Abdul Carter benching, explained: Why Giants pass rusher sat to start game vs. Patriots

Abdul Carter benching, explained: Why Giants pass rusher sat to start game vs. Patriots originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The New York Giants are on the road, taking on the New England Patriots for Week 13's "Monday Night Football" game. The Giants started the game on defense, but were missing a key piece.

Rookie pass-rusher Abdul Carter was not on the field for the entire first quarter. There was a viral post on social media claiming that Carter would be benched for the first drive, but it was from a noted parody account. Then, Carter wasn't on the field to start the game. New York's defense bent but didn't break, holding New England to a field goal to open the game.

Here is more on why Carter was benched for the opening drive against the Patriots for Week 13's "Monday Night Football" matchup.

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Abdul Carter benching

Carter was held out for the first drive on Monday night against the Patriots. The broadcast said that the reasoning was just given as a "coach's decision." Carter ended up being held out the entirety of the first quarter.

Carter eventually took the field early in the second quarter. He ended up getting a big tackle on third-and-short, showing how important he is to the defense when he is out there.

A league source told Ryan Dunleavy of the New York Post that Carter was benched for "missing all/part of a team responsibility."

After the game, interim head coach Mike Kafka reiterated several times that it was "strictly" his decision. When asked whether he missed a team meeting or a responsibility, Kafka said no and said he decided not to play him. The media hammered him with questions about it, and Kafka continued to say that it was his decision. He was asked if he regretted it, and he said he didn't.

Kafka said the benching was because "how we went during the week." He was also asked  how concerning it was that this was the second time in three weeks that Carter was benched in this way, and Kafka responded, "Yeah, no, it's unfortunate, but that's the kind of way that he works with it this week."

After the New York media pressed him, he said the following:

"I talked with Abdul about this week, and decided to not play him for the first two series." After more pressing, Kafka said, "this is a kid that I back, I support this kid. highly. for any young player that we have on the roster whether it is Abdul or any rookie, or young player, we're going to make sure we take him under our wing, and continue to develop these guys. because they are important to us, they're important to me, and Abdul is no different, just like Jaxson, just like young players like Tracy [Tyrone], and D.A., all these guys that are stepping up in big time major roles, these are the guys that we are going to continue to develop, continue to grow, continue to be pros, and the standards that we have in our program are sky high and everyone is being upheld to them, but that was my decision, my decision only, and anything else outside of it is going to be kept in house."

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Abdul Carter history of benchings

This is not the first time that Carter has been held out to start a game, and not the first time in the last month. Carter was accused of sleeping through the start of practice in mid-November and he was held out of the first defensive series against the Green Bay Packers in Week 11. Carter denied that he was sleeping through the start of practice and instead said that he was getting treatment.

Carter said the confusion came from interim head coach Mike Kafka changing the practice times that the rookie was used to from previous head coach Brian Daboll.

About the incident, Carter said, "My mistake was an honest mistake. I own the fact that it was an honest mistake. I was getting treatment and I told Coach Kafka that, too. But to say I was sleeping at that time just wasn't true. And it also wasn't a trend. This was the only time it happened. I don't want anonymous sources to say these types of things about me that are untrue. I did make a mistake, and I own up to what I did."