Giants Defensive Free Agents Earning Their Keep Playing In Many Snaps
The New York Giants made a huge investment in the offseason by adding defensive players to strengthen a defense that allowed the third most yards in NFL history in 2015.
Those defensive players, especially those on the defensive line, have been earning their keep thus far in 2016.
Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul has played 196 out of a possible 202 snaps. His running mate Olivier Vernon has been on the field for 188 snaps. Pierre-Paul has been playing with a hurt shoulder while Vernon has issues with his wrist.
In addition, defensive tackles Damon “Snacks” Harrison has played in 75 percent of the Giants’ defensive snaps and Johnathan Hankins has played in 60 percent.
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Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo realizes that these players shouldn’t be utilized as much as they have been. However, with the injuries that have hit members of the Giants’ secondary, pulling these players off the field isn’t a viable option.
It certainly won’t be a viable option Monday night when the Giants take the field at U.S. Bank Stadium to face the undefeated Minnesota Vikings. Getting pressure on Vikings quarterback Sam Bradford will be crucial if the Giants are to finish Week 4 with a victory.
Perhaps Spagnuolo and the Giants should take a page out of the Vikings’ playbook, at least in how they utilize their defensive personnel.
The Vikings lead the NFL with 15 sacks. They don’t have a defensive lineman that has played in more than 85 percent of snaps.
Pierre-Paul and Vernon each have one sack after three games. The Denver Broncos’ Von Miller leads the NFL with five sacks but has only played in 75 percent of the defending Super Bowl champions’ defensive sacks.
Part of the reason that Pierre-Paul and Vernon have been used so much (besides their innate desire to not come off the field) is the Giants’ use of three defensive ends of pass rushers in the nickel package.
Pierre-Paul and Vernon have, at times, been able to apply pressure and make their presence felt. Unfortunately, they haven’t been able to sack the quarterback.
Spagnuolo says he is looking into getting other players involved so that the Giants’ highly priced free agents are fresh at the end of games.
“Yeah, we need to take a few snaps off of those guys. Especially with the injuries they’re kind of dealing with,” Spagnuolo said. “It’s a good point and it’s hard to take those guys out and they don’t really want to be out. None of those guys do.”
“But I think you make a really good point because when you get down to the end, we really need to step up and those guys need to be fresh. And we’ve talked about that because we’ve looked at the snaps that Kerry Wynn and Owa Odighizuwa and Romeo Okwara had and they probably didn’t have enough.”
Odighizuwa and Okwara have been used in pass rushing situations sparingly while Wynn hasn’t seen much action at all.
The starters don’t care how long they play in the game as long they’re on the field.
“For the most part, when we’re out there, we’re just trying to make plays. As many as we can,” Vernon said. “Just try to help the defense for the most part. Whatever pans out, it does. We’re just going week by week.”
So far, it appears to be working as the two Giants victories were games that would have been losses in 2015.
However, the NFL season is a marathon, not a sprint. The starters are not only going to be needed to finish games but also make it through the season. In 2015, no team had more players on injured reserve than the New York Football Giants.
What Spagnuolo and head coach Ben McAdoo need to figure out is how to keep their starters fresh while getting their underused players into the mix of game action. Ending the Giants’ four-year postseason drought may very well depend on it.
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