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Notebook: Azeez Ojulari looks to keep sack streak going

AZEEZ-OJULARI

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.- Azeez Ojulari is in a groove.

Just as baseball hitters and basketball shooters get hot, and golfers start dropping putts, Ojulari has found a sweet spot sacking quarterbacks.

The fourth-year pro has 5.0 sacks in the three games since he replaced an injured Kayvon Thibodeaux as a starter at outside linebacker in the Giants' defense. He had two sacks against both Cincinnati and Pittsburgh, and one vs. Philadelphia. It is the highest three-game total of his career and the first time since his first three NFL appearances – Sept. 12-26, 2001 – that he has a sack in three consecutive games.

Ojulari had 14 tackles and five quarterback hits in those three games.

Are pass rushers and sacks like the hitter smacking doubles and shooters knocking down 3-pointers who just get hot?

"I think so," Ojulari said. "I feel like with every opportunity when you get there, they come in bunches. You see it different and when you get there, it's just like a feeling that you keep rolling. You got your boys with you. You got Dex (Dexter Lawrence) what he does all the time. You got (Brian) Burns, seeing it, you got K.T. (Thibodeaux). It's just a vibe and the energy in our room as a unit is there and it's contagious."

Ojulari said he begins every game believing he will record a sack – or sacks.

"I feel like it's a mentality," he said. "Confidence, mentality, visualization, just having that in your head and knowing it's going to happen, and all the work you put in during the offseason, even throughout the season, and just show it out there on Sunday. We got to give it all we got and show it."

Ojulari is one of three Giants with an impressive sacks streak this season. Dexter Lawrence, who leads the NFL with 9.0 sacks, had 6.0 in a three-game stretch from Oct. 6 (when he had 3.0 in Seattle) to Oct. 20. And Brian Burns has had a full sack in each of the previous four games, tying the longest streak of his career. Burns' full sack streak is the longest by a Giants since Lorenzo Carter had a sack in four straight games in 2021 and is the NFL's second-longest active streak behind the six games in a row by Denver's Nik Bonitto has registered a sack.

Ojulari said the pass rushers feed off and inspire each other.

"I feel like with Burns and Dex and all of us rushing and helping each other out, it makes a big impact for sure," Ojulari said. "All of us are learning from each other and taking different approaches from what they give us and to me what I could give them. I feel like it's all working together, all of us."

View photos of the Giants on the practice field at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center.

Ojulari is working toward the level of play he demonstrated as a rookie in 2021, when he was the Giants' second-round draft choice, from Georgia. He started 13 games while playing in all 17 and led the team and set a franchise rookie record with 8.0 sacks, including a career-high 2.5 sacks in a victory against Carolina.

Since then, Ojulari's contributions have been much more sporadic, largely due to his health. In 2022, he missed 10 games with calf and ankle injuries, but still recorded 5.5 sacks in seven games. Last year, hamstring and ankle injury forced him to miss six games, and he finished with a career-low 2.5 sacks.

The Giants then launched a search for an edge rusher to line up on the opposite side from Thibodeaux. They sent second and fifth-round draft choices to the Carolina Panthers for Burns, a two-time Pro Bowler who joined Kansas City's Myles Garrett as the only NFL players with 7.5 or more sacks in every season from 2019-23.

Burns' arrival relegated Ojulari to a backup role. He did not start any of the first five games, a period in which he played between 19 and 28 defensive snaps – never more than 43.6% of the unit's total. Then in Seattle, Thibodeaux suffered a wrist injury that required surgery and a stint on the injured reserve list. Since then, Ojulari has started all three games, played 45, 51, and 60 snaps, and been one of the defense's most productive players.

"I feel like I've definitely grown for sure," he said. "Taking it one day at a time, one step at a time, one rep at a time. The more you're out there on the field, the more experience and confidence you have. The more of the game you're able to fill out. I feel like I've been pretty good and smooth."

Smooth is a word his coaches probably wouldn't use, but they've been impressed by Ojulari's recent contributions.

"I've been really pleased with Azeez and what he's been able to do," defensive coordinator Shane Bowen said. "It's a professional football league, faced adversity, brought Brian Burns in, fell into a backup rotational role, kept working, kept responding to adversity, to a challenge in front of him. And then when his opportunity presented itself, he's taken full advantage. So, really proud of him and the way he's went about his business through the offseason, through training camp, up to this point. And excited to see the production that he's having for us right now."

Three years after his standout rookie season, Ojulari is finally healthy and contributing regularly. He never had a full sack in three consecutive games in college. Now that he's a groove in the NFL, he wants to stay there.

"It feels great, because we put so much work into this game," he said. "Nobody wants to be hurt, but it's just part of the game and stuff you can't control.

"It was an opportunity that popped up and I'm trying to take advantage of every one. I get everything, every chance, every rep I get and try to take it to the fullest I can. I know it's my fourth year here and I just got to give it all I got and try to help this team win whatever we can play good defense."

View photos from the all-time series between the New York Giants and the Washington Commanders.

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