The New York Giants missed nearly 20 tackles against the San Francisco 49ers in a Week 3 loss and in several instances, defenders appeared to shy away from contact.
One of those glaring misses came courtesy of rookie cornerback Tre Hawkins, who whiffed so hard on 49ers running back Elijah Mitchell that the wind could be felt back in East Rutherford.
Buy Giants Tickets49ers RB Elijah Mitchell breaks loose for a nice run! pic.twitter.com/c4N5vQWx9R
— Arye Pulli (@AryePulli) September 22, 2023
“That’s effort,” Tiki Barber said on WFAN last week. “There was one in particular, Elijah Mitchell had an outside zone run in the second quarter, and you just saw the rookie [Tre] Hawkins, he just turned it down. He didn’t even try. He tried to go low, but he barely made contact, and he clips off 18 yards and you get into scoring position. It’s effort. To me, that’s effort.
“I know cornerbacks don’t want to hit anymore. I know they don’t think they need to tackle on the edges and think they’re just there to contain and drive a guy inside. But when you’re the last line of defense, that’s an effort thing. That’s a want-to thing.”
But Hawkins wasn’t the only one. The entire defense was guilty of whiffing on tackles at one point or another.
“When someone’s running at you full speed, and he’s got some heft to him, and you know you have to hit him, you just have to hit him. That’s the game. Period,” Barber said. “That’s what you’re paid to do. If you turn it down, bad things happen, and I think that happened a lot for the Giants (Thursday).
“I hate to call guys out on effort, but that’s just what I saw. I can’t explain missed tackling other than, they just didn’t want to do it. Period.”
It’s hard to argue with Barber’s perception here. And that’s not to discredit the 49ers and some of their tough runners, but Hawkins’ miss wasn’t the only play where a Giants defender appeared to pack it in.
Linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux was also guilty.
The one knock on Kayvon Thibodeaux coming out of college was that he takes off plays. This is one example, unfortunately. But one too many. No matter the results of a game, you fight. https://t.co/J2ufcPdQVY
— Vibes – Eli Racks (@IamEliRacks) September 22, 2023
This sort of stuff just isn’t going to fly. And it can’t if the Giants want to return to the playoffs.
