John Harbaugh placing an emphasis on Giants’ late-game execution

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — One of the few fears in a John Harbaugh-Giants marriage is protecting a fourth-quarter lead. 

The Giants blew five fourth-quarter leads last season, including three of 10 or more points. They went 1-7 in one-score games. 

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The Ravens blew 18 double-digit second-half leads during Harbaugh’s tenure. No other head coach had more since at least 1991, although that’s a double-edged sword because few coaches last as long as Harbaugh (19th season) or hold as many leads and win as often as Baltimore did from 2008-25. 

So, as you might expect, there has been a healthy dose of fourth-quarter situational periods during the first week of training camp, though Harbaugh says that is “always” a point of emphasis for his teams. 

“We’re focusing on the things that we think we really need to get good at for this team,” Harbaugh said. “We throw everything at them right away on every situation we can think of. So, by the time we’re through the first 10 days, we’ll have hit pretty much all those situations. And it’s OK if we don’t know exactly what we’re doing or we don’t quite have the play calls down yet. We want to expose them to all those situations right out of the gate because those things are going to be things that actually win you games. Those are game-winning play opportunities usually. So, we want to be as good as we can be at that stuff.” 

The 2025 season tied the NFL record for most regular-season games decided by three points or fewer (73) — it’s happened three times since 2018 — and ranked No. 2 all time in games with a winning score in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime (61). 

“It usually comes down to that,” Harbaugh said. “That’s pretty much every team’s story.” 

Real football — at least as the linemen see it — starts Monday when the pads come on. The Giants were off Sunday, the only day of rest during the 11-day remote training camp. 

“It will just change the tempo of the period,” Harbaugh said. “Without the pads, you’re not wrapping. We’re not going to be tackling to the ground on Monday. We’re trying to stop the ball carrier if we can on defense and get the pads behind us on offense. I’m sure inside will be a little more physical than it is out here without the shoulder pads. It just ramps up just a little bit.” 

Will there be any live tackling in camp? To cut down on injury risk, the trend across the NFL is to all but eliminate it in favor of wrap-and-release tackling. 

“There’ll be certain guys, maybe the younger guys, before the first preseason game, perhaps,” Harbaugh said. “We’ll see where we’re at.” 

WR Malik Nabers practiced in individual drills in three of the first four days. No 7-on-7 or 11-on-11 yet. 

“We’re definitely pushing the envelope on it,” Harbaugh said. “I would say he’s generally on schedule. He’s working to get himself back as soon as he can.”