The New York Giants spent a ton of money this offseason to revamp their defensive line. Jason Pierre-Paul, who only played part of last season, was given a one-year, $10 million contract. Damon Harrison was brought in from the Jets on a five-year, $46.25 million deal. And Olivier Vernon was given a five-year pact worth $85 million to leave the Dolphins.
Despite all that money, the Giants have just nine sacks this year -- 31st in the league. Giants coach Ben McAdoo is not at all worried about that, though. Why?
"We say it all the time: Stats are for losers," McAdoo said, per Newsday. "We need to make the quarterback uncomfortable. We need to make him move, make him chatter his feet, make him early or late with the throws. Numbers are numbers."
I know stats are for losers, but I'm comfortable in my loserdom so I'll give McAdoo another stat here. It's called pressures. Pressures are sacks, hits and hurries. Basically, pressures measure how often a defense makes the quarterback move, makes him chatter his feet, makes him early or late with the throws. And the Giants don't do that very well, either. The Giants currently rank 21st in the NFL in pressure rate, per Pro Football Focus, pressuring opposing quarterbacks in 30.3 percent of their drop backs.
Despite all that, the Giants actually have been pretty good with their pass defense. They're sixth in opponent's completion percentage (which is a stat), fourth in opponent's yards per attempt (stat), and fourth in opponent's passer rating (stat). Much of that is thanks to the strong play of their cornerbacks (Janoris Jenkins, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Leon Hall, in particular), though, and not necessarily what they're getting from the guys up front.
