On Sunday, the New York Giants will take on their NFC East division rival, the Washington Commanders, at Northwest Stadium.
After starting veteran quarterback Marcus Mariota the previous two games, following Jayden Daniels’ injury during Week 2’s game against the Dallas Cowboys, it now appears that Daniels will return to the starting lineup for Sunday’s game.
While Daniels has had trouble staying healthy over the past two years, the Commanders are a much bigger challenge when he’s healthy. Despite this, New York Giants pass rusher Abdul Carter appears confident heading into Sunday’s game.
New York Giants Edge Defender Abdul Carter Doesn’t Hold Back on Jayden Daniels
Ahead of Sunday’s matchup against the Commanders, New York Giants edge defender Abdul Carter sent a strong message. Carter said he foresees, “A lot of good things for us — and bad things for him (Jayden Daniels).”
Despite the strong prediction, Carter is well aware of the challenge Daniels can give New York’s defense. Carter added, “If he’s feeling like himself, obviously he’s going to be a threat. He can hurt you with his arm and legs. But it’s going to be interesting to see how he handles playing with that elbow. Whenever we get close to him, we’re going to make it an emphasis to get hands on him, make him feel us, put him on the ground.
They’re probably just going to scheme to get it out quick, keep him out of harm’s way. Which is going to be hard, because given how he plays, he wants to create plays, extend plays. So that’s going to be tough with his injury. We’ll see how it works.”
Abdul Carter’s 2026 Season
Carter’s confidence appears to be high after he delivered his best performance of the season during Week 4 against the Arizona Cardinals. Giants Wire’s John Fennelly wrote: “Carter may not be getting home to record sacks, but he’s been impacting plays. He has a team-high 11 pressures so far this season, and no one in the league gets into the opposing backfield as fast as he does.”
Meanwhile, Giants on SI’s Stephen Lebitsch wrote of Carter’s Week 4 performance: “For Carter, he arguably had the best of both worlds after being quiet in his previous two games. He gave the Cardinals’ offensive line fits in his season-high 64 defensive snaps (39 pass rush), notching a team-leading 90.1 PFF grade with six pressures, three hits, and a 32.4% win rate.
The second-year pro is another example of a young player whose career is heading in the right direction under the tutelage of John Harbaugh, and he has the chance to become a household name if he continues to lead the Giants’ pass rush into a weekly force on Sundays.”
With star pass-rusher Brian Burns out for the season after a torn ACL and meniscus injury, the team will rely heavily on Carter delivering more performances like he did last Sunday. With Kayvon Thibodeaux struggling to make an impact through four games this season, as he has not registered a sack, more pressure will be on last year’s first-round pick to cause harm on opposing quarterbacks.
Fortunately, Carter appears up for the challenge against Daniels.
Giants’ Abdul Carter Calls Out Commanders Jayden Daniels: “Bad Things” Are Coming