Bowen doesn’t like the “bend, don’t break” terminology
New York Giants defensive doordinator Shane Bowen discussed the return of cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, the team’s defensive philosophy, and more during on Wednesday as the team prepared for Sunday’s season-opening game against the Minnesota Vikings.
Adoree’ Jackson’s return
When asked about the decision to bring back cornerback Adoree’ Jackson, Bowen emphasized the importance of getting Jackson ready to play and familiar with the team’s schemes.
“Good to get him back here,” Bowen said. “We’re focused on getting him ready to go, get him up to speed as quick as we can. I think my experience with him in Tennessee (Titans) and his experience here with the coaches and the guys, I think, is a benefit as well.”
Bowen also acknowledged that players coming in to a team and having to contribute quickly is not unusual.
“You can ask all 32 teams. There’s guys that come in on Tuesday that end up playing on Sunday throughout the year,” Bowen said. “(I) dealt with it in my time in Tennessee with some of the injuries we had. It’s the league, the nature of the league. With numbers and injuries that occur throughout, you got to be ready to get guys up to speed relatively quickly so they can go out and execute and hopefully not ask them to do too much too early to where they’re making mistakes and some things come up.”
Jackson, Cor’Dale Flott and Nick McCloud are all options at cornerback opposite Deonte Banks.
“You want the roster to be as competitive as possible, so guys improve and they feel the pressure of having to come out here every single day, a Tuesday in October, a Monday in December, and get better,” Bowen said. “So, that’s ultimately what we’re trying to get done is just continuing to push all these guys to be the best versions of themselves.
“We owe it to the unit to put the best guys out there that we feel give us the best chance to win.”
Defining an aggressive defense
Bowen has repeatedly stressed the importance of playing an aggressive defense, but he clarified that this aggression goes beyond simply blitzing.
“I want these guys to attack. I want them to have an attacking mentality with everything they do,” Bowen said. “You play defensive football, I don’t care if it’s Pee Wee or if it’s up to the NFL, when you play defensive football, there’s an expectation of physicality, toughness, aggression and being aggressive throughout. Totally different than scheme and what that is and where that goes, but it’s more about play style to me.”
Bowen also wants players to be smart.
“We talk about don’t do dumb crap that hurts the team,” he said. “There’s a fine line between being aggressive and hitting guys when it’s legal and being stupid and hitting guys late, hitting the quarterback high or going low on the quarterback in the pocket. We have to play within the rules. We understand that. Again, we want to toe the edge, we do. We want to get up to the edge of it, but at the same time, we can’t do the dumb stuff that costs the team.”
The new hip-drop tackle rule is one that all NFL teams will have to nagivate. It will be a learning process.
“There were a few examples throughout the preseason that we send into the league to get a little bit more clarity on,” Bowen said. “Just the examples of, ‘Is this the classified three areas that it takes to really be determined a hip-drop tackle.’ So we’ll kind of see as that goes here these first few weeks, see where they’re at with it. But right now, I think it’s going to be a learning process for us and the officials as we go.”
Red zone defense
Bowen’s defenses in Tennessee consistently excelled in the red zone, a trend he hopes to continue this season. He downplayed the “bend but don’t break” label often attached to successful red zone defenses.
“They score three points instead of seven, that’s a huge difference in a game,” Bowen said. “I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s ‘Bend don’t break,’ as much as it’s, ‘Let’s make sure if they do get down there, we don’t really care how they do, but let’s make sure when they do get down there that we’re defending our house.’ That end zone is our house. We’re going to do everything we can. We’re going to empty the chamber. We’re going to defend our house and find ways.”
