IT'S ON US
As offense struggles, Giants 'D' ready to lead the way
As far as Jason Pierre-Paul is concerned, he isn’t too concerned.
The Giants are one game — albeit one clunker — into the season, and a chance to redeem themselves awaits Monday night against the Lions at MetLife Stadium.
Though it was the offense that drew concerns with its woeful results against the Cowboys, Pierre-Paul and his defensive teammates are focused on taking care of their own side of the ball.
“We gotta do a better job on defense and that’s what we’re striving for this week,” PierrePaul said Saturday after the Giants held a walkthrough. “It’s only Game 2. The first game, win or lose, is to prove what you can do. But the second game is definitely to see what you got. It’s a big week.”
The Giants insist they are flushing that game and moving on to the next, but they also have made an emphasis of getting better because of it. The team’s film session this week was blunt, but there was no sense in sugarcoating anything for coach Ben McAdoo.
“We don’t have time to handle things with kid gloves here,” McAdoo said. “We’re going to be open and honest with our communication. We’re critical of ourselves as coaches and we expect the players to be critical of themselves. That’s the best way you can improve, especially Week 1 to Week 2, but each and every week.”
The defense wasn’t satisfied with just keeping the Cowboys in check. Though the Giants allowed just 19 points — and one touchdown — in the Week 1 loss, defensive line coach Patrick Graham reiterated Saturday that “nobody’s where they want to be right now.”
With quarterback Matthew Stafford — the newly minted highest-paid player in the league — and the Lions as their next test, the defense sees another chance to get better.
“We know if [the opponent] doesn’t score, they don’t win,” cornerback Janoris Jenkins said. “We just gotta play great defense and get the offense along when they come along.”
While they’re waiting, PierrePaul isn’t worried about frustration growing among the defense.
“We can’t play for [the offense],” the defensive end said. “But as a defense, we gotta defend our field. Even if the of-
fense does wind up turning it over or whatever, that’s our job to give the ball back to them.”
Both units could get a boost if they’re fully healthy.
A week after leading the team with 18 tackles, linebacker B.J. Goodson was added to the injury report Saturday with a sore shin and is officially questionable for Monday’s game.
So, too, is Odell Beckham Jr., who is trying to battle past a sprained ankle to make his season debut Monday. But PierrePaul isn’t banking on that to get the Giants out of their rut.
“I feel like anybody with a special type of talent lifts up the whole team,” Pierre-Paul said. “But you can’t look towards one guy to lift up a team. That’s not what a team is. A team is every guy coming together and playing together as one. We can’t depend on one guy.”
They can’t depend on just one unit either, which is why Pierre-Paul and the defense are minding their own business heading into the home opener.
“It’s going to be a big one, man,” Pierre-Paul said. “We’re going to be amped.”