New Giants Defensive Coordinator Perry Fewell Coaching Anaylsis

By James Gualteri - InReeseWeTrust.com 1/30/10

This past season was especially tough to bear as a Giants fan; if not for anything more than that it was so atypical.  As long as I’ve been a fan, Giants football was centered around a very physical and tough defense, and those attributes were sorely lacking.  The 26.7 points per game allowed was good for a ranking of 29^th in the NFL and the yards per game, 324.9 (14^th), doesn’t quite tell the story as the defense seemed incapable of making a big stop and continually gave up big plays in both the passing and the rushing games.  The pass rush was anemic, the coverage was atrocious and even something as fundamental as tackling seemed to elude the team.  The defense under ex-coordinator Bill Sheridan was a bit less aggressive, as the Giants blitzed less in 2009 than they had in previous years under Steve Spagnuolo, but when they did it usually didn’t get there and left an already weak secondary exposed.  There were injuries (Phillips, Ross, Pierce), but there were also additions (Canty, Bernard, Boley), and injuries are a part of the NFL.  The disappointment was not so much in the absence of players from the field, but the lack of production from those on the field.  There appeared to be a disconnect between coaches and players.  Needless to say, the Giants hierarchy needed to make a change.

The departure of Bill Sheridan has brought a new defensive coordinator to the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford: Perry Fewell.  Fewell began his NFL coaching career as defensive backs coach under current Giants head coach Tom Coughlin in Jacksonville.  After stops in St. Louis and Chicago, Fewell was brought by Dick Jauron to Buffalo to be the Bills defensive coordinator.  With the secondary being a unit of major concern this year, the fact that he has extensive experience coaching in that area should lead to improved play.  Too often this year poor technique in coverage and blown assignments led to the Giants giving up large chunks of yardage in the passing game.  The play of rookie safety Jairus Byrd this past season in Buffalo portends, to me, that we can expect improved play from young safeties Michael Johnson and Kenny Phillips (barring any complications from knee surgery for patellofemoral arthritis).  Fewell’s defenses in Buffalo have also been quite adept at forcing turnovers.  This past year the Bills were 5^th in the NFL, forcing 33 turnovers, 28 of those being interceptions.  The Giants finished this past year in the bottom third of the league in takeaways and I believe that a focus on turning the ball over will have fantastic results.  If the pass rush can trend back to where it’s been the past few years, then I think the Giants have an opportunity to showcase a ball hawking, play making secondary.

Fewell ran the Tampa 2 defense in Buffalo.  After watching the Giants for the past few years it’s quite obvious they don’t have the speed at linebacker required to run that system effectively.  But, one good thing about that system is that it requires a commitment to solid tackling.  I was, unfortunately, at the Carolina game this past year and to put it mildly, the tackling was disgusting.  A re-emphasis on open field tackling during mini-camps, OTA’s and training camp should have Giants defenders in proper position during the season, limiting the yards gained after the catch on underneath routes and screen passes.

With all that being said, I think the most promising aspect to the Giants new coordinator is his apparent effectiveness as a motivator.  After inheriting a 3-6 team, with very little talent, the Bills played hard for Fewell down the stretch, going 3-4 in their final 7 games.   With the exception of a 31-3 thumping in Atlanta, all the losses were by less than 7 points.  The Giants defense this year showed a knack for falling apart when things didn’t appear to be going their way.  It also appeared that at times they weren’t responding to Bill Sheridan.  The fact that Fewell was able to push a team to win games down the stretch when they were already eliminated from playoff contention and their head coach had been fired says a lot about his drive and ability to inspire. 

It’s likely that Giants will use their first round draft pick on a linebacker, which will give Fewell more to work with.  This should be a defense with a chip on its shoulder considering its play over the final 11 games of the season.  Personally I look forward to seeing Fewell’s defense in action come September.