New York Giants rookie outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week for his dominant performance against the Washington Commanders last Sunday night.
“You love recognition,” Thibodeaux said when asked by reporters about the honors. “When you’re doing the dirty work and you’re working hard, you sacrifice your body to glorify your soul. It definitely does feel good.
“It definitely does give me a few stripes. I can look at myself in the mirror and know that I came here to play, and I came here for a purpose. Just not trying to let it get too ahead of me, not trying to live in the moment, not trying to get too high on myself but just continue to realize that the steps I took all week, and all year is what got me there. So, I’ve just got to hone in on that and that’s going to keep them coming.”
The fifth overall selection in this year’s NFL draft out of Oregon knows he has the talent but also is not oblivious to the fact that football is a team game.
“I would say the only reason I was able to have a game like I had is because of the rest of the front,” he said. “If you noticed, once we all came together and we all start playing great then we started to see that production and we started making plays. I think the credits to all of us and we’ve just got to continue to stay healthy, continue to get better, and continue to get more cohesive as rushers.”
This week, Thibodeaux and his linemates will be facing a tough challenge in Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins (last week’s NFC Offensive Player of the Week), running back Dalvin Cook, and a talented group of wideouts led by Justin Jefferson.
“They have one of the best wide receivers in the league right now,” Thibodeaux said. “We’ve talked about it as a unit — the only way we’re going to be able to stop him, not the only way, but one of the ways that we can affect playing against the best wide receiver in the league is affecting the quarterback.”
Getting to the quarterback might not be as easy for Thibodeaux going forward now that the league has seen the havoc he can create. It was suggested that teams might start double-teaming him or at the least using a ‘chipper’ to slow him down.
“I wish you didn’t even ask me that on camera because hopefully, they keep giving me the one-on- one’s, we keep giving these different looks, so it gives me some opportunities to make plays,” he said.
