New York Giants defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson was one of the first in what became a rather surprising personnel swap between the Tennessee Titans and the Giants. His history with the Titans led to some trepidation when the Giants hired him back in January. That, however, was mitigated by the fact that Wilson coached under John Harbaugh and Super Bowl champion head coach (and former Ravens\u2019 DC) Mike MacDonald in Baltimore.<\/p>\n
The hope, and belief, is that Wilson simply didn\u2019t have the talent available at Tennessee to execute what\u2019s becoming known as the \u201cBaltimore 2.0\u201d defense he learned from MacDonald. Likewise, the belief is that the Giants are more talented than their record reflects and he\u2019ll be able to fully implement his vision for that scheme in New York.<\/p>\n
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And Wilson outlined his vision for that defense on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u2018Unpredictable. Dynamic. Decisive. Unapologetic.\u2019<\/p>\n
That sums up the four tenets of what Wilson believes in defensively.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn terms of the structure and where we play, we\u2019re going to be unpredictable,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be unpredictable on how we line up and what we do. We\u2019re going to be dynamic because we have dynamic players, and it\u2019s our job to put those dynamic players in the greatest positions to have success.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that his vision for the defense will be both detail oriented and aggressively physical.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to be decisive on what we do and how we do it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re going to game plan. We\u2019re going to have detailed and educated pressures. And then we\u2019re going to be unapologetic in our approach. Those are the four things that we\u2019re going to do.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAnd the unapologetic part of our approach is we\u2019re going to be playing nasty. We\u2019re going to play physical. We\u2019re going to play violent. We\u2019re going to live on the edge and play on the edge, but we\u2019re not going to hurt the team. We\u2019re going to be suffocating to the point that we impose our wills on people. And the players are going to buy into that mindset, and it all starts from a mindset. We\u2019re going to play the New York football brand of football, and that\u2019s violent defense.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson bringing up unpredictability and and dynamism is an interesting \u2014 and promising \u2014 starting point. The Giants\u2019 defense was too easily diagnosed over the last two years, while the roster was built for (former Ravens\u2019 DC) Wink Martindale\u2019s aggressive blitzing attack.<\/p>\n
The importance of Brian Burns, Abdul Carter<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, both of the young men [Brian Burns and Abdul Carter], they love football,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cThey are a problem in terms of the pass rush, it\u2019s hard for people to block them.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWhy? They\u2019re explosive off the ball. They can win on the edge. They have length that they can play underneath the guys, and they have numerous tools in their tool bag. Once you overplay them, they can counter. I love the energy, the effort.<\/p>\n
Wilson then circled back to the versatility and dynamic aspects of the defense, and how Burns and Carter will be key to those facets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese guys can do it all,\u201d he said. \u201cPlus, they add the versatility. You can move them around. Last year, and even in Penn State, especially with Abdul, you can move him off the ball. He can be the spinner on third downs. You can add a fifth rusher. There\u2019s numerous things you can do with both of the guys, and both of them are smart football players.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey have a good grasp of conceptual defense. I can\u2019t wait to see what they do extremely well up close in person, and then we\u2019ll build a defense ultimately around the players that we have. We have a scheme, but these two guys are premier players within a scheme that we want to have a lot of success, so we have to put them in positions to have success.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2018You got to have a very good middle linebacker\u2019<\/p>\n
The Giants think they signed one in free agency, adding Tremaine Edmunds.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think you got to have a very good middle linebacker or very good linebackers in order to play this game,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cWhether it\u2019s in a pass game or stopping a run. And one of our big objectives this year is to stop the run.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut when you watch Tremaine play, first of all, he\u2019s a 6\u20194 guy with length. When he comes downhill, he presses and separates. He\u2019s making a lot of plays at the line of scrimmage. He\u2019s an athletic guy that can run the ball down sideline to sideline. He plays with a high motor.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Wilson also spoke about how Edmunds could help defend the middle of the field, an area which MacDonald\u2019s Seattle and Baltimore defenses excelled in taking away from the offense.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe can defend in the middle of the defense, especially in a pass game, especially with what we do,\u201d Wilson said. The Mike Linebacker plays between the hashes a lot. And then he can get in windows.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m excited for the opportunity. He\u2019s a smart, intelligent young man and he\u2019s still young. He\u2019s been in the league for a extended period of time, but he\u2019s still young, and he still has room to grow. And I can\u2019t wait to see the product.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018We\u2019re going to be multiple\u2019<\/p>\n
