Giants’ New DE Says Teams Will Have To ‘Pick Their Poison’ With Stacked D-Line
The Giants traded for Brian Burns earlier this offseason, forming a formidable pass-rushing trio that also features Lawrence and Thibodeaux.
The New York Giants’ success hinges on pass-rushing, and has been a key to Super Bowl wins in the past.
The Giants have seen a recent lack of pass rush success, with zero top-10 finishes in sacks since 2014.
The arrival of Brian Burns boosts optimism with core frontmen Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeaux.
As a franchise, the New York Giants are no strangers to extraordinary pass-rushing groups. Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor, Leonard Marshall, and Carl Banks caused most of the chaos for the Big Blue Wrecking Crew, which won two Super Bowls.
Another Hall of Famer, Michael Strahan, played his entire career with the Giants, briefly overlapping with Taylor. He left on a high note when he, Osi Umenyiora, and Justin Tuck helped the 2007 Giants lead the NFL in sacks and take down the undefeated New England Patriots in Super Bowl 42.
New York’s 2011 squad swapped out Strahan for All-Pro DE Jason Pierre-Paul, who teamed with Tuck and Umenyiora to beat the Patriots again in Super Bowl 46. The point is that New York’s success, in this case, all of their Super Bowl wins, stem from great pass-rushing. Building on that, the Giants haven’t had a team finish top-10 in sacks for a season since 2014. Look at their records since then.
However, the offseason acquisition of Brian Burns has the organization excited about a potentially dominant group for years to come. He is joining a defensive front that features All-Pro DL Dexter Lawrence II and 2022 fifth-overall draft pick Kayvon Thibodeaux. Burns spoke about Lawrence at the latter’s charity softball game, with plenty to say about the new trio’s potential:
I’m excited for it because I know they really have to key in on him [Lawrence], and also having somebody opposite of me, they’re pretty much going to have to pick their poison on who they’re going to key or slide to. With Dex demanding so much attention and Kayvon also demanding attention, it’s going to free us up a lot.
It seems fair to say that Carolina wasn’t set up along the line like the Giants, so this is new territory for Burns. He probably won’t be the key target for opposing offensive lines anymore.
