FOXBOROUGH, MA — For the second time in three games, New York Giants rookie defensive lineman Abdul Carter was nowhere to be found when the “Big Blue” defense took the field for the first time.
And neither he nor interim head coach Mike Kafka wanted to discuss after the Giants’ thrashing at the hands of the New England Patriots, 33-15. Kafka repeatedly said it was ‘my decision’ during his postgame news conference, while Carter’s refrain to reporters was ‘(expletive) happens.’
In fact, Kafka repeated the phrase ‘my decision’ 11 times during his back-and-forth with reporters, who continually pressed him on his reasoning. Kafka said he did not regret the choice.
Carter wore a long blue overcoat near the Giants’ bench as the defense allowed a field goal on the opening drive of the “Monday Night Football” matchup and remained on the sideline for their touchdown drive later in the quarter.
‘Listen, when he came back in the game you saw the kind of impact he had and the player this guy is,’ he said. ‘This is a kid that I, again, I back, I support this kid highly and for any young player that we have on the roster, whether it’s Abdul or any rookie or young player, we’re going to make sure we him under our wing and continue to develop these guys because they’re important to us. They’re important to me.
‘That was my decision, my decision only. Anything else outside of it is going to be kept in house.’
Kafka benched Carter for the first defensive series against the Green Bay Packers on Nov. 16 because he missed a walkthrough while in a recovery bed; Carter disputed reports he napped through a team activity and said the treatment was part of his training.
‘Again, those are tough decisions to make, but that was my decision and, again, the kid, nothing with him,’ Kafka said. ‘Everything that we did was my decision and obviously I’m sure he wasn’t happy about it, which I understand, but I thought that was the best thing for the team and it was my decision to move forward with it and that’s where we’re at.’
The Giants selected Carter third overall out of Penn State in the 2025 draft. He rejoined his unit in the second quarter in search of his first full sack of the season, which came three plays later when he took down Patriots quarterback Drake Maye at the line of scrimmage.
‘Like I said, I have to be better,’ Carter told reporters. ‘I have to take pride in what I do, be where I have to be at. Simple as that.’