Defensive coordinator James Bettcher

When the Giants signed outside linebacker Markus Golden in the offseason, it was thought that Golden just might get back to his old form when he played under Bettcher in Arizona. where he had a career-high 12.5 sacks in 2016.

This week, the Elias Sports Bureau awarded Golden with a full sack of Redskins quarterback Dwayne Haskins on the first play of the third quarter. The sack was originally split between Golden and teammate Lorenzo Carter.

That elevated Golden to 10.0 sacks on the season making him the first Giants player with double-digit sacks since Jason Pierre-Paul had 12.5 in 2014. He is also the first Giants linebacker to reach that milestone since Lawrence Taylor had 10.5 sacks in 1990.

“For me, that one is personal because I have such a great relationship with him,’ said Bettcher of Golden. “Having worked with him when he as a rookie coming in and seeing that first year, how hard he worked. To go from just being a 4-3 defensive end at Missouri to learning how to do some different things in this league, whether that’s dropping or understanding leverage or just picking up the scheme. I saw how hard he worked and how important it is to him.

“To watch the injury going into a year where he had big plans for himself in Arizona and we had big plans for him. Then coming off that injury and continuing to battle and a knee turns into an ankle turns into another injury. Seeing him come into this season and just have the chance to play the game healthy. Have a chance to play as long as he can, as hard as he can during the course of the game. I’ll forever be a Markus Golden fan and be one of his biggest supporters. He’s done a heck of a job for us this year and I think he is anxious to go finish.”