Tag: Patrick Graham

Giants’ Dalvin Tomlinson: Patrick Graham’s defense has Alabama feel

New York Giants DT Dalvin Tomlinson says Patrick Graham’s defense has a very aggressive, Alabama-like feel to it.

There are very few things familiar to anyone in the NFL these days. For the New York Giants, that’s an even more accurate assessment.

In addition to adjusted protocols, virtual learning, social distancing and working out in an entirely different space, the team is welcoming a first-time head coach, a brand new offense, a brand new defense and a slew of new faces.

Remarkably, that leaves 26-year-old defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson, who is entering his fourth year, as the Giants’ longest-tenured defender.

“Everybody knows it’s a business. You have to be able to understand that coming in. I just keep my head down and focus on getting better each and every day and keep working. That’s all you can do,” Tomlinson told reporters on Thursday. “I’m just blessed to be in the position I’m in and be in this chair talking to you guys. Come in each and every day and don’t take a day for granted.”

Unlike many on the Giants who are basically starting from square one, Tomlinson has at least some familiarity with defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, who previously served as New York’s defensive line coach from 2016-2017.

“He is a great guy who has grown a lot. You can just tell it’s a lot of pretty much the same techniques. I always catch him coming into the D-line room and talking to us all the time. We are his favorite group, I guess you could say, because he used to be a D-line coach. He’s always teaching us different techniques that remind me of the stuff he used to teach my rookie year. A lot of great stuff going on and we just keep improving on the techniques he’s teaching us.”

Although Graham never coached at Alabama, Tomlinson says his defense has an Alabama feel to it, including a focus on being aggressive and disruptive in the middle.

“I feel like I am super aggressive on the inside. The scheme is fun. It reminds me of the Alabama defense and the Alabama days and the techniques I used to use and stuff like that,” Tomlinson said.

“I am super excited about the new defense. I want to be able to help in the run and pass game this year and just keep improving across the whole board. Help out and be disruptive in the middle as much as possible throughout the whole season.”

Even with the return of Markus Golden, the Giants are a bit thin when it comes to pass rushers. Needless to say, if Tomlinson can collapse the pocket and put some pressure on the quarterback in passing situations, it will go a long way in not only helping his teammates find opportunities, but will allow Graham to get creative in his play calling.

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Giants coach Joe Judge addresses media: 8 things we learned

New York Giants head coach Joe Judge held his first training camp video conference on Friday, and here are eight key things we learned.

New York Giants head coach Joe Judge held his first video conference of training camp on Friday and to suggest he had a lot to say would be an understatement.

Judge touched on a little bit of everything during his 30-minute meeting with reporters and while much of it felt repetitive, there was still a lot of information to absorb.

Here’s a look at eight different things we learned.

Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports

Sacrifice, sacrifice, sacrifice

The COVID-19 pandemic has essentially changed the way we live and for those in professional sports, things are even more challenging.

Judge isn’t interested in excuses however, but he is interested in personal responsibility and expects each of this players to make sacrifices in order to ensure the health and well-being of the entire team.

“The first thing we have to all understand is, everyone at this level has sacrificed to get here. We’re going to have to make some more sacrifices, whether that’s socially away from the game, how we interact with friends and family members throughout this season,” Judge said. “But we have to make the right decisions. The biggest thing is everyone has to understand that all of our decisions directly impact each other.

“It’s not fair for me to go out and do something and put myself at risk and come in here and get players sick. That’s not my right. I’m not entitled to do that. We have to all make the right decisions, both in the building following the protocols and away from the building.”

In the end, Judge believes these safety precautions are a fair trade-off for playing in the NFL.

“There are some sacrifices we have to make. Like I said earlier, everybody has had to make sacrifices to get to this level. If the biggest thing we have to do is for half a year wear masks around each other, distance a little bit and when we go home, be home, I think it’s a pretty fair trade off to be a part of the National Football League,” Judge said.

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Ex-Patriot says Joe Judge, Patrick Graham won’t be outworked

Former New England Patriots LB Rob Ninkovich says the New York Giants have a pair of hard-working coaches in Joe Judge and Patrick Graham.

When the New York Giants hired Joe Judge to be their head coach and Patrick Graham was chosen as defensive coordinator, the team brought in a pair of coaches who are going to work extremely hard to right the ship.

And that was confirmed by former New England Patriots linebacker and special teamer, Rob Ninkovich, who raved about Judge and Graham’s “tremendous work ethic” while appearing on the “Giants Huddle Podcast.”

Ninkovich spent eight seasons with the Patriots and played under both Graham, who held multiple roles on the Pats’ defensive coaching staff from 2009-2015, and Judge, who was a special teams assistant and then coordinator and wide receivers coach during his tenure from 2012-2019.

