{"id":1052266,"date":"2026-11-11T22:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T22:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1052266\/"},"modified":"2026-11-11T22:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-11-11T22:27:14","slug":"abdul-carter-on-verge-of-breakout-as-giants-prime-time-commanders-test-looms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/1052266\/","title":{"rendered":"Abdul Carter on verge of breakout as Giants’ prime time Commanders test looms"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Giants\u2019 Abdul Carter<\/a> pressures NFL quarterbacks quicker than any other edge rusher in just 2.46 seconds on average.<\/p>\n

The Eagles double-teamed Carter 10 times<\/a> in last Sunday\u2019s Giants win in Philadelphia<\/a>, the most doubles faced by any other edge in the league in Week 9.<\/p>\n

Carter\u2019s\u00a035% pass rush win rate<\/a> ranks second among all NFL defensive players behind only the Dolphins\u2019 Chop Robinson.<\/p>\n

Every metric, including the film, shows Carter is one of the most explosive and disruptive pass rushers in the NFL. Every metric, that is, except for sacks.<\/p>\n

Not that Carter, 23, cares if his two sacks through the Giants\u2019 first eight games don\u2019t properly reflect his impact on his first-place team. He promised the Daily News on Tuesday that when the lights get brightest, the country will see his production match his dominance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re gonna keep winning, once we get to a playoff game, and I maybe get to a playoff game, I can go off for two or three sacks, that\u2019s when I want people to care about it,\u201d Carter said at his locker. \u201cAnd that\u2019s when I really will care about it the most: When we get to that playoff game and when we gotta be at our best to win the main thing? That\u2019s when I\u2019m gonna care about the stats the most \u2014 if it\u2019s helping us win the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter is undeniably an X-factor responsible for the Giants\u2019 consistent winning entering Thursday night\u2019s prime time game against the Washington Commanders.<\/p>\n

In their Week 7 overtime win in Houston, Carter drew a third down holding penalty on left tackle Aireontae Ersery that forced the Texans to punt the ball away in OT. Houston never got it back.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe took over the game, pass rush-wise,\u201d head coach John Harbaugh said. \u201cHe\u2019s always believed he can be that kind of player. You see it starting to happen right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harbaugh revealed after the win that Carter had spoken to the team at halftime.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter, what empty the tank,\u201d Carter told the team. \u201cNo matter what, come back in here with nothing left.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harbaugh then had Carter address the team on the field before they faced the Eagles in his hometown of Philadelphia. That\u2019s encouraging growth for a second-year player who had discipline issues as a rookie when it came to attendance or tardiness at some practices and meetings.<\/p>\n

Carter then commanded most of the Eagles O-Line\u2019s attention while the rest of the Giants defense erupted for seven sacks. That included three sacks for rookie linebacker Arvell Reese, who was named the NFC\u2019s defensive player of the week<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I care about is winning the game,\u201d Carter said. \u201cIf we lose and I didn\u2019t have the stats I wanted, then I\u2019d be pissed. But if we win \u2014 and we had seven sacks the other day, I didn\u2019t have one, but all the guys had one and we got the win \u2014 I couldn\u2019t be happier. So as long as we get the win, I have no complaints.\u201d<\/p>\n

What blows away everyone who watches Carter are his rare physical traits. The top one is his \u201cget-off\u201d at the line of scrimmage, defensive tackle D.J. Reader said, or how quickly Carter gets his first step down and gets to his third step up field.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s got one of the quickest first steps I\u2019ve ever been around,\u201d Reader said.<\/p>\n

Carter doesn\u2019t pretend to have some magic secret. He said the main reason for his quick first step is \u201cI\u2019m just blessed by God, I would say.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Reader also said Carter has \u201ca really good knack\u201d of using \u201creactive moves\u201d and \u201cquick counters\u201d at the top of his rushes that are just as violent and explosive as his first step. And he\u2019s just as quick pushing off in either direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cI try to think about it like basketball,\u201d Carter told The News. \u201cYou look at all the great ball handlers, they never get stopped and are picking up the ball. You stop one of their moves, they go into another move.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carter has not been 100% healthy recently. The Giants put him on a bit of a pitch-count against the Saints in Week 6. And his playing time has dropped from 93% of defensive snaps in the Giants\u2019 first four games to 79% in their last four.<\/p>\n

He was sick last week coming off the bye going into Philly. Then he was on this week\u2019s injury report with knee and back issues.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll be a critical part of the Giants\u2019 plan to limit Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels\u2019 running on Thursday, though \u2014 even if he won\u2019t share how they\u2019re going to do it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t wanna give away the game plan, but we\u2019re gonna do a better job,\u201d Carter said. \u201cI\u2019ll say that.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he trusts that the sacks are going to come because he never loses confidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure,\u201d he said. \u201cMy mindset is if it\u2019s one on one, then it\u2019s disrespectful. If they bring two, I gotta figure out how to beat two consistently. Just keep finding ways to get better and better, and once we get to the end of the season, I\u2019m gonna be at my best.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Giants\u2019 Abdul Carter pressures NFL quarterbacks quicker than any other edge rusher in just 2.46 seconds on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1052267,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2056],"tags":[291,427,7,519,221,253,2368,6,222],"class_list":["post-1052266","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston-texans","tag-abdul-carter","tag-commanders","tag-football","tag-giants","tag-houston","tag-houston-texans","tag-houstontexans","tag-nfl","tag-texans"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/117600167060582859","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052266","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=1052266"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1052266\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1052267"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1052266"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1052266"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1052266"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}