The New York Giants were embarrassed on Monday Night Football in a 33-15 loss to the New England Patriots. For the second time over the last three games, the Giants benched rookie edge rusher Abdul Carter, who was selected by New York with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft. Carter sat out the Giants’ first two defensive drives on Monday night and didn’t enter the game until New York trailed 17-0 in the second quarter.
Richie O’Leary of On3 reported on Sunday that a benching was expected after Carter was late to a team meeting.
The first benching, for the Giants’ opening series in a 27-20 loss to the Green Bay Packers in Week 11, was reportedly due to Carter sleeping at the team facility during a walk-through. That led to WFAN radio hosts shredding Carter.
And on Monday night, it was the Giants radio analyst for WFAN that sounded off.
Carl Banks expressed frustration and disappointment in Carter’s behavior during Monday night’s Giants-Patriots radio broadcast on WFAN.
“It’s time for the kid to grow up,” Banks, a former Giants star linebacker, said. “I don’t advocate teammates fighting with each other. But it seems like, if we’re just finding this out now, this has got to have been a pattern going on all year.”
“And that’s losing football,” Banks continued. “That’s a losing locker room. You know, when you have these types of things, and you don’t care enough to be engaged, and you have to be disciplined twice, how many other times has this happened and they just kind of overlooked it?”
“Well, obviously it’s happened a lot,” Giants radio play-by-play announcer Bob Papa responded.
“And it’s disappointing, because I expect more from the young man,” Banks said. “And I, again, have been a big defender, saying, “Oh, he’ll be okay. He’ll be okay.’ But, here’s the thing- you can’t care more about this stuff than the kids themselves. So, he’s got to grow up, shape up, and hopefully, whatever happens at the end of this year. But next year, he gets his head on straight, and gets focused, and has someone that can keep him accountable from day one.”
This is also where the head coach situation doesn’t really help for locker room stability and players buying in. The Giants fired Brian Daboll on Nov. 10 and are currently led by interim head coach Mike Kafka.
Either way, sleeping through team events and being late to team events is inexcusable and won’t go over well with teammates, especially when the production hasn’t been there on the field. Carter, widely viewed as the top pass-rushing prospect in the 2025 draft out of Penn State, has totaled 1.5 sacks over 13 games played this season for the 2-11 Giants.
This comes just a week after Banks unloaded on the Giants for a decision in the team’s overtime loss to the Detroit Lions.
About Matt Clapp
Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.
He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.