Collecting six sacks against the 49ers was the breakout game the Giants vaunted pass rush had been looking for since the season began. It validated all the hype about it being one of the best defensive lines in the NFL, capable of disrupting an offense by putting a quarterback on his back.
But there is no time to rest on their laurels. Alex Smith is not Robert Griffin III, who the Giants face Sunday at MetLife Stadium. The Redskins quarterback presents a different puzzle for the Giants defensive front to solve. Against Smith, the Giants used their power and passion to get to the quarterback and stifle the 49ers offense. Against the Redskins, they will have to play as much with their head as with their heart. This will be a thinking man’s game.
“We have to understand the unique challenges this team possesses, and one of them is the option play out of various formations,” said defensive tackle Chris Canty, who could see his first action of the season. “You just have to watch as much tape as you can and prepare for what you’re about to face.”
It’s a unique challenge because Griffin is a unique quarterback operating a unique offense. Dealing with the Redskins’ option attack will take up most of the Giants’ pregame preparations. Griffin will have three options on any given play. He can hand it off, keep it and run or pitch it to a trailing back. If the Giants over-commit, they will open running lanes. If they’re too passive, the Redskins will run right past them.
“You have to be disciplined and you have to use great recognition,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said.
Giants vs. Redskins is traditionally one of the smash-mouth games in which power football prevails. But with Griffin now in the nation’s capital, the rivalry has joined the 21st century of spread offenses and option reads. It puts constant pressure on a defense to make sure they react to what they’re seeing.
”It’s a college offense. You have to respect it because you don’t know where the ball is going,” DE Jason Pierre-Paul said. “It might be a dive. It might be an option. It might be a quick toss or he might keep it. You have to respect him and be disciplined.”
Griffin was brilliant in beating the Vikings 38-26 last week at FedEx Field. He passed for 182 yards and a touchdown and ran for a career-high 138 yards with two touchdowns, including a 76-yard run. But he’s not all of the Redskins offense. They rank second in the leagues in rushing yards per game with 166. Rookie running back Alfred Morris, a sixth-round pick out of Florida Atlantic, has 538 yards on 116 carries and five TDs. Overplay Griffin and Morris will run wild. Overplay Morris and Griffin, who has rushed for 379 yards and six TDs, will break loose.
“There’s always that one play where two [defensive] guys go to the dive and two guys go to the pitch and they hit you for a home run,” Tuck said. “Throughout the game, we have to make sure that we’re very focused and we communicate and are on the same page.”
It will be a difficult challenge for the Giants’ defensive line to stay that disciplined on each and every play.
“We have players on this team that understand that and will go the extra mile,” Tuck said.
The Giants downplayed any comparison of Griffin to Cam Newton, who runs a similar option-style offense in Carolina. Perhaps that’s to avoid over confidence. The Giants defense dominated the Panthers during that Thursday night game in Carolina. Newton was intercepted three times and sacked twice en route to a 36-7 win in Bank of America Stadium. Newton also rushed for just 6 yards. Containing Griffin should be a much more difficult task.
That is why this week isn’t about sacks. It’s about setting traps.
george.willis@nypost.com