“Well, I think they have a tremendous work ethic,” Ninkovich said. “I was with Pat a long time. Me and Pat are very close and good friends. He helped me a lot in my career because he was so thorough in everything that he did in preparation. Same with Joe Judge. Joe Judge is going to be a guy that’s first in, last guy out. He’ll probably sleep there four or five nights a week. I know that sounds crazy, but he’s that into it. Same with Pat. Those guys, they’re not going to leave any stone unturned when it comes to preparation.”

The Giants have been lacking discipline ever since the departure of Tom Coughlin, but that shouldn’t be an issue in the Judge and Graham era, as Ninkovich points out the coaches will certainly hold players accountable.

“Coach Graham and Joe Judge are going to hold guys accountable, which is very much so needed in the NFL. You have to be accountable. You have to be expected to play at a high level week in and week out,” he said.

Accountability is important for any team, but even more so for a younger group like the Giants have now.

Thanks to Judge and Graham, the Giants are primed to have a team that focuses on work ethic, discipline and accountability — and that’s music to the ears of Big Blue’s fans.

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Jonathan Casillas offers high praise for Giants’ Patrick Graham

Jonathan Casillas expects Patrick Graham to excel in his role for the New York Giants, citing his ability to connect with players.

The New York Giants made many important personnel moves this past offseason in regards to leadership. The hiring of Joe Judge as their head coach has been met with praise all across the league. So has the choice of former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett as offensive coordinator.

One move that has sailed under-the-radar has been the selection of Patrick Graham as the team’s defensive coordinator. Maybe that is because Graham’s only body of work in that role came last season when he was at the helm of the Miami Dolphins’ defense, a team that traded away many of their stars in a rebuilding effort.

But Graham is amply qualified for the position. The 41-year-old Yale defensive lineman (where he earned a degree in sociology) has been coaching football since 2002 when he was a graduate assistant at Wagner. Since, he has had a long history of success, most notably as defensive assistant under Bill Belichick in New England and also with the Giants under Ben McAdoo.

That is where Graham came in contact with linebacker Jonathan Casillas, a former Patriot and Giant, who spoke highly of Graham in a recent interview.

“I feel like Pat Graham, he’s learned so much,” Casillas told Giants.com. “He’s a guy that has been so versatile. He was a linebackers coach, a d-line coach, DB (coach) and defensive coordinator, and has kind of been all over the place. But I think that versatility has given him a lot of education in different parts of the game, and that’s going to translate over to him being a great defensive coordinator.”

Casillas went on to explain that Graham has a a way with players in addition to his sharp football mind. That is where the sociology degree comes in.

“It’s not just the x’s and o’s,” he said. “It’s identifying with the players that you have in the locker room. A lot of great coaches sometimes aren’t great player-coaches. You know, not player-friendly… It’s a little bigger than the x’s and o’s. It’s about culture and having the players’ trust and believing in you.

“I think Pat Graham has risen to that to where he’s gotten the defensive coordinator job. The players will believe in him because I feel like he’s a coach who believes in his players. Not the scheme, not that he makes all the good ideas, but the guys that he put in certain positions because of his education and everything that he’s learned. But also, his studying, his due diligence on those guys, that they’ll be put in the right place to win. That’s what the Giants needed.”

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Giants defense will be ‘multiple’ under Patrick Graham

Joe Judge has provided some insight into what the New York Giants defense will look like under Patrick Graham — kind of.

There’s been a lot of debate and uncertainty regarding what the New York Giants defense will look like this year under new head coach Joe Judge and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.

Judge has kept his plans close to the vest thus far and since we haven’t been able to witness the team line up in a practice or drill, the mystery had lingered.

In a conference call on Tuesday with reporters, Judge did his best to further convolute the issue by saying, well, a lot of nothing.

“It’s going to be a multiple answer and everyone says, what does that mean?” Judge responded. “The easiest way to describe that is you go back to last year in Miami where Patrick was, you can follow that through the different systems he’s been a part of whether it’s New England. He had experience in New York and Green Bay, and there is a little difference in flavors of defense as well.”

So, will they be employing a 3-4 base or a 4-3? Judge went on to say they’ll be ready to do both depending on the type of offense they’re up against. We think.

“We’ll be a team that’s multiple by game plan and how we have to matchup and attack the opponent. The elements of the defense you can really look through and what it will closely resemble will really be the other stops that Patrick has been along his way that I have been there as well. The New England system, some of the Houston system, the Tennessee system, the Miami system. Those families of defense will be the biggest influences that go into ours. Of course, ours will be mostly dictated by the players we have in the games,” he said.

This makes sense because in his introductory press conference Judge said his strategy would change from game to game, week to week to meet the challenge at hand. A lot like his old team, the New England Patriots, do.

