SNACKS TIME
Giants hope Harrison will lead by example on field
It was 13 months ago when Damon “Snacks’’ Harrison essentially said thanks but no thanks. The 2017 season was about to begin and the Giants had not yet announced their team captains. If elected, Harrison stated he would decline to serve.
“I’m not a leader,’’ he explained.
One week into this year’s training camp, Harrison is not exactly singing a different tune but he is at least humming along. He is the fulcrum on a defensive line that features a rookie (B.J. Hill) lined up on one side of him and a secondyear player (Dalvin Tomlinson) on the other. He is one of the NFL’s best interior defensive linemen and his voice carries weight inside his own locker room. When he talks, teammates listen. But will he lead? “I think in certain situations, if the situation calls for it, then I’m willing to step up to the plate and be that,’’ Harrison said Wednesday before practice. “But I think as an overall leader we have some guys who would be perfect in that role.’’
He mentioned Landon Collins, Eli Manning, Zak DeOssie, Alec Ogletree, B.J. Goodson and Janoris Jenkins.
“They do a lot of things to help the guys behind the scenes more so than the guys who do it in front of the cameras,’’ he said.
Harrison, relaxed during a rare media session, was asked how he felt. “Old,’’ he said. That prompted some laughter and even Snacks smiled.
“I’m about to be 30, man,’’ said Harrison, who stays 29 until Nov. 29. “But we have a bunch of young guys in the room so I can’t allow myself to start mentally being old. Physically, you can’t hide behind that, but I feel great.’’
The Giants need Harrison to not only feel great, but also to play great. A new 3-4 defensive front is here and the 355-pound defensive tackle is the centerpiece that everything revolves around. Coordinator James Bettcher imported from the Cardinals an attacking scheme that Harrison likens to the Rex Ryan defense he played in his early NFL years with the Jets.
“It’s not sitting around waiting, trying to read and see what the other guys on offense are doing,’’ Harrison said. “It’s playing defense with an offensive mentality.’’
This is a readjustment for Harrison. He considers himself “a two-gapper by nature,’’ meaning it is customary for him to take on two blockers at the line of scrimmage. The Giants want to be more of a one-gap team this season, with Harrison, despite his massive body, asked to dominate the man in front of him and penetrate up the field.
“To get out of that and run up the field like these other guys, that’ll be cool.’’ Harrison said.
Cool, but not natural. Harrison admitted he’s had to “change my body type’’ to fit into Bettcher’s system and rushing up the field has not exactly been his forte. He developed into an excellent player with the Jets but it is only in the last two years, working on a four-man line in Steve Spagnuolo’s twogap scheme, when Harrison emerged as an elite run-stopper.
Tomlinson is 24 and Hill is 22 and they need to lean on Harrison’s experience. None of this is easy on Harrison, who admits, “I’m not a guy who likes change’’ and says, “Honestly I’m not a people person, which is weird.
“I’m a very personal guy that I don’t like to, I’m not good at talking, man. I’m just not. That’s something I have to break out of. With this new staff forcing me to do so — they’re not forc- ing me, I have to force myself — to see how I fit in. So that’s that.’’
It sounds as if the new coaching staff is not forcing Harrison to be anything other than himself.
Do the Giants need “Snacks” Harrison to be a leader?
“I think we talk frequently about leadership,’’ coach Pat Shurmur said. “That’s where everybody goes. I also think we need to talk about followership. In other words, there are some guys who are outstanding players and have been outstanding players their whole lives and what they want to do is come to work and do their job.
“We need to embrace those guys too. I’m not speaking with regard to Snacks but the leadership piece, you play football and guys rise and you try to inspire guys to lead the team but sometimes we don’t talk enough about the other part of that.
“Leaders come in all shapes and sizes.’’
Even, perhaps, Snacks-size.