Monday is the first day of the Giants’ bye week, and they woke up with a good feeling after a gritty win over the Raiders on Sunday.
The ground game and the defense carried Big Blue to that win, and it seems as if the D that has been much-maligned this year for regressing is actually coalescing at the right time.
“I think we're just making plays when it's time for us to make plays, you know?” Cornerback James Bradberry said Sunday. “Zay (Xavier McKinney) had a pick-six and then he made a game-changing play at the end on a double move, so we're just making plays when the opportunity presents itself and we're coming down with the ball.”
“I think it's just everybody jelling together, everybody working hard in practice and it shows in the game,” added edge rusher Quincy Roche.
Roche is one of three rookies out on the edge for the Giants, although you might not know it at first glance.
“I think they've been playing their ass off. They come to practice each and every day, they're in meetings locked in. I know they're going to go out there and play hard each and every time,” McKinney said of the group. “I'm not surprised when they make plays. I'm not surprised when anybody on our defense makes plays because like I've said before, we go out there and execute. We get the job done and we just try to improve with each and every practice and each and every game.”
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The youngsters have stepped up so much that Oshane Ximines was a healthy scratch on Sunday, but Roche credits him with being a big help to the young group.
“He’s been supportive since I got here. Me and him were coming off the bench together so that was the guy who was helping me through the playbook, helping guide me through everything, so he's been nothing but supportive and I'm the same for him,” Roche said.
Roche was drafted by Pittsburgh earlier this year but cut before the season started, and ended up with the Giants. Big Blue’s record may not be what the Steelers’ mark is, but Roche, for one, is glad where he landed.
“I'm thankful to be here. I'm thrilled to be here and thankful for the opportunity for the Giants to claim me off of waivers and I've just been trying to get better every day,” Roche said. “That's my job: to come in here with a great mindset, get better every day and when my number is called, show up.”
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Show up he did on Sunday, when his strip sack of Derek Carr late in the fourth quarter iced the win – a play that shows Big Blue is progressing when it comes to finishing games, and the process, as Joe Judge likes to say, is yielding results.
“It showed that we're capable of finishing games, we've got a strong defense and we're here to compete,” Bradberry said. “This feels similar to last year. I'm just glad we won before the bye week, get some momentum going into the bye week, get our bodies recovered and then hopefully we keep it going once we get back.”
When they do return from the bye, it’s against the defending champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers – and while Las Vegas didn’t have as electric a receiving corps as Kansas City did or Tampa Bay does, it’ll be the third straight week with a potential All-Pro tight end for Bradberry to cover.
So far, so good, as the Giants held Travis Kelce two weeks ago (four catches for 27 yards), and, even though Darren Waller had a big day Sunday, Big Blue held on.
“He's an elite tight end, has speed and size, and he's strong, too. I was trying to quick jam him and stuff, but we were up there fighting,” Bradberry said of Waller. “Sometimes he was getting the best of me, but I was trying to win as many battles as I could and fortunately we came out on top.”
Still, time to go back to the lab, as Roche called it, and prep for another tough game in a season full of them.
“I'm really thrilled with this defense and the way that we've been playing, but of course there's room for improvement,” Roche said, “so we'll be back in the lab after this bye week and we've got a tough opponent next.”
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