The bone-jarring hits live in Giants’ lore.
Jim Burt running over Joe Montana to create a pick-six in the 1986 NFL playoffs. Leonard Marshall coming around the blind side to drill Montana four years later. Jay Alford lifting Tom Brady off his feet on the final drive of Super Bowl XLII in 2007. Justin Tuck spinning Brady to the turf for a safety in Super Bowl XLVI in 2011.
Oh, and guys named Lawrence Taylor, Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora did plenty to establish the Giants’ blueprint for winning in the playoffs, too.
“Because of the legends that came through, it’s an honor to play here,” edge-rusher Azeez Ojulari said. “Seeing them around here, you know you have to play hard.”
Who’s next to crunch a quarterback? The Giants have the pass rushers to wreck games, defensive coordinator Wink Martindale dialing up disguised schemes to send free rushers at the quarterback, and an opponent Sunday in the Vikings with three offensive linemen on injured reserve, including starting right tackle Brian O’Neill.
Azeez Ojulari, left, and Leonard Williams will both make their playoff debuts. AP“From the day we put together what we were hoping to build on defense, it was that aggressive mentality,” outside linebackers coach Drew Wilkins said. “We are going to dictate to the offense, not the other way around. Every player getting off the bus knows, ‘We are the New York Giants and we are going to go hit you in the mouth.’ It’s been good to us, and we’re going to keep with that approach.”
Ojulari, rookie Kayvon Thibodeaux, Leonard Williams and Dexter Lawrence combined for 19.5 sacks in the regular season. It’s not a dominant number, but perspective is needed: The quartet played fewer than 60 snaps together over the course of 17 games because of injuries to Thibodeaux, Williams and Ojulari. Now, it’s pick-your-poison time.
“I think that’s a top-five defensive line in the league,” Giants’ All-Pro left tackle Andrew Thomas said. “I’m glad we don’t have to block them now because Dex is ridiculous in the middle and then you have those edge guys coming on. The biggest key is having them all on the field at the same time: Someone is going to win [his matchup].”
Thomas is not alone.
“I’m grateful we don’t have to play against them,” said quarterback Daniel Jones, who was sacked 44 times.
Lawrence and Williams enjoy playing side-by-side so much that they recognized an urgency before the season.
“If we want to stay together,” Lawrence told Williams, “we have to play well, and we have to win.”
Some coordinators with those four high draft picks up front would drop extra bodies into coverage against the explosive pass-catching trio of Justin Jefferson, Adam Thielen and T.J. Hockenson. Not Martindale, who called the highest percentage of blitzes (39.7 percent) in the league and vowed not to change his ways just because the Vikings capitalized on a couple of late blitz-beater passes to top the Giants on Christmas Eve.
“Whether it’s a division team or a team we played twice, Wink always wants to show one look and then show the counterpunch off that look the next week,” Wilkins said. “It might be, ‘Hey, it’s great that we ran these pressures that worked last time, but here’s the thing that could also give them problems that they might not be expecting.’ The beauty of this thing with Wink is we are not confined to, ‘Here’s what we did last time.’ ”
Lawrence had seven quarterback pressures against backup center Austin Schlottmann in the last matchup. With starter Garrett Bradbury back to challenge Lawrence, it could fall to the edges to attack right tackle Oli Udoh in his second start of the season. Ojulari totaled 5.5 sacks in just seven games and Thibodeaux made two of the biggest plays of the season — strip sacks against the Ravens and Commanders.
“This is a selfless group,” Williams said. “There’s a lot of times in certain packages or pressures where you just know the play is not designed for you, but at the same time you know that you have to do your job for it to work for someone else.”
Dexter Lawrence makes a tackle during the Giants’ regular-season loss to the Vikings on Dec. 24. Charles Wenzelberg/New York PostThe pass rush should have more time to get to quarterback Kirk Cousins, too, given the returns of cornerback Adoree’ Jackson from a seven-game absence and safety Xavier McKinney (one game played since Halloween) should mean tighter coverage.
“Obviously they create a lot of pressure, and they make our jobs super easy,” McKinney said. “We know they’re going to do their job and do it really well, so we just have to do ours.”
Strahan recently filmed a promotional video for the Giants’ “Our Way” playoff slogan. The Giants’ Way includes pass rushers dominating the playoffs.
“They make everything go,” center Jon Feliciano said. “Defense wins championships, I hear. I think our defense is up to that caliber.”
