Mike Kafka’s Abdul Carter wake-up call proved Giants are finally changing course

It didn’t take long for Mike Kafka to start showing he’s not going to run things the way former head coach Brian Daboll did. In his first game as interim head coach, the New York Giants took the field without rookie linebacker Abdul Carter on the opening defensive series. No word of any injury, no explanation — just their 2025 No. 3 overall pick watching from the sideline.

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That changed quickly. Carter was back out there on the next drive, and suddenly, things started to make a bit more sense. Whatever it was, it wasn’t medical. It was pretty clear it was disciplinary.

Kafka made it clear after the game that it was a coaching decision. “It was my decision,” he said. “We’ll keep the rest of that in-house.” That might have been the end of it, but Carter came clean — and the full story leaked soon after.

Mike Kafka’s accountability move is exactly what Giants fans have been begging for

The 21-year-old told reporters he “made a mistake during the week that was detrimental to the team,” adding, “that was the consequence of it. Got to live with it.” According to The Athletic’s Dan Duggan, the mistake was missing a team walk-through because Carter was asleep inside the facility at the time:

That's just unacceptable for a professional. And he knows it. Bench him. He deserved it. Carter knows better than to fall asleep in team meetings. And he paid the price. This is a textbook response — and if anything, they should have benched him longer.

That kind of lapse likely would have been handled differently under Dabs. If the scathing reports of his tenure are true, it'd likely be turned public in an effort to humiliate the rookie. Or he would have swept it under the rug entirely. After all, under Daboll, effort issues, mental mistakes, and pointing fingers were the norm, and that kind of culture made it feel like nothing mattered or ever changed. Not anymore.

Carter played okay once he got on the field. He finished the game with a tackle and two quarterback pressures. But the ripple effect of his benching was the key — the rest of the roster saw that no one is untouchable or above the team, especially the high draft picks.

It doesn’t erase all the issues. The Giants still sit at 2‑9, and Carter is still looking for his first whole sack 11 weeks into his first year. He needs to be better. This is a terrible look for a top-three pick who's struggling mightily. Regardless, Kafka is sending signals. Culture change starts in small moments like this.

If Kafka keeps making the tough calls and holding players accountable instead of relying on behind-the-scenes half‑measures, then this might be the turning point the Giants desperately needed. Fans should keep their expectations realistic, for sure. But for a fan base that believes accountability is above anything else, it's a step in the right direction.