Opposing running backs must be salivating over the chance to face the Giants run defense.
There are holes galore.
The unit was torched by Chuba Hubbard during the Giants’ 20-17 loss to the Panthers at Allianz Arena in Munich on Sunday. He recorded 153 rushing yards — a career-high — on 28 carries (5.5 yards-per-carry) with a touchdown.
The Giants enter their bye week surrendering 5.3 yards-per-carry this season — worst in the NFL. They’ve given up 1,471 total rushing yards, third-most in the league.
“It’s a few plays each game where they break a long one and there’s no recurring theme,” head coach Brian Daboll said on Monday. “Yesterday they got two edge plays on us and two different things happened on each of those plays where they broke out. Some games it’s open-field tackling, some games it’s gap control. Certainly, something that, again, you get a couple big plays in the running game, two or three, that’s really going to up everything.
“So, what we need to do is eliminate some of these explosives, continue to win the line of scrimmage, knock back, gap control, then tackling. So again, there’s not one thing specific…. Each week it’s been a little bit different, and it’s something that we need to continue to work on and be better at.”
Recently, opponents have been attacking the edge and running outside the tackles on the Giants — away from Dexter Lawrence in the middle.
It’s been badly exposed without Kayvon Thibodeaux, who has missed the last five games with a wrist injury. Azeez Ojulari has filled in at outside linebacker and is not a strong run-stopper.
Of Hubbard’s seven runs in which he gained five yards or more, five came outside the tackles according to Next Gen Stats.
Thibodeaux could return after the bye, but the damage on the season has already been done.
“We’ve just got to do better on the edges,” Lawrence said after the game. “With the crack tosses, [that] was [the] the main play [they were] getting yards on, the only play really. We’ve just got to do better at setting the edge and crack replacing.”
The Giants’ tackling woes have amplified their struggles on the edge.
Hubbard forced nine missed tackles on Sunday, per Next Gen Stats — tying another career-high — and had 71 more rushing yards than expected.
“Those perimeter runs are a little tricky to fit, especially when it gets outside of us,” defensive end Brian Burns said. “The end is a little tricky to fit as far as how the defensive backs come down and rotate. … We’ve just got to be a little bit more dialed in on that and tackle well.”
