{"id":55208,"date":"2025-11-29T00:48:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-29T00:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/55208\/"},"modified":"2025-11-29T00:48:03","modified_gmt":"2025-11-29T00:48:03","slug":"energetic-charlie-bullen-reveals-his-simple-plan-to-get-giants-defense-back-on-track","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/55208\/","title":{"rendered":"Energetic Charlie Bullen reveals his simple plan to get Giants defense back on track"},"content":{"rendered":"

Charlie Bullen has a simple theory in mind for his debut as Giants defensive coordinator.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand fully that it\u2019s a player-driven league, so my philosophy is always, \u2018Players over plays,\u2019 \u201d Bullen said before Friday\u2019s practice. \u201cHow can we, as coaches, maximize our players\u2019 abilities and put them in position to have success?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bullen was elevated from outside linebackers coach<\/a> earlier this week when defensive coordinator Shane Bowen was fired. The matchup against the Patriots on \u201cMonday Night Football\u201d will mark his first time calling plays at any level.<\/p>\n

So, what will the scheme look like?<\/p>\n

Should the Broncos \u2014 ranked top 3 in the NFL in total defense and scoring defense \u2014 be considered a blueprint because Bowen spent five seasons under coordinator Vance Joseph, whose calling cards are aggressiveness and pre-snap disguise?<\/p>\n

\u201cIt might be,\u201d Bullen said with a sly grin. \u201cVance is a great friend and a big mentor of mine. We talked quite a bit even before this type of thing. He\u2019s influenced me, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Giants defensive coordinator Charlie Bullen answers questions from reporters during football practice, Friday, Nov. 28, 2025, in East Rutherford, N.J. Noah K. Murray-NY Post<\/p>\n

The two things that Bullen needs to figure out are how to stop the run \u2014 the Giants rank last in the league (157.2 yards allowed per game) \u2014 and how to close out games (NFL record-tying five blown double-digit leads).<\/p>\n

The most noticeable change to practice was Wednesday\u2019s \u201ccollective staff idea\u201d to emphasize a tackling circuit where defensive line coach Dre Patterson and assistant defensive line coach Bryan Cox worked with everyone on rotation, including defensive backs. The Giants are allowing 8.2 yards per carry around the left end and 11.4 yards per carry off right tackle.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at any of the big runs this year, it\u2019s a combination of scheme \u2014 are we getting aligned correctly and are we getting the adjustments communicated? \u2014 and it\u2019s also technique and fundamentals,\u201d Bullen said, \u201cas well as making or missing tackles.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Giants added unscripted plays to Friday\u2019s practice (and plan to do the same in the red zone Saturday) so that Bullen gets comfortable making \u201clive\u201d calls on all downs. He will match wits against one of the NFL\u2019s great offensive coordinators (Josh McDaniels) on Monday.<\/p>\n

\"NewNew York Giants Defensive Coordinator Charlie Bullen chats with New York Giants quarterback Jameis Winston (19) when the New York Giants practiced Wednesday, November 26, 2025 at Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, NJ. Robert Sabo for NY Post<\/p>\n

\u201cTry and bank some reps for him,\u201d interim head coach Mike Kafka said, \u201cbut he\u2019s been around ball for a long time. It\u2019s just about cutting it loose and playing the calls that he loves and the players are confident with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bullen\u2019s energy is noticeable on the practice field, but he wasn\u2019t wearing shoulder pads alongside his edge rushers Friday, as he has in the past. He has more to oversee as Bowen\u2019s successor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first thoughts were with Shane,\u201d Bullen said. \u201cAs a man, I felt for him and felt, having been a part of his staff, a personal responsibility and disappointment that we didn\u2019t do better for him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bullen has coached Brian Burns to a career-high 13 sacks and Kayvon Thibodeaux\u2019s development<\/a> into a more well-rounded edge, but Abdul Carter hasn\u2019t had the kind of game-wrecking rookie season that was anticipated.<\/p>\n

Could he find ways to get all three former first-round picks on the field together more often once Thibodeaux returns from injury? Will he get Dexter Lawrence back to playing a larger percentage of snaps over the center? Will he make lineup changes and bench underachievers when effort is in question?<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this point, it\u2019s hard to make wholesale change \u2014 not that I\u2019d do that anyway,\u201d Bullen said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got years and months of time on task in this scheme. I think we can tweak and alter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The question is whether the fourth-quarter results will change after blowing fourth-quarter leads in three straight games.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s something we have to fix,\u201d Bullen said. \u201cIf you want to win games, you have to finish. Where can we schematically make sure that these guys can execute the call so that their plate is as clean as possible before the ball is snapped? If that\u2019s an issue, we have to help them as coaches. Guys have to do their job \u2014 when they have a chance to make a play, they have to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Charlie Bullen has a simple theory in mind for his debut as Giants defensive coordinator.\u00a0 \u201cI understand fully…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[15252,30160,9,24,55,54,2683,22,56,319],"class_list":["post-55208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-mike-kafka","tag-monday-night-football","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-new-york-giants","tag-nfl","tag-ny","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}