect the quarterback,” Thibodeaux said. “So I would say from an identity perspective, this is a team that when people come here, they’re going to have to win it up front. We don’t play cute ball, we play a smash mouth football in New York. And I think that aside from just the identity of the team, we play with a relentless passion and vigor to win.”
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