Big Blue View
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)
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.
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...
