FOXBOROUGH — Abdul Carter didn’t get the message the first time, so the Giants benched him again.
Joe Schoen’s No. 3 overall pick in April’s NFL Draft sat out the entire first quarter of Monday night’s game against the Patriots, marking his second benching at the start of a game in the past three weeks.
The Giants told the ESPN national broadcast said that Carter’s benching was a “coach’s decision.” A report by Rivals.com said Carter was benched because he was late to a meeting, but there may have been more to it.
The rookie pass rusher previously was benched on Nov. 16 against the Green Bay Packers because he had slept through a walkthrough practice during the week. Interim head coach Mike Kafka only benched Carter for a single drive in that game.
But on Monday, Kafka sat Carter down for an entire quarter. That sidelined him for the first 16 defensive snaps of the game.
Outside linebackers coach Charlie Bullen was promoted to interim defensive coordinator this week after the firing of Shane Bowen. So this means Carter committed his latest violation in the same week his position coach was promoted.
The Giants actually had defensive line coaches Andre Patterson and Bryan Cox coaching the edges and defensive backs on edge setting and tackling during individual drills in their first practice after Bowen’s firing.
Shockingly, putting the architects of the worst run defense in football in charge of Carter didn’t make a difference.
By the time Carter entered the game, the Patriots already had built a 17-0 lead.
Carter recorded his first career full sack on a third down tackle of a scrambling Drake Maye for zero yards on Carter’s first drive.
His rookie season will be remembered, though, for a lack of discipline inside the building and a lack of production on the field.
