Jabrill Peppers knows what the Giants’ defense has to do to help Daniel Jones. Doing it will be the hard part.
The Giants (1-2) have buried themselves on defense in the first-half of each of their first three games, forcing the offense to play catch-up. That has to change, otherwise Jones is going to have create miracle after miracle like he did last Sunday at Tampa Bay.
“We’ve got a rookie quarterback,” Peppers said Thursday at the Giants’ training facility in East Rutherford, N.J. “We’ve got to try to give him the greatest field position possible. Don’t let him go out there with a 10-point, 14-point deficit. Just come the way we’re supposed to and keep games close in the first half.”
That’s a nice blueprint to start following on Sunday when Washington visits MetLife Stadium in a crucial NFC East game. Let’s face it, the Giants’ defense has been an unreliable mess thus far. If not for a missed 34-yard field goal that would have given the Buccaneers the victory, the Giants’ defense would have been ridiculed for ruining Jones’ memorable debut.
“Daniel came in and he showed sides that he hadn’t shown before,” Peppers said, “great leadership, getting us pumped up, telling us to make sure we get him the ball back. I hadn’t seen that side of him before.”-
What can’t be forgotten is that, for the third straight game, the defense was putrid in the first half. After trailing the Cowboys and the Bills 21-7 at halftime of each game, the Giants staked Tampa Bay to a 28-10 lead at the break. With Eli Manning at quarterback, the Giants weren’t able to overcome the deficits, but Jones rallied his team last week to a 32-31 triumph.
“We just have to come out better,” Peppers said. “I don’t think it’s any one thing but just how we come out. I really can’t put my finger on it. But I do know that if we come out like we come out in the second half, we’ll be in a lot of ball games.”
The Giants enter Sunday’s game with the league’s worst pass defense statistically, allowing 332.3 yards per game. The overall defense ranks second-to-last with an average of 460.3 total yards allowed. Yet, there has been plenty of talk this week of playing defense in the first half the way they’ve played in the second half of each game.
The Giants have allowed an average of 292 total yards in the first half this year, but 168.3 in the second half. They’ve also allowed an average of 23.3 points in the first half compared to just 8.0 in the second half.
“If we come out [in the first half] like we do in the second half, I think things will start going our way,” Peppers said.
Defense has been the backbone of each of the Giants’ Super Bowl teams, which makes their current rankings an embarrassment. But defensive coordinator James Bettcher isn’t offering any quick fixes. There have been multiple problems: a lack of a consistent pass rush, too many big plays allowed and too many broken coverages.
“There’s a process to getting better at anything you do,” Bettcher said. “That process is identifying the problem, working the solution, and working with a purpose at practice.”
Peppers, a strong safety, is trying to make an impact. He was brought here essentially to replace Landon Collins, now with the Redskins. Peppers has 21 total tackles in three games, well above his average in Cleveland of 3.5 tackles per game. He has yet to make an interception.
“I think Jabrill has played extremely hard,” Bettcher said. “I don’t see the ball going his way a ton. I see a guy that’s competing and he’s working just as hard as anyone else to get better with his game.”
A native of East Orange, N.J., Peppers isn’t worried about replacing Collins.
“I’m just going to go out there and play football and do whatever I can to help my team win,” he said.
Keeping Jones from having to play catch-up would help.