Big Blue View
The New York Giants drafted Abdul Carter No. 3 overall to rush the passer, not the punter. Still, it was notable that one of the big plays Carter made in his NFL debut Sunday against the Washington Commanders was to partially block a punt by Washington’s Tress Way.
Special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial said on Thursday that the play, which still ended up being a 31-yard punt, was indicative of more than Carter’s otherworldly athleticism.
“He’s got a special skill set, as we all know. The speed you see with him coming off the ball as a defensive player and rushing punts, he has that ability,” Ghobrial said. “I think above all that, I believe above all that, he truly wants to do it. He is a student of the game and wants to continue to study.”
An impressive aspect of the one-handed block by Carter was he appeared to be the only Giant truly rushing the Washington punter.
“I think his superpower obviously is his ability to go and get the ball,” Ghobrial said of Carter. “Whether that be a quarterback or whether that be the punter punting it. He is a special athlete. He was a former receiver. He does a good job in coverage. He does a good job in staying in phase with people if he was going to hold somebody up. He has that versatility.
“Again, the cool thing about him is you can ask him to do a lot, and the athletic traits show up in whatever you ask him to do. His versatility to me is very valuable on that unit because he has to be able to do everything that we’re asking the other guys to do.”
Carter played 38 defensive snaps and five on special teams.
“We’ll always take a commonsense approach depending on volume, depending on week to week, whether we can see him doing it or not,” Ghobrial said. “He definitely has a skill set to do it and it was cool to see him have success pretty early on in his career.”
The Giants used wide receiver Wan’Dale Robinson as a kickoff returner for the first time in his four-year NFL career vs. Washington. Robinson had two returns for 41 yards, 20.5 per return.
“He did it in college and he has a special skill set obviously with his speed, his toughness, his communication, and he has some definite conviction,” Ghobrial said. “I believe that when he has the ball in his hand, he has the ability to hit the home run ball consistently and any chance you have to put the ball in a playmaker’s hands, you’re going to try and do so. We’ve got to do a little bit better job blocking, but you see that there’s creases for him to hit and he’s willing to do so.”
Robinson returned 11 kickoffs for a 21.5-yard average for the Nebraska Cornhuskers in 2019. At Nebraska and Kentucky he returned a total of...
