Burns: Giants still 'bought in' despite collapse

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Edge rusher Brian Burns said his comments seen in a video walking off the field after Sunday's 33-32 loss were more about being "in disbelief" about the result of a late play where the New York Giants rushed three and dropped eight into coverage than serving as criticism of defensive coordinator Shane Bowen.

The video showed Burns, the NFL's current sack leader, incredulously yelling "Drop eight in coverage!" among a flurry of expletives as he walked through the bowels of the stadium toward the locker room. Burns and fellow defensive captain Dexter Lawrence then brushed off questions after the game about whether they thought it was the right approach in that situation.

That left the impression that they were unhappy with their defensive coordinator on the play.

Burns said Wednesday he thought they had the perfect coverage for that situation. He was frustrated with the way the game ended -- in another demoralizing Giants loss -- and that the pass just seemed to fall into the hands of Denver wide receiver Marvin Mims for a 29-yard gain even though he wasn't the intended receiver. The Broncos kicked the game-winning field goal just several plays later.

"Coming right off the field, I got a lot of emotions going on," Burns said. "What I was referring to is the fact that we had a call specifically to take away that play and the fact that [Broncos quarterback Bo] Nix wasn't even trying to throw it to Mims and it just so happened to be completed, it was kind of a disbelief. Like, bro, there's no way that we dropped eight and still couldn't stop that ball from getting completed. That's more so where my frustration lied. It wasn't nothing towards the [play] call."

Burns, who is tied for the NFL lead with nine sacks, said he didn't feel it was necessary to clear the air with Bowen afterwards. They need to instead turn their attention to this week's opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles.

But Burns also understands the perception that came from the postgame video which portrayed his raw emotion.

"Everybody talks and has their own opinion, you know what I'm saying?" Burns said. "However you view it, whatever your perspective is, I respect your perspective, you can have that, but we are bought in [to Bowen] and that call was perfect for that situation just because it was 30 seconds left, no timeouts. Catch, tackle, game over. But that ball was never supposed to be completed.

"It just happened like I just said brother. The ball wasn't even aiming for that man. It was for [wide receiver] Courtland [Sutton]. He missed the throw and it just fell in his lap. It was just unlucky."