As Giants’ pass rush pressure improves, Jayden Daniels’ showing raises concerns

The Giants are starting to get impressive results from their pass rush — even without Brian Burns. But Sunday’s tie in Washington did raise some issues.

First, the good: The Giants on Sunday sacked Jayden Daniels five times. They accumulated 24 pressures, led by Abdul Carter’s six.

In the previous week’s win over Arizona, the Giants had 14 pressures, including six by Carter. During the season’s first three games, the Giants delivered just 24 total pressures, with six and four in Weeks 2 and 3.

Still, it’ll be fascinating to see how Carter and the Giants’ defense handle Daniels the next time they see him, in Week 10 at MetLife Stadium.

Daniels on Sunday ran nine times for 103 yards, with touchdowns of 26 and 38 yards. Carter knows this is something the Giants must fix.

“We’ve just got to be more disciplined in our rush lanes,” he said. “We talked about it all week. So honestly, if that happens in the game, it’s on us as a front.

Coach John Harbaugh wanted to see more from his pass rush, despite Burns tearing his ACL in Week 3. Harbaugh got his desired results in Weeks 4 and 5.

Now, the Giants this Sunday will host a 1-4 Saints team that ranks 27th in Pro Football Focus’ pass blocking ratings. This is a prime opportunity for Harbaugh’s 3-1-1 team to maintain sole possession of first place in the NFC East.

Carter also talked last week about wanting to get to Daniels in the pocket. Of course, the flip side to that is Daniels’ mobility — and what can happen if defenders don’t contain him when a sack doesn’t materialize.

“Yeah, he can run,” Carter said with a smile. “We really got to be better at caging him and stopping our rush [to not over pursue]. We’ve got to be better at that next time we see them for sure.”

As for why the Giants’ pass rush has surged the past two weeks — with another chance to pile up pressures coming against the Saints — Carter said the biggest key was not panicking after those struggles against the Rams and Titans.

“It was just us staying committed,” he said. “We’ve been saying the sacks are going to come. We’ve just got to keep doing that. I said it two weeks ago: It’s early in the season. It’s still early — and we’re going to get more and more sacks and more and more pressures.”

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