With Brian Burns lost for the season to a torn ACL, Kayvon Thibodeaux is now the man on the New York Giants’ edge, and he says he’s ready for it.
Burns went down with 11:02 left in the fourth quarter of the Giants’ 12-7 win on Sunday, Sept. 27, over the Tennessee Titans, and head coach John Harbaugh confirmed the tear on Monday, Sept. 28, as Giants.com reported. Burns will have surgery. As first reported by ClutchPoints, Thibodeaux is keeping his approach simple.
“I just got to play my game, I gotta command, and I gotta make my presence known just by playing hard, making plays, being there for my team,” Thibodeaux said.
Burns was already gutting it out on a bad ankle and had five quarterback pressures through three games. Thibodeaux, the former No. 5 overall pick, has five tackles and four pressures so far, so the production has to climb. Rookie Abdul Carter will be asked to carry more of the load too.
The IAHHM Take
This one stings in the Carolinas. Before he was a Giant, Burns was ours. The Panthers took him 16th overall out of Florida State in the 2019 NFL Draft, and he hunted quarterbacks in Charlotte until a 2024 trade sent him to New York.
Since then he’s been the definition of reliable, with 37 straight appearances as a Giant. Harbaugh didn’t hold back on what that means to the locker room.
“(He’s) the leader of the defense, I would say, just as a veteran leader and star player, also a worker, out front kind of guy in everything he does,” Harbaugh said.
It’s also back-to-back gut punches for Big Blue, who lost quarterback Jaxson Dart to a knee injury the week before. Sitting at 2-1, the Giants need Thibodeaux to stop being potential and start being the guy. The first test comes in Week 4 at home against the Arizona Cardinals.
Panthers fans, be honest: are you still rooting for Burns from afar? And can Thibodeaux hold down this pass rush on his own?
Related on IAHHM: NFL Week 4 Betting Preview: Steelers-Browns TNF Breakdown
Source: ClutchPoints, Giants.com, Panthers.com