While Wilson spoke at length about the play up front, his background is in the defensive secondary. And perhaps two of the Giants\u2019 most important \u201cunder the radar\u201d hires may be cornerbacks coach Addison Lynch and defensive passing coordinator and secondary coach Donald D\u2019Alesio. Lynch coached cornerbacks under Vance Joseph for the Denver Broncos, while D\u2019Alesio coached the Kansas City Chiefs\u2019 secondary for Steve Spagnuolo. Both teams feature aggressive and sound secondaries.<\/p>\n
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\u201cMike [MacDonald] had a collaborative approach. You know, I was fortunate enough to go to Baltimore for a year. Mike, his superpower is listening,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cHe listens to his coaches, but he has a direction in which he wants to go. If you watch Seattle play, you know, they played, they won up front. They had a very good secondary.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the hallmarks of MacDonald\u2019s \u201cBaltimore 2.0\u201d defense is sophisticated and aggressive \u201cPattern Matching\u201d rules that often result in corners being in very tight coverage on the outside. That approach to defense has obviously influenced Wilson.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir secondary played in sync, in unison,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cUp front, they were able to dominate, and they were able to play the run with less guys in the box. And when you do that, and you can play some split-safety defense and have seven guys in the box, and you try to minimize the explosive perimeter runs and explosive plays down the field in the pass game, and you have the guys that can avalanche the pocket, okay, when teams get in drop-back situations and win one-on-one, and you\u2019re pressing and you\u2019re playing physical outside, there\u2019s no longer a fraction of time for the quarterback to sit back there and pat the ball. We\u2019re trying to go in that direction, but we\u2019re going to be multiple in what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018Clean slate\u2019 for Deonte Banks<\/p>\n
How the Giants\u2019 defense plays could be a function of their secondary. That, in turn, could depend on the battle across from Paulson Adebo for the second starting cornerback position. Giants\u2019 2023 first round pick is competing with free agent acquisition (and 2021 first rounder) Greg Newsome II for the starting job.<\/p>\n
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\u201cYou\u2019ve got to know and put them in the best positions and call the right things to allow them to play as fast as they need to play,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cIt\u2019s going to be competition at the position, just like everywhere else. I think competitiveness and competition make your team better.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know [Deonte] Banks, I remember evaluating him coming out,\u201d he added. \u201cObviously, he\u2019s a Maryland Terp, and I\u2019m a Maryland Terp, so I had just a little bit of background with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a talented player. He\u2019s big. He can run. He brings an element of physicality, but he\u2019s had an up-and-down career thus far.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wilson wouldn\u2019t handicap the competition, but was clear that he appreciates Banks\u2019 athletic profile and was clear that the benched former starter is getting a clean slate with the new coaching staff.<\/p>\n
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\u201cSo for us, he\u2019s coming in with a clean slate, and that\u2019s everybody on his defense. No matter what has been done in the past, where they were drafted, how they were acquired, we\u2019re coming in here as a clean slate, and we\u2019re trying to evaluate the players and see what they do well, and we\u2019re trying to teach them our way in football,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we have two great DB coaches in Donald and Addison that does an excellent job in teaching DB play,\u201d Wilson said, circling back to Banks. \u201cFootwork technique, eyes, and I think it\u2019s going to be beneficial to all of them. They\u2019ll have the opportunity to go out there and get better. We\u2019re going to put things on its plate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re going to try to make things as simple as they can be in terms of conceptual teaching, and that\u2019s for everybody. I was raised, and my dad always told me, keep it simple. And we have ways to kind of simplify things to make it all fit, no matter what the call or the structure is.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we\u2019re going to give them all the opportunity, and we\u2019re going to see what they all can pick up and how they grasp it, and the best guys are going to [ultimately] play.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York Giants defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson was one of the first in what became a rather surprising…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":859825,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2061],"tags":[291,184,1483,2908,9197,258,13603,7,9041,110,22882,2860,56,6,9273,237,526,394,2411,1799,527,7401],"class_list":{"0":"post-859824","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennessee-titans","8":"tag-abdul-carter","9":"tag-baltimore","10":"tag-brian-burns","11":"tag-defense","12":"tag-dennard-wilson","13":"tag-denver-broncos","14":"tag-deonte-banks","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-greg-newsome-ii","17":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","18":"tag-middle-linebacker","19":"tag-mike-macdonald","20":"tag-new-york-giants","21":"tag-nfl","22":"tag-paulson-adebo","23":"tag-seattle","24":"tag-tennessee","25":"tag-tennessee-titans","26":"tag-tennesseetitans","27":"tag-the-giants","28":"tag-titans","29":"tag-tremaine-edmunds"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116366015091144035","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=859824"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/859824\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859825"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=859824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=859824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=859824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}