John Harbaugh knows the New York Giants have a “feast or famine” problem on defense, but the head coach believes his unit will fix the issue that threatens to undermine their progress and perhaps even their season.
Harbaugh accused the Giants’ run defense of surrendering “too many chunk plays overall. We’ve played kind of feast or famine run defense,” per Giants.com.
Those comments were made in the aftermath of the 27-27 tie against the Washington Commanders in Week 5. The Giants’ NFC East rivals burned them for several big gains on the ground.
Commanders’ quarterback Jayden Daniels was the biggest problem, despite Harbaugh’s warning. Daniels rushed for 103 yards and two touchdowns on just nine attempts, but he wasn’t the only ball-carrier who gashed Big Blue’s defense.
Harbaugh is concerned about the quarterback-led running game being a niche problem for the Giants. He also identified several broader issues with the overall run defense.
John Harbaugh Knows Where Run Defense is Failing
For every good play the Giants make against the run, Harbaugh thinks “there’s a couple of line of scrimmage runs that get out on us that we’re not happy about that can be played so much better. Whether we don’t adjust to a motion the right way, we don’t get over in our gaps, we don’t quite come in through the angles. I think sometimes our tackling in the back end is really good. And sometimes it’s not good, especially if it’s spacey.”
Poor angles and sketchy gap discipline were painfully obvious when Commanders’ running back Jacory Croskey-Merritt broke free for a 33-yard touchdown run.
JCM finished with 11 carries for 82 yards, but it was Daniels who did the most damage. Harbaugh knows why, pointing out, “It’s always tough to tackle a really fast ball carrier, especially a scrambling quarterback who can run, in man coverage. And that’s what they caught us in. So, you don’t have the help of the angles and group guys coming together with eyes on the ball. Guys have their backs turned to the quarterback, so it ends up being one-on-one sometimes.”
Washington’s dynamic, dual-threat signal-caller routinely sprinted past physically overmatched Giants’ defenders. Including rookie linebacker Arvell Reese, whom Harbaugh’s touted as a monster the rest of the league should fear.
Daniels wasn’t scared when he left Reese (52) trailing on this 38-yard scoring run.
JD5 “hit a top speed of 20.5 mph on this TD, his fastest speed (as a ball carrier or not) on any play of his NFL career,” per NFL Media’s John Todd. The play helped Daniels become “the first QB with multiple 25+ yard rush TD in the same game since Michael Vick in Week 13, 2002 vs the Vikings,” according to Senior NFL Researcher Tony Holzman-Escareno.
The Giants can’t continue to allow these breakaway runs. Fortunately, Harbaugh knows how to fix the problem.
Giants Must Fix 1 Thing Against the Run
Harbaugh believes the Giants “did not play those (scrambles by Daniels) right with our rush lanes.” Scheme was part of the problem, as defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson went all in on heavy blitzing in front of man coverage late in the game.
Daniels burned defensive backs bailing deep with their backs turned, when he got loose for another long touchdown run. The pattern continued in overtime, with Reese getting beat again.
Harbaugh knows allowing runs like these “could be a season problem if we don’t fix it. We don’t rush lane the correct way. Every quarterback’s capable of running like that. But I don’t think it’s going to be a season issue because I think we’re going to correct it and get it right next week.”
The Giants need to get this right or they risk undermining what’s working for Wilson’s defense. His unit blitzed relentlessly against the Arizona Cardinals and veteran quarterback Jacoby Brissett in Week 4, and Wilson “sent at least five rushers on 62% of Jayden Daniels’ dropbacks on Sunday. It was the highest blitz rate for the Giants since 2023 (Wink),” per ESPN’s Jordan Raanan.
If the Giants are going to continue blitzing at a high rate, players up front must rush the quarterback responsibly. That means maintaining lane integrity and not rushing too far upfield, beyond a mobile QB.
John Harbaugh Believes Giants Will Fix ‘Feast or Famine’ Problem