So much for the Giants’ new and improved pass rush.
Unity was expected to be one of the team’s greatest strengths this year, but it was barely evident in the embarrassing 28-6 loss to the Vikings on Sunday afternoon at MetLife Stadium in the season opener.
Having signed Brian Burns and extended his contract, and already having Kayvon Thibodeaux on the other side and star Dexter Lawrence in the middle, the Giants should – on paper – have a wealth of options to instill fear in opposing quarterbacks.
But they recorded just one sack against Sam Darnold on Sunday – by Lawrence, on the Vikings’ second offensive play – and just two quarterback hits.
Thibodeaux, who recorded 15.5 sacks in his first two years in the league after the Giants drafted him No. 5 in 2022, barely appeared in the statistics.
He did not record a single tackle and had only one quarterback hit.
“It is what it is,” Thibodeaux said of the missed tackles. “I think I may have missed one. You have to do what you can. You have to set edges, influence the quarterback and continue to influence the game. … We have to be honest with the film, we have to deal with the facts and improve for next week.”
In fact, it was one of Thibodeaux’s only contributions that helped the Vikings get eliminated.
Trailing 14-3, the Giants managed a stop on the Vikings’ first possession of the second half on 3rd and 16 attempts.
But a facemask foul was called against Thibodeaux, giving the Vikings an automatic first down, which they then exploited with a touchdown to make it 21-3.
Burns, for his part, has been a bit more active, but still far from the game-winning threat the Giants expected when they traded him a 2024 second-round pick, a 2024 fifth-round pick and a 2025 fifth-round pick for a Panthers pick and then gave him a five-year contract worth up to $150 million.
In total, he recorded four tackles, but was unable to really touch Darnold.
“It was hard to dissuade them from their plan, to throw them off track,” Burns said. “They executed their plans well.”
Last year, the Giants totaled just 34 sacks, the fourth-lowest in the NFL.
New year, same result.
“It’s always difficult to make tackles, to sack the quarterback, difficult to do different things when you’re fighting from behind,” Thibodeaux said. “That’s the nature of the game. It doesn’t get easier, so cut up the footage and move on.”
