It’s becoming more and more apparent that nose tackle lineman Dexter Lawrence of the New York Giants is the best in the business at his position.
Every week, Lawrence is resigned to the fact that opponents will either double-, or sometimes, triple-team him in the trenches to keep him in check.
News flash — it’s not working. Lawrence has been dominant in the face of all of the extra attention he’s been getting.
Dexter Lawrence has seen a double-team rate of 65.3%, per PFF.
The 3rd most among interior DL.
He's tied for 2nd in sacks among all defenders.
It's crazy how good he is. pic.twitter.com/2VUZoFmi7e
— Gridiron Media (@Gridiron_Media_) October 9, 2024
Dexter Lawrence welcomes rookie Christian Haynes to the NFL 🤣
It's hard to quantify in words how impressive Dex is on tape. Rep after rep. He is unguardable one on one, held 4x per game, beats double teams. All Pro honors are somehow not enough. #Giants pic.twitter.com/ovM8weu4Z9— Dan Schneier (@DanSchneierNFL) October 8, 2024
“Watching tape, it shows up in pretty good double teams and triple teams,” Lawrence said on Wednesday. “But like I said, it’s just my world that I’m in now and I embrace it, and I accept it.”
The Giants have been moving Lawrence around a bit this season to usurp any steady strategic moves by the opposition to contain him. No matter what the other teams try, he’s simply been just too much to handle.
“I’ve been moving around more this year,” he said. “That’s been the goal for the year. To try to help me get away from some doubles here and there and create some unbalances on the offensive line. That’s just been the goal all year.”
The results have been positive. The Giants lead the NFL in sacks (22) and Lawrence has six of those. Only Detroit defensive end Aiden Hutchinson (6.5) has more this season.
With those glaring stats out in the world for all to see, teams will try to combat Lawrence even more stringently.
“I embrace it, and I tell them to double-team me honestly,” Lawrence said laughingly. “It’s my world and I’m just going through it and each week I’m getting better at going through it.”
As for how it affects the team, Lawrence knows the more attention paid to him will create opportunities for others on the defense.
“Right now, I’ve just got my head down and grinding. And that’s my message to everybody else. You’re going to be able to reap your benefits at the end. Right now, just grind each week,” he said. “Right now, we’ve got Cincinnati. We’ve got to go create some more disruption.”
They have a huge challenge this Sunday night when they host those high-scoring Bengals at MetLife Stadium. If they are to throttle Cincy, it will all start with Lawrence, you can bet on that.
