Heart of a Giant Award winner meets NY Giants’ Dexter Lawrence
Old Tappan football player accepts Heart of a Giant Award and Super Bowl LX tickets, meets Giants lineman Dexter Lawrence.
Former Penn State star Abdul Carter had a breakout game for the Giants following two disciplinary episodes.The rookie linebacker was previously benched twice for being late and/or missing team activities.Despite Carter’s strong performance, which included two forced fumbles, the Giants lost to Washington.
EAST RUTHERFORD – Michael Strahan used to tell anyone who would listen that defensive players in the NFL, for the most part, could not win on talent alone.
There was a science to the success Strahan found with the New York Giants, a process by which he learned how to beat opponents by watching their movements, studying their tendencies and eventually, on game day, exploiting them with every part of his game.
He would know what the left guard did on certain run plays and how the left tackle gave away whether a run or a pass was coming. Figuring out the nuances of the players he was preparing to go up against with extra film study provided advantages that, by kickoffs on Sunday, he was already a step ahead.
That plan ultimately landed Strahan a spot in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
“To me, it was like playing chess, and that’s why I loved it,” Strahan said days before his 2014 Hall of Fame induction in Canton, Ohio. “Knowing what other players did helped me play faster. So once the game started and something wasn’t working, I was able to adjust and change it up. I would study how an offensive tackle placed his hand or shifted his weight. I took pride in being a complete football player and anything less than my best was unacceptable.”
Abdul Carter has learned the hard way about what is unacceptable at this level, and in putting a pair of disciplinary episodes behind him, the former Penn State star broke out with the best game of his rookie season in the Giants’ loss to Washington.
Can this performance serve as a significant step toward realizing his immense potential?
“Greatness is doing it over weeks. Being consistent,” All-Pro Dexter Lawrence said after Sunday’s 29-21 defeat when asked about Carter’s production. “That’s what he can get to. He’s just got to stick with the process and understand who he is and keep that approach to the game every week. His ceiling is through the roof.”
Added Carter, who finished with seven tackles, three that went for loss, with two forced fumbles, including a strip sack and a fumble recovery: “I feel like it was a statement. But it would have been more satisfying if we got the win.”
Last Thursday, when Giants defensive coordinator Charlie Bullen indicated Carter spent more time watching film coming out of the bye, studying tendencies and dedicating himself to his evolution, my mind went back to that pre-induction conversation in Canton with Strahan; how he once implored Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck, then Mathias Kiwanuka and Jason Pierre-Paul to do the same.
Teammates and coaches took notice of Carter’s willingness to dig deeper into what vets accept as reality in the NFL, and as Strahan insisted, talent is only one part of the equation to discovering bigger and better things.
“It was his coming-out party,” teammate Brian Burns said. “He had a good game. I feel like he, for the most part, just a feeling, ’cause we didn’t watch the film yet, I feel like he executed his assignments. Then he came up with some big plays that we needed. So yeah, I’m proud of him right now.”
Carter, the Giants’ No. 3 overall pick and projected to be one of the franchise cornerstones, was benched by interim coach Mike Kafka and team brass for the second time in three weeks against the Patriots since taking over the reins in the aftermath of Brian Daboll’s firing.
Kafka wanted to keep the details of what happened with Carter and his initial infraction under wraps – he missed a 15-minute walkthrough session while receiving treatment in the team’s red light therapy room – but very little stays “in house” nowadays, especially in the middle of an eight-game losing streak.
Then, on “Monday Night Football,” the game began and Carter was on the sideline again, parka over his uniform, once again at the center of rumors and innuendo on social media, the target of false information from fake social media accounts parading as news-generating reporters.
He was held out of the entire first quarter for missing a team activity. So when the game started Sunday and Carter was on the field with the starting defense, there was certainly a different feel to the situation.
In the first quarter against Washington, Carter had a sack and three tackles, including two for loss. He hit the field on a rampage, playing 49 of the Giants’ 61 defensive snaps and closed just as strong, forcing a fumble with a big hit on Commanders running back Jeremy McNichols in the fourth quarter.
“You see growth from him,” Kafka said of Carter. “He’s taken accountability for it. He’s learned from those things. He’s in here early, staying late and trying to make himself a better player. And he’s helping the team. And that’s really what it’s all about.”