Giants Q&A: Dexter Lawrence's absence, Jalin Hyatt's big day

How did the Giants’ defense fare without Dexter Lawrence, who is out with a hamstring injury?

Well enough.

The Giants intercepted three passes and gave up only one touchdown in their 10-7 win over the Patriots on Sunday.

“It’s obviously always an ongoing and growing process,” linebacker Bobby Okereke said of the turnovers. “I think Wink [Martindale] has done a great job just seeing what calls work to our strengths, giving us opportunities to play with instincts in coverage, and we mix it up with our blitzes and everything.

“He just does a great job calling the game and putting us in position to make plays.”

The Giants earned the turnover advantage for the second straight week. They had a plus-2 differential on Sunday one week after finishing plus-6 against the Commanders, against whom they also had three interceptions.

Deonte Banks, Okereke and Xavier McKinney had the interceptions. Okereke’s led to the Giants’ lone touchdown and McKinney’s led to the tiebreaking field goal.

Okereke agreed that players rely on instincts when it comes to generating turnovers.

“Instincts are a big part of this game,’’ he said, “and I think Wink does a good job of letting me play to those instincts, for sure.”

Said Kayvon Thibodeaux: “We’re watching film, guys like Bobby, myself, the safeties, they are getting in together and watching the film and breaking it down.”

The results, he said, are team-wide.

“I know our offense feeds off us and we feed off them,” Thibodeaux said. 

Was Tommy DeVito determined to get the ball to Jalin Hyatt?

Well, not if Hyatt wasn’t open. But he was open, a lot.

The speedy Hyatt had five receptions for 109 yards, an average of 21.8 yards per catch. On a third-and-16 play, he had a 41-yarder in which he got behind J.C. Jackson down the right sideline.

“Yeah, he’s quarterback- friendly,” DeVito said. “I mean anybody that’s that fast and can make the plays that he makes is quarterback-friendly, so it makes a lot easier to put those balls up for him, but he’s just a special individual. Special player, route-runner, whatever you want to call it, and he’s a confident dude.

“He tells me he’s like, ‘I’m going to go get this ball for you’ like if we call this, I’m going to make the play. So it takes a lot off my shoulders.”

Asked about his chemistry with DeVito, Hyatt said, “Great quarterback, started in the offseason. I think it just goes to our preparation throughout the week. Game-planning for teams that we were playing that week and I think now we’re starting to build some confidence, and when you have a confident quarterback, you can do anything you want.”

DeVito does not throw during warmups, which is interesting. And unique.

“But he goes out there and throws beautiful passes,” Hyatt said. “So that just shows me how confident he is in himself and with his team. So I’m very proud of him.’’

If you’re wondering, Hyatt has asked DeVito why he doesn’t throw warmup passes.

“I ask him every day about it,” Hyatt said, laughing. “He’s like, ‘I don’t have to.’ I think it’s one of those things where he’s a game player, and that’s what I respect about him most.

“We know when he goes out there on game day, so honestly, I don’t question anything about what he does and doesn’t do.”

By Kimberly Jones

kimberly.jones@newsday.comkimjonessports

Kimberly Jones covers the Giants for Newsday, a beat she first worked in the early 2000s before joining the YES Network to cover the Yankees. She worked for the NFL Network for more than a decade and has been heard semi-regularly on WFAN.