The Giants do not play the ball well and are no better than mediocre in running or defending the pass.
But stop the race? That should be their identity – a pillar of resistance emphasized by general manager Dave Gettleman and coach Joe Judge.
Accusing the Ravens of identity theft.
The NFL’s fastest attack hit the Giants by 249 yards on Sunday, with Gus Edwards (85), Lamar Jackson (80) and JK Dobbins (77) all over 75 yards on the ground, leading the Ravens to a 27- 13.
“We didn’t do a good job of defining the advantage and they took advantage of that,” said defensive striker Dexter Lawrence. “We were without gaps and they found a way to get there. We didn’t do the best job facing or being disciplined. “
The Giants invested big choices or big contracts in Lawrence, Leonard Williams and Dalvin Tomlinson along the line and in the middle linebacker, Blake Martinez, to build the 6th classified NFL defense.
“[The goal] up front is whoop a– and let the linebackers flow, ”Lawrence said. “This is what we do.”
It wasn’t Sunday. Not from the beginning.
The Ravens built a 14-0 lead in the first quarter by winning at the point of attack. They ran 16 times for 95 yards and won 11 first descents – blowing up the Giants’ safety plan, Logan Ryan, for a twist to get the initial lead and get the race off.
“You can’t really mirror Lamar Jackson,” said Ryan. “It’s something that you need to adjust to in the game. When you have a defender running and they are committing 11 players to run the ball and the defender weighs 300 pounds, they will move the ball a little bit. “
It wasn’t just a little bit. At the start of the third quarter, the Ravens overtook the Cardinals (159) as the team with the most running yards against the Giants this season.
“They did a good job of keeping their third low manageable and running for 4 or 5 [yards] at a time, ”said Ryan. “In the red area, you have to hold Baltimore to shoot, get goals and play to get them out of rhythm. And we don’t understand that. “
The biggest concern for the giants? Lost tackles. A lot of them.
“Ultimately, this has been a strength for us this year,” said Judge. “Our guys have really improved in tackling and spacing tackles in line, in short spaces. To be honest with you, it was surprising to see that today. We have to do some fundamentally better things. “
A week after containing the accelerated attack ranked third with compensation that allowed the Browns to win through the air, Giants defensive coordinator Patrick Graham was finally left with no answers. Graham made the most of an insufficient unit throughout the season through pre-snap disguises and other forms of cheating.
There was nothing complicated about the overwhelming-mouthed Ravens.
“We played a scheme early on to deal with the race a lot more,” said Judge. “Lamar came and did a great job playing the ball. They made some contested catches. With this team, the focus is to stop the race. Pat made some adjustments. We need to play good complementary football ”.