Last Sunday night in Buffalo, the New York Giants’ defense came alive, holding the powerful Bills offense scoreless for three quarters and looking very much like a Wink Martindale defense should.
Heading into the game, they had been allowing 30.6 points per game in this young season, near the bottom of the league. But then something changed. Inside linebackers Bobby Okereke and Micah McFadden stepped up and led an inspired effort against Josh Allen and company.
Martindale, the Giants’ defensive coordinator under head coach Brian Daboll since the beginning of last season, was asked by reporters on Thursday what clicked in Buffalo that hadn’t been clicking before.
“I think that it was the execution itself, the communication, the one play at a time mentality was there all night and when you have that in this league, you’ve got a shot,” he said.
“We had a different plan, we hit them with a different counter punch, this is the fourth time we have gone against (Bills quarterback) Josh (Allen) and we had a different style of plan and he’s a tremendous quarterback with some great players out there and it was a great challenge that I think that our guys took that challenge and went with it.”
Martindale said the arrival of Okereke, signed by the Giants in March to a four-year, $40 million free agent deal, in the sixth game of the season is a sign of good things ahead.
“I think that it all fits into it,” he said of Okereke’s acclimation to the defense. “Like Bobby, X(avier McKinney), Leo(nard Williams), Dex(ter Lawrence II), all those guys, they are starting to gel as a unit. Kayvon (Thibodeaux), you know you just keep going down the list, they are starting to gel as a unit, and they are getting used to playing together and Bobby is a big part of that, too. I think you are just going to continue to see him keep striding out the way we all expected him, too.”
Maybe the Giants’ season isn’t as completely off the rails as most believe it is.
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