Abdul Carter is no longer a sleeping Giant.
He showed up Sunday as an awakened Giant, the player the Giants expected to wreak havoc as the third-overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft.
“I feel like it was a statement,” Carter said after Commanders 29, Giants 21, “but it would have been more satisfying if we got the win.”
The statement was don’t sleep on him anymore.
“I just watched more film, being better at being a pro, being a better teammate. I feel that’s something I need to focus on,” Carter said.
Carter was at his game-wrecking best in the fourth quarter when he helped throw Jeremy McNichols for an 8-yard loss, forced a fumble and recovered it.
He lateraled to Paulson Adebo who lateraled to Jevon Holland, but the replay official reviewed the runner was not down by contact ruling.
“I wish I scored. I gotta watch it back,” Carter said. “I was being tackled. I saw my teammate open, tried to pitch it to him, make a play.”
Carter strip-sacked Marcus Mariota on the second drive and finished with three tackles for loss.
“He was playing with his hair on fire today,” interim coach Mike Kafka said. “So that’s one step. He’s got to keep on stacking those days.”
Perhaps the light has gone on.
Perhaps he will be on time and wide awake, and there will be no reason for Kafka to sit him for one series or one quarter again.
“It was his coming-out party,” Brian Burns said. “He had a good game. I feels 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.”
Burns, for his part, has done what he can to get Carter to grow up and wake up.
“You see growth from him,” Kafka said. “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. He’s not only just 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.”
Carter now has 2.5 sacks.
“Greatness is doing it over weeks,” Dexter Lawrence said. “Being consistent. 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.”
Carter vows that he will.
“I definitely want to finish strong,” he said.
