The New York Giants’ 19-11 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday extended a season defined by narrow margins, and head coach John Harbaugh addressed both the reality of those contests and the standard the team is working to reach.
Most of the Giants’ games this year, with the exception of a loss to the Los Angeles Rams, have been decided by one score. Harbaugh said the team is ready to operate that way as long as necessary.
“You have to. We’re prepared to do it every week if we have to,” Harbaugh told reporters on Monday. “We’d rather be in that than be on the other end of a two-score game. We don’t want to be in that Rams type situation again. So, whatever it takes, you just have to be ready for.”
A major factor in remaining competitive
has been the defense under coordinator Dennard Wilson. Harbaugh credited Wilson’s willingness to adjust based on personnel, circumstances, and the opponent.
“I think he’s done a great job with that. I mean, to me that’s one of the important things in coaching, a mark of a great coach, is the ability to adapt to your personnel, your circumstances, the opponent, all those things, and have a system built that’s able to do that,” Harbaugh said. “And Dennard and the whole coaching staff have done a great job of that.”
Those adjustments have been intentional, mixing blitzes, simulated pressure, two-deep and three-deep looks, man coverage, and zone. The players have applied the changes effectively, even on days when opponents have moved the ball.
Harbaugh made clear that winning close games is the priority, but the larger goal is to create more separation.
“You can win by a bunch. You can win by 40, and it’s still just 1-0. But you’d rather win by 40,” Harbaugh said. “Really, to what you alluded to at the start is just chasing that playing better in a way that makes it really tough for your opponent to even stay close if you’re good enough to do that. So we would like to get to that place. And that’s what we’re working for, for sure.”
With a short week before Thursday night’s game against the Washington Commanders, the Giants will continue leaning on Wilson’s adaptive defense as they try to find ways to win while building toward that more dominant standard.
This article originally appeared on Giants Wire: John Harbaugh credits Dennard Wilson's adjustments amid Giants' string of close games
