The Giants’ rise this season has a lot of fingerprints on it, but one of the clearest belongs to Dennard Wilson.
After Sunday’s 19-11 win over the Eagles in Philadelphia - the Giants’ first there in 13 years - New York moved to 5-2-1 and stayed atop the NFC East. That’s a sharp turn from a team that won only four games last season and has already surpassed that total in nine weeks this year.
John Harbaugh will keep drawing plenty of the praise, and rightly so. But the bigger shift has come from the staff around him, especially Wilson, the defensive coordinator hired this offseason after two years in the same role with the Tennessee Titans. Since arriving in New York, he’s become the kind of assistant who changes the feel of a team.
The numbers back it up. Through Week 9, the Giants rank fifth in the league in total defense at 301.4 yards allowed per game and third against the pass at 177.8. And they’ve done it without Brian Burns and Tremaine Edmunds, both out for the rest of the season.
Wilson’s impact shows up in the individual breakouts, too. Deonte Banks has found new life this year, including his Week 4 game-winning pick-six against the Arizona Cardinals. Arvell Reese has also surged into the conversation for defensive rookie of the year after posting three sacks and 10 tackles this week.
Before the Eagles game, Wilson talked about the blunt honesty he expects from himself and his defense: "We get too caught up in not speaking the truth. The film doesn't lie...too many coaches these days are scared to have those hard conversations.”
That kind of message fits the results. The Giants’ defense has been far better than the version that spent last season coughing up fourth-quarter leads under Shane Bowen, and Wilson’s arrival has clearly helped flip the script.
Harbaugh may get the headline credit for the Giants’ turnaround. Wilson, though, is making it harder to ignore that he could be next in line for an NFL head coaching job.
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Malik Nabers Just Sparked A New Giants Debate After Sundays Win
Malik Nabers frustration was easy to spot during the Giants recent 19-11 win, and it quickly became part of the postgame conversation. He finished with five catches for 43 yards and had a drop in the end zone, a moment that drew criticism from FOX Sports commentators Joe Davis and Greg Olsen, who took aim at both the missed opportunity and Nabers body language.
Nabers then pushed back on Instagram, disputing the way his attitude was portrayed and rejecting the idea that he was being painted as a bad teammate. Olsen later clarified that he never labeled Nabers that way and asked media outlets to correct their stories, leaving the episode as another reminder of how quickly a sideline reaction can turn into a broader debate around a young star. [Read more 🡒]