In addition, the Giants have set their roster up to handle any type of alignment. They have an abundance of versatility on defense now with a slew of new talent coming in the door the past two years. They have the linebackers to play a 3-4 and the linemen to play the 4-3. They also have the defensive back depth to play nickel and dime packages.

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Dalvin Tomlinson shares his thoughts on Giants’ new coaching staff

Defensive tackle Dalvin Tomlinson is excited about the New York Giants’ incoming coaching staff and recently shared his thoughts.

New York Giants defensive lineman Dalvin Tomlinson is getting prepared for his “contract year” in any and all ways that a player can in these times of crisis.

The former 2017 second-round pick out of Alabama is in the final year of his rookie deal and needs to prove to the Giants’ new coaching staff — and general manager Dave Gettleman — that he is worthy of a contract extension.

That is going to be difficult for Tomlinson to do. The Giants were scheduled to begin their offseason program on April 6 because they have a new head coach in Joe Judge. That obviously hasn’t happened and no one is sure when it will.

Until then, Tomlinson has to make do like the rest of the players in the NFL are currently doing and working out from home.

“I put on a mask to jog up and down the street, but I stay close to the house,” Tomlinson told the Daily News via phone this week. “It makes it a little bit tougher, but I’m doing interval sprints and stuff, so it’s not too bad… I’m staying indoors for the most part, unless I need to go to the grocery store. I pretty much have a gym in my garage now. I’m working out there. I’m running. And throughout the day I do some meal-prepping for the next day. And then a lot of video gaming.”

It isn’t going to be a baptism by fire for Tomlinson with the new coaching staff. Judge knows a little about Tomlinson from his close connection to Alabama head coach Nick Saban and his staff.

“I love Coach Judge,” Tomlinson said. “I could sense his energy already when I first met him before this started. I think everybody who’s had an affiliation with Alabama bonds a little bit. The first thing you say before anything is Roll Tide.”

Tomlinson will also have the luxury of familiarity with his new position coach, Sean Spencer, and defensive coordinator Patrick Graham.

“The crazy thing is he actually recruited me out of high school when he was at Vanderbilt,” Tomlinson said of Spencer. “I’m excited about him. Great guy, great energy. I got to talk to him before (the shutdown). I’m looking forward to working with him.”

As for Graham, Tomlinson doesn’t have to go back as far. Graham was the Giants’ defensive line coach in 2017 under Ben McAdoo when Tomlinson was a rookie. He knows his modus operandi.

“Attention to detail,” Tomlinson said of Graham. “He’s gonna critique you, help you grow as a player and as a person off the field, too. He wants the most out of every one of his players. He’s going to push you and get the full potential. He’s great at developing players.”

Even though Tomlinson was a Jerry Reese draft pick, he needn’t worry about wooing Gettleman too much. He very much on the forefront of the GM’s mind.

When talking about the team’s long term plans on a conference call with reporters this week, Gettleman included Tomlinson on the list of core players he hopes to build around.

“Part of the tight rope that I walk on is short-term and long-term,” he said. “Part of the long-term is we have some good, young players right now. We’ve got Dalvin Tomlinson, (Evan) Engram and (Jabrill) Peppers. We have to make decisions on them,” Gettleman said.

And Tomlinson wants that decision to be one that keeps him Blue for a long time.

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Giants likely to employ a 3-4 defensive alignment under Patrick Graham

Based on Patrick Graham’s history with the Dolphins, the Giants will likely use a 3-4 defensive alignment.

There’s been a lot of discussion surrounding what the New York Giants’ defense will look like in 2020 under new defensive coordinator, Patrick Graham.

Looking at Graham’s history as a coordinator, which encompasses just one season — last year in Miami with the Dolphins under Brian Flores — it’s very likely the Giants will mirror much of that strategy and style, which was a 3-4 base alignment.

“In 2019, the Giants only spent 19 percent of defensive snaps in a base 3-4 formation, and 62 percent of plays in nickel, according to Sports Info Solutions. Similarly to the Giants, Graham’s Dolphins were also a 3-4 base, but they spent significantly more time in that front,” writes NJ.com’s Matt Lombardo. “The Dolphins were in the base defense 31 percent of the time, and when adding extra defensive backs disguised their coverages by spending 31 percent of plays in nickel and 31 percent of plays in dime.”

The Giants have a lot of young depth in the secondary and could be adding more in this month’s NFL Draft.

The starters at the corners are currently free-agent addition James Bradberry and DeAndre Baker, a first-round pick last year. Sam Beal, Corey Ballentine and Grant Haley provide the primary depth.

At safety, Jabrill Peppers is still looking for a partner. Julian Love, a fourth-round pick in last year’s draft, UDFA Mark McLaurin, Sean Chandler and XFLer Dravon Askew-Henry are among the options.

At linebacker, the Giants will go with free agent Blake Martinez and either David Mayo or Ryan Connelly in the middle, flanked by Lorenzo Carter and another free agent, Kyler Fackrell, on the outside.

