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Giants Now: Next Gen Stats highlights Dexter Lawrence's dominant start

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Next Gen Stats highlights Dexter Lawrence's dominant start

Dexter Lawrence is off to the most dominant start of his NFL career.

The Giants are just seven games into their season, and yet the sixth-year defensive lineman has already set a new career-high with his nine sacks, topping his previous high-mark of 7.5 sacks set in 2022.

Lawrence's nine sacks also leads the NFL heading into Week 8.

Next Gen Stats recently highlighted Lawrence's elite performance thus far this season. Lawrence is the league-leader in sacks despite facing a double-team rate of 63.3 percent.

Not only is this the highest double-team rate any player has faced this season, but it is the highest mark any defender has seen dating back to at least 2018.

Lawrence's nine sacks through seven weeks is the highest total by a Giants player in the first seven games since Pro Football Hall of Famer Michael Strahan had 12.5 in 2001 (when he set the NFL record, since tied, with 22.5 sacks). The only other player to exceed Lawrence's total in seven games is Leonard Marshall, who had 11.5 sacks in 1985, when the Giants set a team record with 68. Marshall finished with 15.5 sacks.

"It's not just me, honestly," Lawrence said. "It's the game plans, it's the DBs covering, it's the guys outside of me rushing as well. I do what I can when I can. Whenever I get that one-on-one or whenever I got to hustle to a ball – effort plays - is more than what the numbers say that goes along with me getting sacks."

Lawrence's 30.5 career sacks place him 13th on the Giants' official list (since 1982), just a half-sack behind linebacker Jessie Armstead and nose tackle Erik Howard. Lawrence has played 89 regular-season games. Armstead and Howard played 144 and 122 games, respectively, for the Giants.

Defensive tackle Keith Hamilton, who played 173 games for the Giants from 1993-2002, holds the franchise record for interior linemen with 63.0 sacks, which place him fifth on the list.

With Lawrence's help, the Giants currently lead the NFL with 31 sacks, their highest total through seven games since they had 37 in 1985. A year ago, the Giants had 11 sacks through seven games and finished the season with 34.

The Giants are the fifth team since 2000 with at least 31 sacks through seven games. The 2000 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 2013 Kansas City Chiefs had 35, and the 2000 New Orleans Saints and 2017 Jacksonville Jaguars had 33.

View photos of defensive lineman Dexter Lawrence's career with the Giants.

View photos of every move made by the Giants during the 2024 cycle.

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