Giants defense answers challenge from coaches and Panthers’ Matt Rhule

The Giants defense took Panthers coach Matt Rhule’s commitment to Carolina’s running game as a challenge to their personal pride.

They used it as bulletin board material and responded by dominating Sam Darnold’s offense, holding them to 56 yards rushing, a season low for a Giants opponent.

“I love Matt Rhule to death. He’s a great coach,” captain Logan Ryan said. “But he talked about them establishing their identity and running the ball 33 times to figure out who they are, and they just got to do it next week. They couldn’t establish it against us, so they got to do it next week.”

Joe Judge and Giants defensive backs coach Jerome Henderson both had called out players’ effort during and after the previous week’s blowout loss to the L.A. Rams, including Ryan’s and James Bradberry’s.

And defensive coordinator Pat Graham had put a clear emphasis during the practice week on tackling.

FOX reporter Shannon Spake even reported pre-game that “load management was not even considered” during a padded Wednesday practice as Judge put pressure on his defense to respond.

But Rhule’s insistence on running the ball 30-plus times against the NFL’s fourth-worst rushing defense gave the Giants’ coaches a good villain to redirect their players’ ire.

And the Giants defense responded by nearly matching Carolina’s 3-point total thanks to a Darnold safety on an intentional grounding forced by Leonard Williams.

Safety Xavier McKinney was even trash talking to Rhule on the Panthers’ sideline in the first half.

“When people say you’re not playing with pride, that’s just inexcusable,” Ryan said. “You shouldn’t even allow that to be questioned. I think today, no matter what was going to happen, we wanted to outscore them personally. I was mad we didn’t beat them – it was 3-2, their offense versus our defense in points. We really wanted to outscore them. It just came out of pride and kind of the way you do it.”

The Giants’ tackling was noticeably tougher and more consistent. Corner Adoree Jackson, a player who has shied away from direct contact at times this season, stuck his nose in and did some dirty work.

“We’re a very resilient team,” Judge said of his players’ response.

The pass rush cleaned up, especially late. Rookie Azeez Ojulari led the defense with 2.5 sacks and four QB hits, plus three tackles for a loss. And Williams had 1.5 sacks and three QB hits. Jabrill Peppers and Dexter Lawrence also had sacks.

But the tackling stuck out as a clear improvement. Benardrick McKinney made his Giants debut in the linebacker rotation and made two tackles. Williams and Tae Crowder led the team with six apiece.

“I think it was more just pointing it out and more emphasis on it in practice,” William said. “Even when we’re not in full pads and there’s not much contact in practice, it’s more like making sure your feet and your body are in a good position to make the tackle. I think just overall the focus on that was hyped up this week.”

The result was that Williams was blowing kisses to the fans on Sunday one week after he’d admitted that the constant booing had bothered him.

“We were out there for pregame warmups, he was kind of [waving me off] like how I did last game,” Williams said. “Instead of doing it back, I just blew him kisses. Then when I got the safety, I did it again to him.”

Bradberry, who caught a second quarter interception on an errant Darnold throw, admitted the Giants defense took their recent poor play “personally.”

And he made sure to keep the ball off his INT.

“I keep them all, but I’ll definitely keep that one close by,” Bradberry said with a smile.

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Kicker Graham Gano went to the podium postgame before the head coach. Gano, a former Carolina Panther, was a perfect 3-for-3 on field goals from 44, 49 and 53 yards, and he made both extra points.

Gano is the second-highest scorer in Panthers franchise history, but his time there ended on a sour note, with the team medical staff misdiagnosing a leg injury that nearly ended his career and cost him the entire 2019 season.

So Sunday was extra special for Gano, who was also a game captain.

“I’ve had this game circled since the schedule came out,” he said with a smile. “I knew they were coming here and I was excited about it. Obviously, I have awesome memories there, but at the end of the day, I’m a New York Giant and that win feels really, really good.”