Arvell Reese was shocked that he, of all people, had a free lane to Eagles quarterback Joe Milton.
The Giants’ rookie linebacker was wreaking havoc on the Philadelphia offense, and a minute and a half into the second quarter — with his team trailing 8-6 and having just turned it over when Charlie Jones muffed a punt — he came around the left end unblocked and laid a clean, devastating hit on Milton.
The ball came loose, the Giants got it back and quelled the momentum that the struggling Eagles managed to accrue amidst New York’s slow start.
“I’m thinking the running back was gonna block me,” Reese said. “But as soon as I saw him leave, I just went and did it. It’s as free as a lay-up. Can’t miss it.”
That monster hit, which took all of 2.29 seconds from start to finish as the fastest sack in the NFL this season, was the highlight of Reese’s massive day. The rookie posted 12 combined tackles and three sacks in the Giants’ 19-11 victory, strengthening their perch atop the NFC East at 5-2-1.
He became the first Giants rookie to record three sacks in a game since BJ Hill in 2018 and the ninth player in the Super Bowl era to post a game of 12-plus tackles and three-plus sacks — the first to do so since Harrison Smith of the Minnesota Vikings in 2023.
According to ESPN’s Field Yates, he’s also the youngest player in NFL history to post three sacks in a game (21 years, 70 days).
All three of Reese’s sacks came on third down.
“Yeah, I want to give him the grand slam,” head coach John Harbaugh said of Reese. “He had a bunch of tackles, he had [tackles for loss], he had sacks, he had pressures. But there were like six things he did stat-wise that were amazing… He knows what’s going on. A lot. He got the first game ball.”
The Giants obviously had high expectations for the Ohio State product, whom they took No. 5 overall at the draft back in April. But could anyone truly envision this sort of production coming this quickly?
Through eight games, Reese has 68 tackles, 4.5 sacks, eight tackles for loss, and four passes defended.
This is not just NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year type of stuff; this is Defensive Player of the Year worthy.
“I mean, it’s what you hope for. I won’t say we didn’t think it was possible,” Harbaugh said. “That’s what we hoped for, and he fell to us [at the draft]. [Giants GM Joe Schoen] and I, we were giddy. I think we were kind of beside ourselves. Some of you guys use words like that, ‘giddy’ and things like that. And we were, because he’s really a good player and he’s all the other things, too. He’s a great young man; he’s humble, he’s very tough, he works really hard, he’s very coachable. He wants to do things the right way. He’s a great leader in his own quiet way. Couldn’t say enough about him, but you know what, he’s still young.”
Perhaps it’s an unfair comparison, but to truly quantify just how good Reese has been, look at what he’s been able to do compared to Giants edge rusher Abdul Carter’s slow start to life in the pros last season. Granted, it’s easier to gameplan for a pass-rusher primarily coming off the line — Reese’s role at linebacker changes almost every play — but it’s still worth noting when delving into just how good things are going.
“I think I just ended up on the right team,” Reese said. “I think I ended up in the right place.”
When was the last time that was said about the Giants?
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