Lorenzo Carter, Oshane Ximines are players to watch in Giants’ final six games

Linebackers Lorenzo Carter and Oshane Ximines are players to watch down the stretch for the New York Giants.

At the beginning of this season the New York Giants were hopeful that their pass rush would turn things around and become an effective, if not an elite unit.

Through ten games that has not materialized. They have 24 sacks this season, an average of 2.4 per game, which is up from 2018 (1.875 per game) but still not the result they were expecting.

Outside linebacker Marcus Golden, signed as a free agent this past March, leads the team with 6.5 sacks followed by defensive linemen Dexter Lawrence and Dalvin Tomlinson and outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter who all have 2.5.

Carter and this year’s third round pick, OLB Oshane Ximines, were being counted on take huge steps forward to lift the defense. Especially Carter.

“I think that everyone wants to be that competitor. They want to put themselves in that position and I know Lorenzo does,” said outside linebackers coach Mike Dawson.

“I know that he is a competitive guy, just being with him day in and day out. He wants to make those splash plays and I think you can look at a whole bunch of different factors. He’s been a guy that we have been able to move around. You see him on the ball, off the ball, he’s in coverage, he’s rushing, he’s doing different things that way. That’s a unique skill set that he has. I know there’s plays that he wants to be a step closer, accelerate a little more or do things like that. I think he is definitely holding himself to that high standard still and continues to work that. We have six more weeks to put the pedal to the metal with him. Hopefully those numbers start to come.”

Carter, who is second to Golden (15) on the team in QB hits with eight, has appeared to be just a little late on a lot of plays. Perhaps he can improve his reaction time and angles to the football.

As for Ximines, it’s more about getting the opportunities than anything else. He plays the same position as Carter and Golden. He has been in on 48% of the defensive snaps and has collected only two sacks. By contrast, Golden has been on the field 805 of the time and Carter has played 68% of the snaps.

“Oshane has been working his butt off and hopefully we keep getting him in the right direction,” said Dawson.

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6 things to watch for over the Giants’ final six games

Here are six things (plus more) to watch over the final six games of the New York Giants’ 2019 regular season.

There’s not a whole lot to root for in these 2-8 New York Giants, but fans will be looking for any signs of life– and hope — in Pat Shurmur’s team over the last six games of this lost 2019 season.

Fans are shedding themselves of as many tickets as they can for the remaining three home games (Week 13 vs. Green Bay, Week 15 vs. Miami and Week 17 vs. Philadelphia) and there won’t be a ton of viewers watching on television, either, as the Giants close out their sixth losing season over the last seven years.

But there are a few things to watch for. I like No. 6, so I narrowed (or expanded) the things to watch to that number for the heck of it.

Pat Shurmur

Is he coaching for his Giants life? It doesn’t look like they’ll better last year’s record of 5-11, but if he can only win two or three of the last six games and the team is still a disorganized mess, do the Giants look to move on?

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There’s no rhyme or reason to Giants’ defense

The New York Giants have the worst defense in football and there appears to be no rhyme or reason to their approach.

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The New York Giants have surrendered 289 points in 10 games this season, the most in the NFL. There are a ton of reasons and theories behind the huge step back they’ve taken in Year 2 under defensive coordinator James Bettcher.

Many say the scheme is at fault. Others point to the dearth of talent while some blame the organization for stocking the roster with too many rookies and inexperienced players.

No matter which of those are the culprit — and all three are salient points — there isn’t much the team can do about it 10 weeks into the season. To install a new scheme would take as many weeks as they have left in the season.

Adding players isn’t a real option mid-season (although they’ve been doing that where they can) and as for gaining experience, we all know there’s only one way to accomplish that — by playing the rookies.

There have been some interesting nuances this season and a few moves that had fans and pundits questioning the team’s direction.

Defensive snaps: BJ Hill clearly the odd man out on the DL. He has played 28% and 25% of the snaps since the Williams trade. Loading up on DL in a 3-4 that mostly plays 2 DL was always a head-scratching move. Ximines' playing time has been reduced greatly. Bucannon a non-factor pic.twitter.com/Z2UJkrnvaT

— Dan Duggan (@DDuggan21) November 11, 2019

Last year as a rookie, B.J. Hill was a budding star, playing in all 16 games (starting 12), racking up 5.5 sacks, eight QB hits, six tackles for a loss and two passes defensed.

This year, Hill has been invisible, especially on the stat sheet. Through 10 games, he has no sacks, no QB hits and no tackles for a loss.

When the Giants traded for Leonard Williams two weeks ago, we suggested that Williams was not going to be added to the defensive line rotation along with Hill and the others, but rather as a replacement for Hill. So far we are right about that. Hill’s snaps are way down since the trade.

Duggan also points out the decreasing usage of the Giants’ prized third-round pick, linebacker Oshane Ximines, and the fact that they continue to play packages that favor speed over bulk.

Deone Buccanon was picked up because he is a Bettcher disciple from their days in Arizona, but he hasn’t made any type of impact. He was released by Tampa Bay for a reason and now we know why. He doesn’t appear to be the same player he was a few seasons ago.

The scheme might be too complicated for some of the young players. Most defenders are trained to attack. The Giants haven’t shown much aggression on defense. Instead, they are usually on their heels, conceding way too much yardage underneath in fear of surrendering big plays, which they’ve ended up doing anyway. More than any team in the league in fact.

No doubt, there will be more changes to this defense in the offseason. A bona fide pass rusher would go a long way, as would a solid addition at each level of this defense. Granted, doesn’t every team need that?

A return to the “get after it” style would benefit this group rather than having a slew of young players standing around wondering what their assignments are.

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