Maybe it is the second time that is the charm for Abdul Carter.
The New York Giants’ rookie edge rusher has put forth a brilliant response after his second and most recent benching, which was the entire first quarter of a Thursday-night Week 13 primetime loss to the New England Patriots.
Following his first full career sack two weeks ago, he came out of the bye and played “with his hair on fire,” in Sunday’s 29-21 loss to the Washington Commanders, as described by interim head coach Mike Kafka.
The No. 3 overall pick strip-sacked Marcus Mariota on the second drive of the game. In the fourth quarter, with the Giants trying to come back from a 15-point deficit, he took down running back Jeremy McNichols for a loss of eight yards to wrench some momentum back toward Big Blue.
After cutting the deficit to eight, Carter opened the door further for a New York comeback when he forced a McNichols fumble and then recovered it with 3:43 to go.
“I feel like it was a statement,” Carter said of his performance.
The Giants’ offense, which, along with special teams, made plenty of gaffes to eliminate any sort of upswing, turned the ball over on downs to clinch an eighth consecutive loss. Regardless, the young edge rusher is finally looking like the game-changer he was billed to be when the Giants took him out of Penn State in the spring.
“This was his coming-out party,” fellow edge-rusher Brian Burns said. “He had a good game. I feel like he, for the most part, he executed his assignments. Then he came up with some big plays that we needed. So I’m proud of him right now.”
It certainly was. And it likely prompted some significant sighs of relief from Giants brass after Carter was held out of the first defensive series in Week 11 against the Green Bay Packers for missing a walkthrough before another violation of team protocol landed him on the bench in New England.
“That’s one step. He’s got to keep on stacking those days,” Kafka said. “…You see growth from the player. You see growth from him. He’s taken accountability for it. He’s learned from those things. And he’s putting together a good week. He’s in here early, staying late, and trying to make himself a better player. And he’s helping the team. That’s really what it’s all about. He’s not only helping himself be prepped and ready for the game, but he’s helping the unit. He’s helping his group. He’s helping the team be more productive.”
