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The New York Giants played an embarrassingly ugly game against the San Francisco 49ers in Week 3, but outside of that, have been surprisingly competitive to start the year.
A primary reason for that competitiveness has been the play of their defense, which has far exceeded expectations through four weeks of the season.
Unfortunately for the Giants, they have little to show for that and now sit at 0-4 heading into their first NFC East matchup with the Dallas Cowboys this coming Sunday.
For veteran linebacker Blake Martinez, who signed as a free agent back in March, that doesn’t sit well. Despite his individual success, he laments the team’s self-inflicted errors that have prevented them from putting a notch in the win column.
“I think a lot of people didn’t take us seriously when we were saying [we’d play physical football],” Martinez told reporters on Sunday night. “It was just, every single week we’re hurting ourselves, there’s nothing teams are doing that we can’t stop, no matter who’s out there, who’s on the field, who’s up, what personnel we have in, we can go and compete against anybody. I think today we showed that, but we also showed the things that are hurting us. We’ve just got to keep fixing those things and keep minimizing those as much as possible.”
The defense blew a coverage late, which resulted in a game-sealing touchdowns for the Los Angeles Rams, but that was really the least of the Giants’ problems.
Still, Martinez is not interested in pointing fingers at quarterback Daniel Jones, who tossed a last-minute interception, or the Giants’ anemic offense.
“It’s one of those things where we’re all a team,” Martinez said. “I think for each and every one of us, we all have things we need to keep improving and get better at, and I think it’s a process. I think a lot of people write us off, think that something’s wrong, think they know how to fix everything. But for us, we’re just working as a team, and I know it’s going to keep getting better each and every week, and I saw a lot of improvement across the board today.”
Cornerback James Bradberry, who is among the best in football through the first quarter of the season, shared similar sentiments.
“If they don’t score, they don’t win,” Bradberry said. “We try to take pride in that. Each time we’re on the field, we try to limit the offense to zero points on the board. Unfortunately, we didn’t do that. We just have to keep getting better, look at the film, correct our mistakes and move on to next week.”
The fact that the over-performing Giants defense has been able to brush off the offensive failures and shoulder the blame themselves is a testament to head coach Joe Judge and his staff. They’re clearly saying all the right things, but if this lack of balance continues, it will eventually eat away at them.
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