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Giants news, 11/25: Charlie Bullen takes the New York defense

Good morning, New York Giants fans!

From Big of Blue View

Other Giant observations

“Charlie Bullen has been a great asset to me and the rest of the guys in the room, and continuing to kind of grow,” Thibodeaux said in August. “Not just my ability on the field, but know what weight I want to play at, know what size, know what side of the ball I like and just figuring out what works for me and kind of just honing in on it, using that as my strength.”

Thibodeaux added that Bullen helped him more with his mindset than with any particular technique. “I think it’s the consistency of greatness,” he said. “It’s understanding that, ‘Yeah, you know it, but let’s just go over it three more times.’ I think it’s that 10,000-hour mindset.”

Carl Banks unloads (NSFW) on the defensive unit

’Painful disbelief’ in Detroit as Giants give another victory away | The Record

The disbelief for the New York Giants isn’t about the how. It’s the why.

Because in reality, the players and coaches know the reason the losing keeps happening, and in heartbreaking fashion. They see the film and the crease Jahmyr Gibbs blazed through on the first play of overtime, with Dexter Lawrence on the sideline after getting nicked in the first quarter. He gutted through whatever he was dealing with for much of the game, and the Giants were hopeful of saving him early in OT for bigger plays to come.

Giants, Joe Schoen vote off another coach as 2025 season devolves into ‘Survivor’ | The Athletic

The 2-10 New York Giants have turned the final weeks of this woeful season into the NFL version of “Survivor,” voting someone off the coaching staff after each loss. On Monday, defensive coordinator Shane Bowen’s torch was extinguished after his unit blew another double-digit fourth-quarter lead in a 34-27 overtime loss to the Lions. That came two weeks after head coach Brian Daboll was voted off the island after the Giants dropped to 2-8 for the third consecutive season.

The coaching staff had been Schoen’s “Immunity Idol.” Now, he’s out of fall guys. The focus for the final five games shifts exclusively to the roster Schoen assembled that hasn’t been able to make a play to secure a win in the three games they’ve led by at least 10 points in the fourth quarter.

Why do the Giants keep losing in such excruciating fashion? The Giants just can’t finish. This was their fifth loss this season in a game in which they had a double-digit lead. All were on the road, and that ties an NFL record. They couldn’t get in the end zone despite reaching the 2-yard line on a seven-minute drive late in the fourth quarter. Then, they couldn’t stop the Lions from kicking the tying field goal with less than a minute to play or take down Gibbs on his overtime touchdown run. It doesn’t matter whether it’s Mike Kafka or Brian Daboll as head coach. The Giants’ inability to make big plays in the clutch and close out games remains a problem.

Darius Alexander has improved as the season has progressed

Giants RT Jermaine Eluemunor gave up the sack to Lions DE Aidan Hutchinson on the final play of the game. It was the only sack the Giants allowed all day. Eluemunor to me on his matchup with Hutchinson:

“How do I say this respectfully: He did not do a damn thing all (expletive) game. He strikes me as the type of guy that would try to celebrate that one play, but for most of the day I was on an island with him and he didn’t do anything. Obviously I’m (expletive) about the last play, but at the same time, there’s not much you can do. They know what you’re going to do and he still tries to give me his best move and I run him by the quarterback and he just manages to run back upfield and get the sack.”

The Giants can compete with anyone, but winning has been a different story | New York Post

The Giants were on a roll early in the fourth quarter.

They pulled off an epic trick play, during which Gunner Olszewski threw a pass to quarterback Jameis Winston, who broke a tackle from Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes to power his way into the end zone for a 33-yard touchdown. The Giants were sitting pretty — up by 10 with a little more than 12 minutes left in the fourth.

Jameis Winston nominated for FedEx Air & Ground Player of the Week | Giants.com

Quarterback Jameis Winston has been nominated for the FedEx Air & Ground Player of the Week Award. During the Giants’ Week 12 overtime loss in Detroit, Winston completed 18 of 36 passes for 366 yards, two touchdowns and one interception for a 93.1 passer rating. He added four rush attempts for 13 yards and also caught a 33-yard touchdown pass from wide receiver Gunner Olszewski on a trick play. It was the first reception of the veteran quarterback’s career. Winston became just the second player since 1960 to throw for 350+ yards, two or more touchdowns and catch a touchdown in a game, joining Matt Ryan (2018).

Baldy gives praise to Giants offense

Three big NFL Week 12 comeback wins: Cowboys, Lions, Chiefs | ESPN.com

The Giants chose to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 6-yard line. It’s a curious move for commentators who are sure that six is more than three, but history suggests that teams down three are far less incentivized to try to score a touchdown to win the game in regulation than those same teams down six. Throw in the chances of winning the game with a conversion, killing significant clock by drawing a penalty and the added field position benefit of starting the Lions inside their own 10-yard line with a miss, and ESPN’s model greatly preferred going for it on fourth-and-goal.

Giants’ Mike Kafka shows shades of Bill Walsh (or at least Dan Campbell) on trick plays | The Athletic

The early strike also recalled the trick-play psychology Bill Walsh (Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 1993) and Paul Brown (class of 1967) espoused.

“One of the interesting things about Paul Brown football is that he would always be terribly upset if someone would run a reverse before we did, or a run-pass before we did,” Walsh wrote in the 1980s. “He would grab the phone and scream in my ear, ‘They did it before we did!’ This was very distressing because it sounded so dated.”

This week’s opponent

How will the Patriots recover from being decimated by injuries, especially on the offensive line? Left guard Jared Wilson (ankle) was carted to the locker room in the first quarter, and left tackle Will Campbell (knee) was carted off in the third quarter. That wiped out quarterback Drake Maye’s entire blindside before the final quarter. Good health had been a key factor for the Patriots entering Week 12, as they started the same offensive line in 10 of 11 games. Four-year veterans Ben Brown (guard) and Vederian Lowe (tackle) were the in-game replacements; rookie Marcus Bryant (seventh round) is another option at tackle. Arguably nothing is more important for the Patriots than protecting Maye’s blindside, and that task just became harder.

10 lessons learned from Patriots vs. Bengals in NFL Week 12 | Pats Pulpit

Drake Maye overcomes his early struggles: The Patriots’ quarterback started the game just about as bad as you possibly could on Sunday. He was missing players, and threw a downright terrible pick-six. It was no surprise that the Patriots were struggling, but Maye ended up turning things around. His throw down the middle to DeMario Douglas on third down was a thing of beauty; to throw with that kind of anticipation that far down the field is special, there’s no other way to say it. His connection with Hunter Henry is obvious as well, and he was able to get him the ball consistently on Sunday. He didn’t target Stefon Diggs much, but still hit him in a huge moment on the final offensive drive to pick up a big third down. Maye finished just a few yards short of his first 300-yard passing game, and, even though he had some struggles early, it was encouraging to see him bounce back and play well after the first quarter.