EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Steve Spagnuolo, the Giants’ defensive coordinator, greeted reporters Thursday with a wide smile.
Spagnuolo ought to be happy. His defense, which was expected to be a liability, is the top-ranked unit against the run in the N.F.L., yielding 69.8 yards per game.
Then again, his squad is last in the league in pass defense, giving up 316.2 yards per game.
“I didn’t know that,” a still smiling Spagnuolo said when told about his team’s first-place-32nd-place dichotomy. “I didn’t know it was that extreme. I had no idea.”
All around the Giants’ locker room, as players prepared to host the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night, there was some measure of head-scratching going on.