The once-feared Giants pass rush has been in a slumber this season as the Giants have recorded just five sacks in six games.
Those numbers aren’t misleading, either. There aren’t a lot of pressures, hurries or hits on quarterbacks to make things look better and the lack of a pass rush has doomed the Giants defense on more than one occasion in 2013. When trying to figure out what’s wrong with the team that has long built their defense around the front four’s ability to generate pressure, defensive end Justin Tuck says that you shouldn’t look at the defensive line.
“I guarantee you if you get us in a game scenario in our favor we’ll be fine,” Tuck said, via the New York Daily News. “But we haven’t had the opportunity to play downhill. If you look at the sack numbers from years past, normally we’re leading by two scores in a lot of those games. You get a team where you know they have to pass the ball, they’ve got to get five out, I don’t think an O-line in this league has a chance, regardless if it’s us or anybody else. There are other issues, too. ... I don’t care what you bring, if the quarterback gets the ball out of his hands, you’re not going to get there. And I think that’s the game plan against us right now.”
All sound like reasonable explanations for why sack totals are down for the team. They also sound like excuses for why sack totals are down since it’s easy to look at what Tuck said and respond by pointing out that the defensive linemen are free to make plays that get them into a game scenario where they can play downhill. The offense has been a turnover carnival this season, but it’s hardly like the defense has been some unmovable object undercut by Eli Manning’s mounting interception total.