EAST RUTHERFORD — Brian Burns arrived at the Giants’ season finale in style, sporting a blue quarter-zip sweater and tan dress pants. It was the proper fit for a Pro Bowler who played with style all season. He consistently delivered for his team despite the Giants losing week after week. With on e last game Sunday against the Cowboys at MetLife Stadium, Burns wasn’t about to relent. The outside linebacker’s performance in the Giants’ 34-17 win wasn’t about raw numbers; rather, it was about his toughness in a league where it’s easy for stars to sit out of meaningless games, especially when they’re banged up. Burns recorded a quarterback hit in the first quarter and then nearly sacked Dak Prescott in the second quarter on a play after which he hobbled off the field and sat on the bench next to medical personnel. They taped his ankles after he twisted one of them, and Burns returned to the field on the Giants’ next defensive series right before halftime. Burns, naturally, then dropped running back Jaydon Blue for a 3-yard loss on the Cowboys’ second play of the second half. “I was hurting, but it’s alright,” Burns said. “It’s cool. It was just twisted, nothing crazy.” The seventh-year veteran would have it no other way. He is a team captain and one of four players on the Giants’ defense to start all 17 games, and he was determined to take his game to another level this season. Burns deserves praise for putting together an elite season despite the Giants’ 4-13 record, which included a nine-game losing streak and collapses that took a toll mentally, like when the Giants blew a 19-point lead in Denver in October and Burns was sobbing afterward in the locker room. Burns ranks second in the NFL with 16.5 sacks (behind only Myles Garrett’s NFL-record 23), third with 22 tackles-for-loss, fourth with 31 QB hits, and sixth in QB pressures (hurries, knockdowns and sacks), according to Pro Football Reference. “I’m trying to maintain and stay consistent on my process, and the results show,” Burns said. “Being able to play within the scheme and still get the results that I wanted and I needed, it just shows the preparation that I put in throughout the week.” Asked what clicked for him this season in terms of his preparation translating to more production, Burns said it went hand in hand with the defensive play-calling. “Just being able to allow the calls to work for me,” he said. “Instead of trying to step outside of the box or step outside of the scheme to make a play, I just let the calls work for me, and it happened.” Since sacks became an official stat in 1982, only two Giants players have finished with more in a season than Burns — and they’re both Pro Football Hall of Famers. Michael Strahan had 22.5 in 2001 and 18.5 in 2003, and Lawrence Taylor had 20.5 in 1986. It’s a testament to Burns’ work ethic and film study. Consider that when Burns was traded to New York and signed a five-year, $141 million deal in March of 2024, many doubted the contract. He was considered a good but not great pass rusher who only once produced double-digits sacks in his first five seasons with the Carolina Panthers. Yet the 27-year-old continues to tap into his potential. He has become undoubtedly the best acquisition in general manager Joe Schoen’s four years with the Giants. He was the team’s best player this season and is a legitimate building block for the franchise. “He had a great year, man,” second-year cornerback Dru Phillips said. “Not just on the field but off the field. He’s been a real leader. He kind of showed everybody the way. Your dreams and what you want to be, he showed it every day — an example of how to get there. I’m just proud of him. He did it.” Burns deserves immense credit for making that type of statement under such dire circumstances. He’s been part of teams that have been ridiculously bad with 31 wins and 86 losses combined — which Phillips noted generally means fewer pass-rushing opportunites — but Burns has missed only three of those 117 games, and as he showed this season and Sunday, he’s a fighter until the end. “That’s kind of just the standard really,” Burns said. “I try to be available and be out there to play.” That’s a player for Giants fans to be proud to have on their side. Greg Johnson covers the New York Giants and NFL for MediaNews Group. Reach him at [email protected]. ...read more read less