Giants struggle to force crucial turnovers is issue that needs fixing

Forcing punts is nice.Generating takeaways is better.Unlike in their last loss, the Giants defense forced a punt — three, actually — Thursday against the Cowboys.Call it progress from allowing seven field goals on seven possessions two weeks ago against the Commanders, but it’s still difficult to win in today’s NFL without an interception or a fumble recovery, as the Giants showed in a 20-15 loss when their average starting field position was the 30-yard line and five long offensive drives all stalled out for field goals.“That’s a goal of ours on defense every week,” linebacker Bobby Okereke said.

“Affect the passer, create turnovers, stop the run.I thought we did a decent job affecting Dak [Prescott].

I thought we did a decent job affecting the run game.We just have to create turnovers — and tackle.”Xavier McKinney used to beat the drum for creating takeaways inside the Giants’ facility.

He now leads the NFL with three interceptions — for the Packers — while the Giants are 1-1 when forcing a takeaway and 0-2 when not.“It’s always one of our keys to victory,” linebacker Micah McFadden said.“It’s crucial nowadays with the type of football that’s always going to be a close game.

Whichever defense can force those turnovers — or fourth-down stops and keeping them backed up — those are game-changing plays.”The Giants tied for the NFL lead with 31 takeaways last season under former coordinator Wink Martindale.The Titans, under current Giants defensive coordinator Shane Bowen, ranked No.

31 in a 32-team league.“When guys are focused on tackling and driving their feet through a ball carrier,” McFadden said, “that’s when guys get held up and the second [defender] can come in and punch the ball out.On the back end, when we can get a ball tipped at the line of scrimmage and the ball is in the air, when we can come down with those it makes all the difference and creates momentum for the offense.”Cowboys CB Amani Oruwar...