The Vikings' Aaron Jones and Commanders' Brian Robinson averaged about seven yards per carry against the Giants through the first two weeks of the season.
Defensive coordinator Shane Bowen had a succinct answer ready when asked what Big Blue needs to improve on to stop the run against the Browns on Sunday.
“Tackle,” Bowen said before practice on Thursday.
In fact, the Giants are allowing 163 yards per game on the ground, good for 28th in the NFL in that department.
Jones rushed 17 times for 94 yards in the season opener against Minnesota, while Robinson had 133 of Washington's 215 rushing yards last Sunday against the Washington Commanders.
“I think the tackle went well. [on the film]”We had some missed tackles on scramble plays, we had some opportunities to get off the field and made some tackles,” Bowen said.
“We had some good snaps, but we have to limit the explosive runs.”
One example of that was Robinson's 40-yard rushing run last week after the front seven blocked him at the line of scrimmage.
“Basically, we're where we need to be. Everybody does their job. All 11 of us, every play. Not just one guy. Not just 10 guys. All 11 guys do their job,” defensive lineman Rakeem “Nacho” Nunez-Roches said. “You can see it when you watch the film. There were a lot of times where we were just shut down.”
“It doesn't matter if it's a bad fit or a bad tackle, it's the basics – do your job.”
In the Washington loss, Bowen's defense didn't actually allow a touchdown, but the Commanders didn't punt once in the game and made seven field goals en route to a 21-18 victory.
“I think the first thing that comes to mind is forcing them to punt,” Bowen said. “I'm really proud of our determination and tenacity to make stops in the red zone and continue to play through all the adversity and make stops on third downs and long pass completions and conversions during drives.”
“Those are tough things, but we just kept playing and found stops and I'm really proud of their determination, especially because we didn't get a stop there in Week 1. But we can't let them down seven times. We can't. … So we've got a lot to improve on.”
