The New York Giants are 2-8, and they might become the first NFL team eliminated from playoff contention. It’s been — yet another — disaster of a year for Big Blue. However, their two first-round picks, quarterback Jaxson Dart and edge defender Abdul Carter, have flashed throughout the season. Unfortunately, Dart will miss his second consecutive game with a concussion on Sunday.
Carter, though, received constructive criticism from Giants’ legend, Carl Banks, after New York’s 27-20 loss against the Green Bay Packers in Week 11. On the Bleav in Giants podcast with Bob Papa, Banks said this:
“At first when I kept seeing Abdul Carter go inside, because it’s one of his patented pass rush moves, and he thinks he can beat people to the inside and he’s quick like that. But if that’s the only thing you’re showing, then they just lay and wait for it.”
Banks’ critique of Carter is fair. The Giants were without Kayvon Thibodeaux against the Packers, and Carter was benched for the first drive of the game after missing a walkthrough. Carter played 49 of 55 snaps in Week 11, and he rushed the passer on 28 of those plays. His first pass rush of the game was around the edge, but did not end well:
(Abdul Carter is No. 51 on the left side of the screen)
Carter attempted to long-arm Zach Tom (50) around the edge; Tom quickly executed a jump-set and snatched and trapped Carter to the deck on first-and-10. Tom bullied Carter several times throughout the game. Here is another rep:
(Second-and-4, backside of rollout)
Interestingly enough, Carter rarely aligned against Tom after these plays, which were two of his first three pass-rushing reps. Carter did not match up against Tom as a pass-rusher again until early in the third quarter:
(Second-and-7)
And then again early in the fourth quarter:
(First-and-10)
Rasheed Walker (63), though, got the best of Carter on multiple occasions, too:
This is a third-and-8 twist attempt, so I am not including it as a decision to go inside, but we still see how Walker slows Carter’s momentum and sends the rookie off-balance.
(Third-and-1)
(Second-and-7)
Solid reps
Not all non-inside pass-rush moves were complete failures, though. Here are a few where he was able to dent the pocket enough to force the quarterback to react:
(Second-and-7)
(First-and-10)
(Third-and-10 )
The above rep isn’t necessarily a win. Carter gets an excellent jump and pushes Walker back, but the tackle does an impressive job re-anchoring. Still, Carter’s rush forced Jordan Love (10) closer to Brian Burns (0), who eventually earned one of his two sacks in the game.
When it worked, it worked!
One reason Carter appears to depend on the inside move is his natural quickness, lateral agility, and unique explosive nature. When the tackle slightly oversets, his inside move can wreak havoc, as we see below:
First-and-10, Walker overset against Carter, who is a wide defender with the presence of Elijah Chatman as a 4i-technique. It’s an elite move — one that Carter is attempting to employ too frequently and not always in opportune situations like the play we see at the end of the second half above.
Final thoughts
Carter rushed a total of 28 times — 11 of those rushes were inside moves. Four of those 11 were with either tight end chips or with guard help on the inside. Three were one-on-one and two were on designed twists. Carter blew containment on one of his inside moves and lost containment with seemingly no help on one outside rush up the arc. One of his total pass rushes was not on the edge.
Carter had two pressures and a quarterback hit against the Packers — the hit did come on an inside move. Still, it was evident that Carter struggled against both tackles, but specifically Zach Tom. Carter aligned with Tom on the left side through 29% of snaps; he’s averaged a 43% snap-share on that side this season. It appears like the Giants saw the first two reps against Tom and decided NOT to do that. Carter would only rush against Tom twice after those two failures, and neither were near wins for the rookie.
To Carl Banks’ point, Carter does rely on the inside move often, especially if he senses an over-set. Carter attempts to force that with a hard outside jab foot that quickly follows a prompt timing of the snap. Carter was washed down the line of scrimmage on the plays that are not included above, where he did attempt to go inward. Carter’s other moves consist of trying to win high-side with quickness and bend or a straight bull-rush.
He does not string moves together consistently, and it appears he’s guessing while rushing. Carter is talented enough to impact games without an actual pass-rush plan, but the Giants did not draft Carter to be a contributor — they drafted him third overall to be a game-changing difference maker.
Sure, it’s still his rookie season, and I by no means want to insinuate that Carter is irrelevant or a bust; that social media narrative is silly. But it’s still safe to say that we can expect more from the young man.
Just for context, though, Carter has 35 pressures this season with only a half-sack, albeit he’s had a few sacks called back by penalties in the secondary — something the Giants frequently commit. The 35-pressure number ranks 25th in the NFL. The next closest rookie is James Pearce Jr. of the Falcons with 23 pressures. Carter is also first among rookies in hurries with 26, quarterback hits with eight, and he’s first in pass rush win rate (12.1%).
Carter needs to finish plays more consistently and maintain the defense’s continuity with his rushes and run fits. The game still seems a bit fast for him—not physically, but in terms of processing and assignments. Even so, I remain optimistic about his future. Carter is an impact player for the Giants, just one who hasn’t entirely put everything together yet. The 22-year-old should receive another full complement of snaps with Kayvon Thibodeaux expected to miss Week 12 against Detroit, which presents one of the toughest challenges in the league for any EDGE rusher.
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