Should the Giants draft Clemson’s Isaiah Simmons, they will have even more flexibility, as he can be used as 3-4 linebacker or as a defensive back.

If the Giants make Simmons the No. 4 overall selection in the draft, it basically seals the deal when it comes to which alignment the Giants will line up in on defense this season.

Kyler Fackrell ready to bring his versatility to Giants

Kyler Fackrell views himself as more than a one-sack player and believes his versatility will help him break out with the New York Giants.

The New York Giants may be looking at linebacker Kyler Fackrell in a similar light to Markus Golden a year ago, but the two are very different players overall.

While Golden is a straight edge rusher, Fackrell is capable of both rushing the passer and dropping into coverage, which is something he feels defensive coordinator Patrick Graham loves about him. It’s also something he’s willing to unleash for the Giants in 2020.

Despite recording just one sack in 2019, Fackrell actually believes he played at a higher level than he had a year prior when he finished the season with a career-high 10.5 sacks.

Although Fackrell and the Giants haven’t discussed the specifics of his role — something that may become clearer on Monday — he feels comfortable joining Graham’s system and perhaps above all else, is thrilled to be teaming with Blake Martinez again.

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Giants’ Blake Martinez excited over reunions with Patrick Graham, Kyler Fackrell

Newly signed New York Giants LB Blake Martinez is excited about his reunions with Patrick Graham and Kyler Fackrell.

It’s going to be a reunion of sorts for free agent inside linebacker Blake Martinez once he finally gets to East Rutherford as a member of the 2020 New York Giants defense.

Martinez, signed to a three-year, $30.75 million contract by Big Blue two weeks ago to shore up the middle of their defense, told reporters on a conference call Monday that he’s looking forward to playing under defensive coordinator Patrick Graham, his old linebackers coach in Green Bay.

“We had that year together and we became super close, he was my inside linebacker coach,” Martinez said. “For me, what made me so excited to work with him this year and the following years is how smart he is. I think he is probably the smartest coach I’ve ever been around. The preparation he puts in every week, his intensity, just how much he cares about the game of football. It just allowed me to go in every Sunday or Monday or Thursday games fully prepared. I never felt like I didn’t know what play was going to happen next.”

Martinez will be joined on the defense by another former Packer, outside linebacker Kyler Fackrell, who the Giants are hoping will return to his double-digit sack form like Markus Golden did last season.

“I reached out to him and we were both excited we are going to be teammates again,” said Martinez. “He’s an amazing player and I think there is a lot of things that he hasn’t been able to show because of certain kind of depth chart things, certain roles he was placed into. Obviously, he had a 10-sack season two years ago. This last year he was a role player that stepped in and did a lot of great things. I think he is one of the best zone coverage linebackers in the NFL in my opinion. What he has been able to do for us and what he’s been asked to do, he’s done a phenomenal job and I know he is going to be a great asset to this team and show people a lot of great things this year.”

The Giants are betting the two Packers can forge the same positive synergy they did under Graham in Green Bay.  Although he hasn’t met any of his other teammates yet, Martinez is stoked about being a part of a team on the rise.

“I think they have a group that is extremely talented smart guys, great players all across the board on offense and defense,” he said. “It’s going to be cool to grow that group together. For me, going from last year or I guess two years ago when we were 6-9-1 to all of the sudden going 13-3. Seeing the little things you had to change and adapt to and incorporate within a given week, a given offseason, within a different training camp that just allowed the defense to mesh in a certain way that allowed us to be so successful last year. I think I can incorporate those things into this defense and this team and I think it will be an awesome thing that we are going to do throughout this next season.”

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2020 NFL Combine: 9 takeaways from Giants coach Joe Judge

Here are nine very interesting takeaways from New York Giants head coach Joe Judge, who held an NFL Combine press conference on Tuesday.

The New York Giants took center stage early on Tuesday morning at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, Indiana with head coach Joe Judge making the media rounds — first NFL Network, then Sirius XM Radio and lastly, his official press conference.

Although many of the questions asked of Judge were similar in nature, he was forthcoming enough to provide the NFL world with some insight into his coaching decisions, as well as some tidbits on his roster, the 2020 NFL Draft and various other odds and ends.

Here are nine takeaways from Judge’s media blitz.

Maddie Meyer/Getty Images

Familiar faces won’t get preferential treatment

When the Giants begin sifting through the hundreds of available players come free agency, do not expect former members of the New England Patriots or anyone who played their college ball at Alabama to get special treatment.

This means players like safety Devin McCourty will not get bumped to the front of the line, but it also doesn’t preclude the Giants from signing players Judge and his staff are familiar with.

Giants fans should still expect to see some ex-Patriots and ex-Crimson Tide players added when all is said and done.

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