Perry Fewell: Giants' defense has 'showed lapses in play'

Head coach Tom Coughlin said this week that the New York Giants' defense was "soft" at times in a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver A.J. Green said Thursday that the Giants' defense had "a lot of holes."

What does Giants' defensive coordinator Perry Fewell think of his team, ranked well down the NFL list at 26th overall in terms of yards allowed per game?

[Fewell transcript | A.J. Green remarks | Giants' response to Green]

"There’s holes in every defense and there’s holes in every offense," Fewell said. "I think that we’ve showed lapses in play. I think there’s holes in every defense. I think that if you’re a good offense, you’ll exploit what the defense gives you."

What about Coughlin's "soft" comment, which was made after watching the defense miss 12 tackles and allow Isaac Redman, a third-string running back, to gain 147 yards?

"I think we’re able to sense that we let a football game get away that we should’ve won. We made mistakes in the football game that are correctable mistakes that shouldn’t really have happened and we let a football game get away," Fewell said. "I thought that we didn’t shed well and we didn’t tackle well. That was my impression of how we played. We could’ve tackled a hell of a lot better. We could’ve shed a hell of a lot better in that football game to make some football plays."