Giants linebacker Brian Burns says he's 'bought in,' supports DC Shane Bowen

Brian Burns’ two-sack performance Sunday wasn’t just overshadowed by the Giants’ last-second loss to the Broncos. His postgame outburst heading to the locker room caught more attention for seemingly being mad about the defensive play calls on the final drive.

Burns sent a tweet Tuesday saying he wasn’t mad at the decision to drop eight players in coverage on the Broncos’ first play of that drive. On Wednesday, the linebacker and team captain elaborated on why he was upset.

“What I was referring to is the fact that we called a call specifically to take away that play and the fact that [Broncos quarterback Bo] Nix wasn’t even trying to throw it to [receiver Marvin] Mims,” Burns said. “It just so happened to be completed. It’s kind of like a disbelief, like bro, it’s no way that we dropped eight and we still couldn’t stop that ball from getting completed.”

People took that tunnel video all outta context.. I wasn’t mad at Shane nor the call.. 🤦🏾‍♂️

— Brian Burns (@Fire_Burns99) October 21, 2025

Burns, who didn’t practice Wednesday due to a hip injury, added he wasn’t sure about sending the tweet because he felt people would believe what they want. But he wanted to clarify he wasn’t angry at defensive coordinator Shane Bowen.

Like linebacker Bobby Okereke did Monday, Burns gave Bowen his full support.

“We are bought in and that call was perfect for that situation,” Burns said. “Just because there’s 30 seconds left, no timeouts, catch, tackle, game over. That ball was never supposed to be completed, it just happened.”

Burns became the eighth player in NFL history to start his career with 7.5 sacks in each of his first five seasons after his third multi-sack game this season. His nine sacks are tied for the NFL lead and he also has a league-high 12 tackles for loss.

Despite that, the defense has struggled and Bowen has drawn criticism for not spurring much improvement from last season. Yet the players took up for him Wednesday, admitting it’s on them to play better.

“He’s relentless,” defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence said of Bowen’s play-calling. “We just got to execute. Whatever he calls out there, we got to execute it to the best of our abilities.”

That will be key facing the Eagles Sunday for the second time in just over two weeks. The Eagles’ passing game, which struggled in the Giants’ win at MetLife Stadium, looked back in sync in their win Sunday over the Vikings.

Jalen Hurts threw for 326 yards and three touchdowns while finishing with a perfect 158.3 passer rating. DeVonta Smith and A.J. Brown each had over 120 receiving yards, with Smith having 183.

Burns said he doesn’t expect his hip injury to keep him out of Sunday’s game. That’s where his focus is, not any anger or outside noise coming from the loss to the Broncos.

“Hopefully Shane ain’t too caught up in all that stuff that people are saying,” Burns said. “I’m not trying to look at it. I’m trying to look at Saquon [Barkley], Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown.”

Gano returns from IR

The Giants opened kicker Graham Gano’s practice window Wednesday after Gano missed the last four games with a groin injury. Per the injury report, he was a full participant in practice and coach Brian Daboll said if he’s healthy, he’ll resume his starting job.

“If Graham’s ready to go, Graham will be our kicker,” Daboll said.

The team waived kicker Jude McAtamney Tuesday after he missed two extra points Sunday. But going back to Gano comes with risk given the 38-year-old’s injury history.

Gano didn’t miss a field goal (6-for-6) or extra point (4-for-4) in three games. However, when he got hurt pregame against Kansas City, it was the second time in as many seasons that he’s been injured just before kickoff.

Still, Daboll stood behind his veteran kicker barring any setbacks this week.

“He is progressing in the right direction. So we’ll see in a couple days here how it goes, and then make a decision, what we need to do,” Daboll said.

Injury updates

CB Paulson Adebo (knee), S Jevon Holland (knee) and DL Chauncey Golston (neck) didn’t practice. Daboll said they’re considered day-to-day . . . WR Darius Slayton (hamstring) and C John Michael Schmitz (concussion) were limited in their return to practice. Slayton missed the last two games and said he’s “optimistic” about playing Sunday.