00:07last year when the giants had a lead late in the game it didn't always feel like a reason to
00:11relax
00:11big blue fans they knew all too well that sometimes it felt like a warning and the anxiety levels
00:16they start to rise now four games into this season that feeling is starting to change because for the
00:21second straight week the giants needed their defense to make one more play to win a football
00:26game and for the second straight week they came through after further review the biggest difference
00:31with this giants defense may not be how well they start games it's how they're learning to finish
00:36them in 2025 late game leads vanishing became a recurring problem for the g-men fast forward to
00:42week three of this year tennessee they had a chance to steal the game in the final seconds and cam
00:47war throws into the end zone javon holland says no touchdown for you game over and one week later
00:53same test same result but a different hero in week four the cardinals were down six in the fourth
00:59but a deontay banks pass interference penalty gave arizona first and goal from the forward 22 seconds
01:05left three incompletions later it came down to fourth down jacoby brissette looked to throw left
01:11and banks jumps the route takes it 98 yards to the crib and we saw a defense that was just
01:16four yards
01:17from potentially giving up the lead to celebrating in the other end zone now that's finishing strong
01:23and here's what i like about the big blue defensive performance it wasn't dominant throughout the
01:28afternoon and it wasn't always resilient arizona was moving the ball early in this one as they scored
01:33touchdowns on their first two possessions the cardinals ran for 81 yards in the first quarter
01:38alone and built a 14-3 lead so this wasn't a defense that walked onto the field and controlled the
01:44game
01:44from the first snap it was a defense that got punched in the mouth very quickly and then started
01:49punching back so how did they start punching back well first we have to talk about a rookie again
01:54in the second quarter arvel reese gets a jacoby brissette and forces them to loft this throw now that
02:00pressure allowed greg newsome the second to wait on that ball for an interception and that pick made
02:05it four straight games with a giants interception to start the season their first time doing that
02:10since 1993 but reese wasn't out here just helping his team grab ints he also made sure to get one
02:17of
02:17his own credit shelby harris with the assist here late in the second quarter as he gets a hand on
02:22the pass reese finds the football and the rookie takes it back to the arizona 26 now that turnover
02:28set up the malik neighbors touchdown that gave the giants their first lead of the game remember
02:33this defense is making plays like this after they just lost the leader of their group brian burns
02:38a torn acl ended his season one week after the giants lost jackson dart for the rest of the regular
02:43season so the question wasn't just whether the giants could replace burns's production it was
02:49where the big plays would come from without him against the cardinals the answer to that question
02:54was the big plays that would come from everywhere newsome reese the pass rush starting to create
02:59pressure and finally banks and if we're keeping it a buck they needed every one of those plays in week
03:05four because on offense we saw the entire james winston roller coaster experience winston threw three
03:11touchdowns but also two interceptions and when you added naji harris lost fumble to winston's two
03:17picks that's three big blue turnovers in week four but the giants defense answered with three takeaways
03:22of their own that's why i don't think the story here is that this giants defense is dominant or even
03:28trendings towards being dominant four games is way too early to say that the real story is that this
03:34defense is becoming the giants margin for error arizona took a 24 to 19 lead in the third quarter
03:40but the cardinals they never scored again four final possessions zero points the giants offense
03:46turned the ball over and fell behind even banks made a mistake that put arizona four yards from the
03:51end zone however when the g-men needed one more play the defense made it last year too many giants
03:58games ended with the question how in the world did they let that one get away as we've seen the
04:04last
04:04two weeks they've ended much differently javon holland against tennessee deontay banks against
04:10arizona two games two final defensive stands two wins we're only four weeks in so there's gonna be
04:16a long way to go before we know exactly what this giants team is but at three and one we're
04:22starting to
04:23learn something about what this defense wants to be when the game gets tight they want to be the ones
04:28who finish it and after further review that might be the most important change of all
