The New York Giants missed 16 tackles during a Week 3 game against the San Francisco 49ers and have missed a total of between 29 and 31 this season depending on which metrics you use.
That means the Giants’ defense is anywhere from fourth-worst to the worst in the NFL in tackling. It’s led some, including team great Tiki Barber, to question their effort.
Despite all of that, safety Xavier McKinney told reporters earlier this week that tackling wasn’t something he was stressing over and is not why the team lost two of their first three games.
“(Tackling) is not the reason why the games are going how they’re going. (There’s) a lot of other different things that we’ve got to correct and be better with, and like I said, fundamentals matter and they’re always going to matter, and we’ll be better with it. I’m not going to stress too much over that, because I know that we’re a good tackling team,” McKinney told reporters on Monday.
“Obviously, we’re just going through a little hiccup, but like I said, we’ll correct it, and we’ll keep moving forward. Not going to stress over it, though.”
McKinney may not be stressing it but the coaches appear to be.
On Thursday, as the Giants returned to practice ahead of a Monday night game against the Seattle Seahawks, tackling was the primary focus.
“We had a tackling circuit today,” linebacker Bobby Okereke told reporters. “I had a coach tell me that tackling is technique and desire. We all have a great desire to tackle out there, now it’s all about cleaning up the technique. Whether it’s chopping down the stiff arm, running our feet, whatever. We’re all professionals, we’ll get that done.”
And what exactly is a tackling circuit?
“It’s a couple of different stations. Working on different tackling scenarios, and opportunities on the field,” Okereke added.
The Giants were in full pads on Thursday and will be again on both Friday and Saturday. A week removed from no true practice at all, they are now going full steam ahead with an emphasis on cleaning up areas of weakness.
“I think we can do a much better job tackling,” defensive lineman Leonard Williams said. “I think we can do a better job in a lot of areas on defense, but overall, I think that we are on that right track. The way we played against San Fran and the way we’ve been continually growing is a good thing for the defense right now, I think we are on the right track.”
We’ll see if the Giants can finally put it all together on Monday night against the Seahawks.
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