The New York Giants were an objectively bad team in the pass rush department last year. They managed to finish 31st in the league in sacks and the only team that had a worse number was the Oakland Raiders, who finished with 13.
Jason Pierre-Paul being traded was something that had to happen, but replacing that production was something that the Giants couldn’t pull off in one year. And of course, Olivier Vernon was largely a disappointment as a pass rusher, even when not missing time with injury.
But one player on the defensive line believes that the team’s sack problem is something that’s being over-analyzed. That player happens to be Lorenzo Carter, who himself contributed four sacks during a good rookie season last year.
“There were not a lot of NFL sacks out there and if we draft someone, that won’t increase the number of NFL sacks either. It doesn’t matter. I don’t think about stuff like that. I just think about how I can make myself and my team better,” Carter told reporters when asked about the possibility of the Giants adding another pass rusher in the draft, one which could end up competing with him at outside linebacker.
“Sacks are going to come. Sacks are the things that people over analyze and like to look at a lot. If we play the way we are suppose to play and work fast and hard, it is going to come. Everything will fall into place. I am not worried about trying to add sacks to the team. It will come,” Carter restated.
Carter also claims that the actual talent on the Giants roster is better than what outsiders are predicting. “People on the outside think that, but I know what we have. I am in the locker room and the gym with these guys. That is why it is so busy getting back into the building with these guys. It is nice to see that everyone has been working. No one has really taken time off.”
But optimism and feel good sentiments about the locker room didn’t help the Giants out before Pat Shurmur’s debut season as head coach, when many fans and players were confident about making a turnaround from the disastrous McAdoo era. We’ll just have to wait and see if things turn around this season, but if Lorenzo Carter is to be believed, the defense isn’t the area of the team that needs work desperately.