Dennard Wilson cast aside his reputation, listened to his players’ feedback and found his inner Brian Flores.
asserted
Wilson → cast → Flores
The NFL ends up with stationary quarterbacks in RPO offenses, defensive ends in outside linebacker stances and man-to-man cornerbacks dropping into zone coverage because play-callers who initially claim they will adjust to their personnel often end up jamming a square peg into a round hole.
uncertain
they → end → hole
Since then, however, Wilson has pulled a full 180-degree turn into Blitzville, as creating pressure with a short-handed four-man front proved difficult.
asserted
creating → pull → front
“Dennard has pretty much every blitz known to man in the system,” head coach John Harbaugh said.
asserted
Harbaugh → have → system
— we don’t have quite all of them, but we can get to them soon enough if we want.
asserted
we → have → them
And he does a great job of organizing it.
asserted
he → do → it
It’s a great, week-to-week game-planning mindset.
asserted
It → ’ → week
The Giants ranked at the bottom of the NFL with one sack and seven quarterback hits while blitzing on just 22.1 percent of defensive snaps over the first three games.
asserted
Giants → rank → games
In their first two full games without injured All-Pro pass-rusher Brian Burns, the Giants blitzed the Cardinals on 51.3 percent of drop-backs and then upped the rate to 62.2 percent — often with more than one blitzer — in the overtime tie against the Commanders.
asserted
Giants → blitz → Commanders
The results are a combined seven sacks and 14 quarterback hits.
asserted
results → combine → ?
“You saw probably more all-out pressure blitzes from two teams in the fourth quarter and the fifth quarter than you’ll ever see again,” Harbaugh said.
asserted
Harbaugh → see → quarter
“Every play pretty much was ‘Zero’ blitz by both teams, it seemed like.
asserted
it → seem → teams
So, that’s probably going to drive the numbers up a little bit.
asserted
that → go → numbers
But we feel like we would consider ourselves probably a blitzing team generally — but we also consider ourselves a cover defense too.”
asserted
ourselves → feel → ?
Physical slot cornerback Dru Phillips was the biggest beneficiary, recording two sacks and five pressures on seven blitzes.
asserted
Phillips → record → blitzes
Safety Jason Pinnock, who missed the previous game with a concussion, also is well regarded as a blitzer (6 1/2 sacks from 2022-24).
asserted
who → miss → 2022
Calling a blitz usually requires tight man-to-man coverage off the snap.
asserted
Calling → call → snap
“Anybody that blitzes, you have to look out for the people behind you,” Phillips said.
asserted
Phillips → blitz → you
“Being a defensive back, when you are covering, you depend on guys to get home.
asserted
you → cover → guys
When I’m blitzing, I’m like, ‘I have to rush my tail off.’
asserted
I → blitz → tail
because you’ve got guys fighting for their life behind you
asserted
you → get → you
To think the Giants are just going to copy Flores’ plan for the Vikings — who lead the league with an astounding 57.2 percent blitz rate for the season — is unrealistic.
asserted
who → think → season
The Titans blitzed on fewer than 21 percent of defensive snaps in both seasons under Wilson.
asserted
Titans → blitz → Wilson
Perhaps the Giants are just taking advantage of a journeyman immobile quarterback (Cardinals’ Jacoby Brissett) and a wounded offensive line (Commanders) after facing quick-release quarterbacks (Cowboys’ Dak Prescott and Rams’ Matthew Stafford) in the first two games.
asserted
Giants → take → games
Sunday’s game against the Saints’ Tyler Shough presents another opportunity for Wilson to send extra pressure.
asserted
Wilson → present → pressure
Shough’s numbers against the blitz, according to Pro Football Focus, include four touchdowns, three interceptions, four batted passes at the line of scrimmage and nine sacks taken, though he is completing 69.6 percent of passes when he gets the ball out of his hand.
uncertain
he → accord → hand
“Dennard has a way of cooking things up, but it’s definitely not a consistent thing,” Phillips said.
asserted
Phillips → have → things
“It’s a week-by-week thing based … off the flow of the game.”
asserted
It → ’ → game
The uptick in blitzing started with Wilson listening to his cornerbacks, who felt they could handle the Cardinals receivers in one-on-one matchups.
uncertain
they → start → matchups
Same goes for the Commanders, who were without Stefon Diggs.
asserted
who → go → Diggs
“When we’re like, ‘These [receivers] can’t separate on us,’ he trusts us,” Phillips said.
asserted
Phillips → ’re → us
“It’s a good connection where he believes that we can guard every receiver we go against, so it frees us up to blitz more.”
asserted
it → ’ → us
The Aporia
