Giants defenders find success in new roles with Xavier McKinney out

Rookie safety Dane Belton was beaten for a touchdown in the fourth quarter of the Giants’ 24-16 win over Houston on Sunday. That was rookie mistake No. 1. 

But the play was called back because of an offensive penalty.

On the next snap, Belton picked off Davis Mills for his first career interception. 

Then came rookie mistake No. 2.

“I have to say,” safety Julian Love said, “we got on him because he ran 100 yards the other way to get in front of the cameras, instead of turning around and going 10 yards to the nearest cameras. So I ain’t chasing him down. I was like, ‘Yeah, he can have it. I’ll cheer him on the way to the sideline.’ ”

Belton’s pick was one of the key defensive plays in the Giants’ victory. It came in the club’s first game without starting safety Xavier McKinney, who fractured multiple fingers in an ATV accident in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, during the bye week.

McKinney was the Giants’ defensive signal-caller and wore the “green dot” to signify that status. Love, who assisted McKinney, wore the green dot on Sunday but said the signal-calling wasn’t just his responsibility.

“I think early on in this week we really learned that it's not going to be like, 'All right, now you do Julian's role, I do [McKinney’s] role' as cleanly,” Love said. “I wish it could be as clean. It was a mixture of really Dane, [Jason] Pinnock, Jaylon Smith communicating a lot, and I was communicating as much as I could with the plays and some other stuff. So it was a group effort.”

Coach Brian Daboll said he was pleased with the defensive communication in McKinney’s absence.

“It was good,” he said. “Julian did a great job like he did all week leading up to it. Now he understands our system and I think he’s a good communicator, he’s intelligent. I think it was smooth, really from his point to the second level of the defense to the defensive line. I think those guys did a good job of communicating throughout the game and, obviously, he’s the one that’s wearing the green dot and it starts with him.”

The Giants were understandably miffed with McKinney, but they didn’t ban him from the club. In fact, McKinney prowled the sideline during the game and did what he could to help the defense.

“[He was] like a mini-coach when I was out there,” cornerback Adoree’ Jackson said. “Pep-talking to everybody, just giving a positive word and giving affirmations and just trying to give an insight of what he sees, what he knows off his film study, and just trying to be an extra for us out there.”

Belton, a fourth-round draft pick out of Iowa, saw more snaps because of McKinney’s absence. Love was impressed with how Belton recovered immediately after allowing the disallowed touchdown.

“He took that and made a huge-time play in the red zone,” Love said. “So that's double the value. But as a rookie, I think you're going to make mistakes and it’s all about how you respond. So that's a perfect example of something happening and [then] he made a huge play for us.”

Jackson also had to do double duty on Sunday as he replaced Richie James as the Giants’ punt returner. James had fumbled twice in the previous game.

But Jackson only had two chances: a 2-yard return and a fair catch.

Still, he said, “It was more like a nostalgic feeling for me, just being able to be back there. Kind of had a feeling like I was back at [USC] or when I was returning at Tennessee.”

By Anthony Rieber

anthony.rieber@newsday.comAnthonyRieber

Anthony Rieber covers sports media and business and professional sports (you know, games and trades and things). He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since Jan. 1, 2026.