HOUSTON — At halftime of Sunday’s game at the Texans, Abdul Carter stood up in the locker room to address his teammates.
Carter — the Giants’ dynamic second-year pass rusher — had never done this before. But in that moment, he felt compelled to speak.
The Giants’ players all looked at him and fell silent.
“Empty the tank,” Carter told his teammates during a brief speech.
They did.
And now, they head into their bye week at 4-2-1, fresh off Sunday’s surprising 27-21 overtime win in Houston.
This past week, defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson ripped his group for its poor effort in Week 6 against the Saints. Wilson got a much better showing Sunday, when the Giants allowed 237 yards — a resilient display.
Carter harassed C.J. Stroud throughout the game. In overtime, the Giants forced a three-and-out on the Texans’ first drive. Then the Giants’ offense needed just three plays to score the winning touchdown.
Wilson’s group didn’t allow a single yard in overtime — a testament to their willingness to empty their tanks, even with Brian Burns and Tremaine Edmunds sidelined for the rest of the season.
Those absences mean Carter — who showed plenty of immaturity last season, with repeated tardiness issues resulting in two benchings — must blossom into a leader this year. He took a big step in that direction Sunday.
Carter told NJ.com he didn’t like how the Giants’ defense ended the first half by allowing a touchdown and a two-point conversion that tied the game at 14. The Texans scored those points while capping a 90-yard drive.
That bugged Carter. So he decided to speak up.
“The only things they got is what we gave them,” Carter said after the game. “So I just had to relay to the team that we can win this game, as long as we do what we’ve got to do — and just empty the tank.”
The Giants didn’t allow any points in the second half until Houston got a 48-yard touchdown drive at the end of regulation to force overtime. But Wilson’s unit regrouped and showed its resilience by delivering in overtime.
Carter downplayed his development into a vocal leader, but his teammates are taking notice. Carter came into Sunday wanting to lead by example.
“That’s something that I challenged myself with, knowing that we put some bad plays on tape last week,” Carter said. “I took it upon myself. I wanted to be the example of how we should play and how our mentality should be.”
He definitely was. And he made Stroud feel his presence all day.
“Just doing what I do best,” he said.
Jason Pinnock, the Giants’ sixth-year safety, admires Carter’s path to this point, given the self-inflicted issues Carter experienced last year.
“He’s definitely becoming more mature,” Pinnock told NJ.com. “So I’m proud of him.”
When Pinnock listened to Carter speak at halftime, he knew Carter had absorbed the message Wilson preached all week, when the Giants’ defenders fully embraced Wilson’s public criticism of their effort versus New Orleans.
“It was what was needed,” Pinnock said of Wilson ripping his players. “We wanted to answer on tape by flying around, swarming to the ball and emptying the tank. That was our biggest points for the week. A no-flinch type of mentality. We’re losing pieces left and right. You can complain and put your head down. But at the end of the day, no flinch. Other teams may wrap it up, but not us.”
The Giants certainly are far from wrapped up, given their continued hold on sole possession of first place in the NFC East.
There’s no telling how much their defense can grow down the stretch — even without Burns and Edmunds — if Carter keeps playing and leading like this.
“I respect stuff like that, because I know it’s genuine,” Pinnock said of Carter’s halftime speech. “Especially somebody who doesn’t do it all the time, we know it’s really on their heart.”
Carter even repeated his message on the sideline before the second half, reminding his teammates to empty their tanks. Or, as Pinnock put it while echoing what Wilson harped on this week: “You should be crawling to the bus.”
Of course, Carter isn’t this Giants defense’s only fascinating rising star. Rookie linebacker Arvell Reese continues to impress, as well.
While reflecting on the Giants’ dud against the Saints, Reese said, “There was too much loafing around the field. That’s how explosive plays happen. The emphasis for the week was: Swarm to the ball.”
As they did just that against the Texans, they provided another glimpse of their defensive potential, with Carter and Reese now leading the way — perhaps for many years to come.
“As long as the mindset every week is to empty the tank, I feel like it’s going to be super nasty,” Reese said of the Giants’ long-term defensive outlook. “Whenever we’re flying around and we’re all on the same page, I don’t think anybody can really mess with us. As long as me and Abdul and the rest of the defense do that, we’ll be a great defense. We’ll be everything we want to be.”
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