Aaron Jones of the Vikings and Brian Robinson of the Commanders combined to average nearly 7 yards per carry against the Giants in the first two weeks of the season.
Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen had a succinct answer ready when asked what Big Blue need to do better in order to stop the run Sunday against the Browns.
“Tackling,” Bowen replied before Thursday’s practice.
Indeed, the Giants have surrendered 163 yards per game on the ground, which ranks 28th in the NFL in that category.
Jones rushed for 94 yards on 17 carries in the season-opening loss to Minnesota, while Robinson accounted for 133 of Washington’s 215 rushing yards in last Sunday’s loss to the Commanders.
“I think the tackling showed up [on the film],” Bowen said. “Missed some tackles, even on the scramble plays. We had opportunities to get off the field, and tackles showed up.
“There’s some good snaps in there, too, but we gotta limit the explosive runs.”
One such example was a 40-yard breakout by Robinson last week after the front seven initially stuffed him at the line of scrimmage.
“Fundamentals, be where we need to be, everybody doing their job, all 11, every play. Not just one player, not 10 people. All 11 doing their job,” defensive lineman Rakeem “Nacho” Nunez-Roches said. “If you go watch the film, you can see it yourself. There were multiple times we had them completely stopped.
“Whether it was a poor fit, poor tackling, it’s just fundamentals, and doing your job.”
Bowen’s defense actually allowed zero touchdowns in the Washington loss, but the Commanders never punted in the game and kicked seven field goals for a 21-18 victory.
“I think the first thing that comes to mind is we gotta force them to punt,” Bowen said. “I’m really proud of the guys and the resolve and resiliency to get stops in the red zone, and to keep playing through all the adversity that showed up and to get stops after third-and-long completions on drives or conversions on drives.
“Those things are backbreaking, but to continue to play and find stops, really proud of their resolve, especially after Week 1 and not getting stops down there. But we can’t let them down there seven times. We can’t. … So there’s a lot to improve upon.”
