Defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is back with the Giants and on Saturday he spoke for the first time since his return.

Spagnuolo has covered the defensive meeting with posters of the iconic defensive players for the Giants and spends time comparing past defenses and legends and how their play could be applicable today.

Here's some of the biggest takeaways from Spagnuole's talk with the media on Saturday.

1. On teaching his defense the tradition of the Giants franchise:  "Maybe that comes from having been there, but the whole staff just felt like when you understand the tradition of defensive football here at the Giants, you embrace it. When you embrace something you have a little pride in it. If you’ve got a little pride in something like your family, you tend to protect it."

2. How much will his defense differ from the last time he was here?: "We’ve got some tweaks. We’re not going to venture too far personnel-wise because of what we have and try to change things too much, but the good thing about being in a lot of different places, whether it was St. Louis, New Orleans or Baltimore, is you can pick from other places. Nobody in this league is sharing information. So when you try to get little tidbits from other coaches, nobody is giving that info, but if you’re able over the course of whatever it was, five or six years, to come up with some different things, we’ll add those in and hopefully we’ll come up with something really good."

Getty Images
Getty Images
loading...

3. First impressions of first round draft pick Landon Collins: "I want him to go to the Pro Bowl. That’s what we want all of our guys to do. I will say this, from practice one yesterday to just this morning, I saw a jump already. They come here initially and they’re feeling their way through. They don’t really want to say anything, but by the time we got to that last team period today, Landon was moving people around and directing, so if he can keep doing that every day, I think we’ll have exactly what we thought we had when we took him."

4. On the leaders he currently has on his defense: "That’s going to take a little bit of time. There are guys in that room that we’re working with right now that I know in the past, having listened to other coaches or watching the Giants from afar, that I think there’s some good leaders there and I think you always have got to develop more."

5. What do you want this Giants defense to be known for?: "It’s relentless. It’s attacking. Michael Strahan said this in one of the things we were watching. He said when he first got here, they -- meaning all of his defensive players -- they took pride in living up to the New York Giants defensive tradition. I thought that just spoke volumes. That’s a lot to live up to. So if we can shoot for that and get close to that, I think we’ll be pretty good."

More From 104.5 THE TEAM