TEMPE, Ariz. — He was praying, not pouting.
That is what Kayvon Thibodeaux said he was doing in the fourth quarter Sunday against the Cardinals, when he was sitting on a far bench, off by himself, moments after Saquon Barkley dove to the pylon and scored with 8:51 remaining to pull the Giants within 28-21 in a game they would win, 31-28, scoring the last 24 points of the game.
A video showed Thibodeaux — who did not have a tackle in the game and has no sacks in two games — not joining in any celebrations as the Giants closed the gap.
This was not, he said, any sort of sign that he was anything but fully engaged in what was going down on the field.
Instead, he was thinking about what he and the defense needed to do to make sure the comeback was completed.
“I think when you play this game and you start to realize, and I’m only answering like this because I know there’s videos and there’s always narratives put out,’’ Thibodeaux said Tuesday after the Giants held a walk-through practice, preparing for Thursday night’s game against the 49ers in Santa Clara, Calif. “When you’re in a situation where the fate of the game lands on one drive or one situation and you’re kind of those people, the defense, the guys who are looked to to answer that, the only person I look to is God. So I’m sitting in that moment and I’m praying and I’m kind of I guess you can say meditating, seeing, visualizing what we’re gonna do as a team.
Warning: Explicit language
“There’s too many people who wake up and want to put negativity out there, for us to come back to win a game there’s nothing but positive.’’
Thibodeaux and the defense closed things out, holding the Cardinals scoreless for the final 20:26 of the game.
49ers DE Nick Bosa has 34 sacks the past two seasons but none in the first two games this season.
The job of keeping him off Daniel Jones falls to RT Evan Neal.
Asked what he saw when he studied Bosa, Neal offered a blunt assessment.
“What everybody else sees, man,’’ Neal said. “He was the Defensive Player of the Year in the NFL for a reason. Just a really elusive pass rusher. Great technique, great bend, he has good strength, so it’s definitely going to be a good test for me and I’m up for the challenge. I’m ecstatic.’’
The injury report was unchanged from a day earlier: RB Saquon Barkley (ankle) and G Ben Bredeson (concussion) did not practice. Four players were limited: ILB Micah McFadden (neck), OLB Azeez Ojulari (hamstring), WR Wan’Dale Robinson (knee) and LT Andrew Thomas (hamstring). The Giants held a walk-through and the report is projection on the players’ participation.
Coach Brian Daboll said the availability of Thomas and Oljulari will be game-time decisions. Daboll put Barkley in that same category.
Bredeson, the starting left guard, remains in the concussion protocol and there most likely will not be enough time for him to be cleared for this game, Daboll said.
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