EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The New York Giants' sudden competitiveness is hardly about their offense, which has managed 24 points in the past two games with Tyrod Taylor at quarterback. More than anything, it's because their defense has started playing at a high level.
The Giants allowed 14 points in a Week 6 loss to the Buffalo Bills and only a single touchdown (which came on a short field because of a muffed punt) in a 14-7 win over the Washington Commanders on Sunday.
It's a far cry from the first few weeks, when New York was allowing 30-plus while the special teams and offense were committing costly miscues. Now, the Giants finally have something to hang their hat on nearing the midway point of the season.
"I think they're improving. They're improving their chemistry," coach Brian Daboll said of his defense. "They've done a good job with their fundamentals. I think [defensive coordinator] Wink [Martindale] has done a good job with them."
At least part of the turnaround can be attributed to Martindale. He didn't flinch during the early struggles. Among them, the missed tackles. The Giants had 29 missed tackles in the first three games, per Pro Football Focus. They've had 27 in the four games since.
"That's just Wink. He's going to keep his composure every time," said outside linebacker Jihad Ward, who also spent four years with Martindale in Baltimore. "He don't fold. He don't panic. That is one of the coaches I know for sure keeps his composure every time. He knows he got this. He believes in this defense. I believe in it. We all believe in it. That is all that matters."
The lack of panic has allowed the Giants to string together a nice four-game stretch defensively, even if it's led to one win. They allowed the Seattle Seahawks fewer than 300 total yards in Week 4, then created three turnovers and scored a touchdown, but also allowed over 500 yards, the following game in Miami. The Giants then limited Josh Allen Oct. 15 in Buffalo before dominating Sam Howell & Co. on Sunday.
The Giants sacked Howell six times. They had five sacks coming into the game.
"Yeah, going into it, obviously we did our study. We knew we could eat this game," safety Xavier McKinney said. "The guys up front did. They did a hell of a job. I think Wink did a great job dialing up pressure and just calling the whole game, really. But I think we just have a hell of a front and a hell of a playcaller behind it. So when you get both of those it's hard not to get sacked behind big guys like [Dexter Lawrence], [Leonard Williams], Kayvon [Thibodeaux] and all those guys."
Lawrence had two sacks, Thibodeaux 1.5 and Williams added one. It was the defense's best performance to date.
Perhaps it should have been expected with the competition lightening and Martindale's unit trending in the right direction. They've allowed just 19.0 ppg over the past four games. Martindale seemed to hint last week it was all coming together.
"[Middle linebacker] Bobby [Okereke], [McKinney], [Williams], [Lawrence], all those guys, they are starting to gel as a unit," he said. "[Thibodeaux], you know you just keep going down the list, they are starting to jell as a unit, and they are getting used to playing together, and Bobby is a big part of that, too.
"I think you are just going to continue to see him keep striding out the way we all expected him too."
At the time it was hard to put a finger on the slow start to the season. It was as if everything was snowballing into each other from the offense, defense and special teams.
"I think there are quite a few factors," Williams said. "We have a young team, there are some rookies that are starting on the team that have to get adjusted to the speed of the game, like where their teammates are going to be on certain plays, all these adjustments. It's players from different systems, whether they are older or younger, they are coming into a new system and have to develop new ways of playing with each other. There are different ways people play with their front and backers, how they fit off of each other, and things like that.
"Throughout the beginning of the season when we knew we were struggling in those areas, we tried to harness in and correct those areas of the defense and I think we have such a good brotherhood on the defense that we really take pride in doing our job for the man next to us and when it's something that we focus on and harp on, I think everybody takes pride on in fixing it."
Deonte Banks, the team's first-round pick out of Maryland, played perhaps his best game against Washington and Tre Hawkins III started his second game and held his own. Banks had his first career interception.
Okereke, a free agent acquisition, insists the turnaround for this group started in the classrooms and locker room. It was there, he said, that they had the tough conversations. Not yelling and screaming, but productive dialogue.
This fits the Martindale mold. He's a coach who holds regular "Keep It Real" meetings. In them, players are given hard but honest feedback.
Little by little, it seems to have helped.
"Our confidence has continued to build," Okereke said. "We're doing a great job stopping the run, limiting the explosive plays and getting sacks. Getting home. Everyone is energized and feeding off each others' success."
And finally, it's starting to lead to some results.