Giants OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux Focused on Week 1

Giants OLB Kayvon Thibodeaux's goal is to be able to practice this week so he can play in Sunday's regular-season opener.

Author:
Patricia Traina
Publish date:
Sep 6, 2022 8:38 PM EDT

In this story:

New York Giants

It would be easy for New York Giants rookie outside linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux to hold a grudge against Bengals tight end Thaddeus Moss for his low hit that took out Thibodeaux's knees and caused an MCL sprain.

But Thibodeaux understands that if he is going to exert any such energy, he's better off applying it to the future rather than the past, or in other words, getting ready for Week 1 of the 2022 NFL season.

"I try not to think about the past," Thibodeaux said Tuesday. "I talked to (Moss), and I’m not worried about it. We’re moving forward trying to get better and make sure you play with good technique.

"It’s football. It’s a 100% injury rate. You’ve got to just be ready to recover when your time comes and be ready to be smart in different situations."

The injury scared the Giants, who expect great things from the fifth overall pick in this year's draft class. At first, Thibodeaux was slow to get off the turf following the block, and a cart was sent out to get him. But the gritty rookie reached deep into his soul and somehow found the strength to walk off the field under his own power.

"God is good, man," Thibodeaux said. "When you believe, and you walk through His faith – I sat there and was hurting for a minute, but He gave me the strength to get up and walk it off, so I wasn’t going to look crazy going off. I’ve got to go off like a ‘G.’"

While the diagnosis--a sprained MCL that would keep the rookie sidelined for about 3-4 weeks--was a sigh of relief, it still cut into precious training camp reps that Thibodeaux could have otherwise used to get better.

"I’ll say no because there is never enough," Thibodeaux said when asked if he felt like he got enough out of training camp before the injury. "There’s never enough time in the day; there’s never enough time to practice. As long as I take every day and the little moments to get better, I’ll be good."

But will Thibodeaux, who did very little during the part of practice open to the media on Tuesday, be good enough to play this Sunday in the Giants 2022 regular-season opener against the Tennessee Titans?

"I don’t know," he said, adding that he feels pretty good where he's currently at. "Right now, it’s day to day. It could go either way. We’re just waiting to see where it is when the time comes."