{"id":1005906,"date":"2026-09-20T12:45:20","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T12:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1005906\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T12:45:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T12:45:20","slug":"giants-abdul-carter-tipped-to-exploit-fatal-matthew-stafford-flaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1005906\/","title":{"rendered":"Giants’ Abdul Carter Tipped to Exploit Fatal Matthew Stafford Flaw"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"Abdul\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGetty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Abdul Carter is predicted to feast for the New York Giants in Week 2, thanks to Matthew Stafford’s fatal flaw for the Los Angeles Rams.<\/p>\n

Matthew Stafford<\/a>\u2018s the reigning NFL MVP, but the Los Angeles Rams\u2019<\/a>\u00a0quarterback has a fatal flaw that can let Abdul Carter<\/a> feast for the New York Giants\u2019<\/a> defense in Week 2. Particularly when Stafford\u2019s flaw\u2019s coupled with Carter\u2019s league-leading stat ahead of Monday Night Football at SoFi Stadium.<\/p>\n

The Giants<\/a> are yet to register a sack this season, but Carter is predicted to change that in a big way when he faces Stafford. That\u2019s according to Giants.com writer John Schmeelk<\/a>, who noted \u201cCarter was credited by Next Gen Stats with five pressures in Sunday night\u2019s game against the Cowboys, and three of those pressures were tracked as quick pressures. His average time to pressure was only 2.44 seconds and his average get-off of .94 seconds was the fastest on the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schmeelk\u2019s colleague Matt Citak<\/a> framed those numbers around some worrying underlying metrics for Stafford. Specifically, how the 40-year-old \u201cwent 7-for-7 on throws in under 2.5 seconds last week, but was held to just 8-for-18 when he got rid of the ball in over 2.5 seconds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those are the worst kind of numbers for a quarterback to have when facing Carter. Particularly since the latter\u2019s \u201c48 quick pressures lead the league,\u201d per Citak.<\/p>\n

This looks like the ideal game for Carter to finally announce himself as an elite game-wrecker. Finishing pressures with sacks has been an issue<\/a> for the third-overall pick in the 2025 NFL draft, but Stafford will give Carter ample opportunities to fix the problem.<\/p>\n

Abdul Carter Getting Closer to Breakout Game<\/p>\n

Carter\u2019s breakout game remains frustratingly elusive for the Giants, despite plenty of hype<\/a>. Fortunately, signs have been trending in the right direction for a while, pointing to light going on for the former Penn State standout.<\/p>\n

Some consider Carter\u2019s consistency putting pressure<\/a> more important than logging sacks. That\u2019s debatable, but Carter has clearly looked a more intense player<\/a> since John Harbaugh took over as head coach.<\/p>\n

Harbaugh\u2019s influence was obvious in the way Carter and Co. swarmed on the Dallas Cowboys<\/a> in Week 1. The intensity prompted Rams\u2019 head coach Sean McVay to conclude the Giants\u2019 defenders \u201cplayed with their hair on fire,\u201d per Rams.com Staff Writer Zach Edwards<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\"AbdulGettyCarter and the Giants\u2019 pass rush can feast against the Rams.\n<\/p>\n

Carter led the charge, but with ample support from his fellow edge-rushers. Including Pro Bowler Brian Burns<\/a>, a re-motivated Kayvon Thibodeaux<\/a> and versatile Chauncey Goltson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This quartet should have Stafford worried after the way the Rams struggled to protect him in Week 1.<\/p>\n

Giants Equipped to Exploit Matthew Stafford, Rams\u2019 Issues<\/p>\n

Stafford\u2019s had plenty to say<\/a> about Giants\u2019 QB1 Jaxson Dart<\/a>, but the veteran passer should be more concerned about his own safety this week. The Rams couldn\u2019t keep Stafford clean against the San Francisco 49ers<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

Stafford took seven hits from as many pressures during the 27-7 defeat in Melbourne, Australia, per Pro Football Reference<\/a>. The Giants should post sacks to go with more pressures, since, as Schmeelk pointed out<\/a>, Rams\u2019 offensive tackles \u201cAlaric Jackson<\/a> and Warren McClendon<\/a>, have struggled at times when asked to pass protect against elite athletes in straight dropback situations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"MatthewGettyStafford could be in more trouble against the Giants.\n<\/p>\n

Carter appears primed to run riot and record at least one sack. Stafford will struggle to escape Carter if he can\u2019t make quick throws to go-to target, wide receiver Puka Nacua<\/a>.<\/p>\n

His status will \u201cbe a pre-game decision\u201d amid concerns about \u201ca hip injury,\u201d according to ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rams consider WR Puka Nacua, listed as questionable for Monday night\u2019s game vs. the Giants due to a hip injury, to be a pre-game decision. <\/p>\n

Playing behind a shaky offensive line and missing his check-down playmaker would leave Stafford at the mercy of a fired-up Giants\u2019 pass rush. Carter should be the most eager member of the group to turn up the heat<\/a> against the Rams on Monday night.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tJames Dudko<\/a> covers the New York Giants, Washington Commanders, New England Patriots and Baltimore Ravens for Heavy.com. He has covered the NFL and world soccer since 2011, with bylines at FanSided, Prime Time Sports Talk and Bleacher Report before joining Heavy in 2021. More about James Dudko<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Abdul Carter is predicted to feast for the New York Giants in Week 2, thanks to Matthew…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1005907,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2079],"tags":[7,1014,58,2444,2611,6,424],"class_list":["post-1005906","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles-rams","tag-football","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-losangeles","tag-losangelesrams","tag-nfl","tag-rams"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117303438788332724","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005906","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1005906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1005907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1005906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1005906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1005906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}