The Giants’ defense took another major hit just as Arizona arrives in Week 4.
New York will be without Brian Burns for the rest of the season after the pass rusher tore his ACL on Sunday in the Giants’ 12-7 win over the Tennessee Titans. He is scheduled for surgery and won’t play again this year.
Burns’ injury comes on top of the Giants already losing starting quarterback Jaxson Dart for at least the rest of the regular season because of a knee injury. So while New York is still 2-1, the roster has taken on some real damage heading into Sunday’s matchup with the Cardinals.
Burns had not recorded a sack in three games this season, but his 2025 production was still elite: 16.5 sacks, 31 quarterback hits and 22 tackles for loss. That earned him a third Pro Bowl nod and the first second-team All-Pro selection of his career.
Arizona has seen him before, too. In four career games against the Cardinals, all with the Carolina Panthers, Burns posted two sacks, six quarterback hits and five tackles for loss.
The good news for New York is that the edge rush doesn’t disappear with Burns. The Giants still have 2025 first-round pick Abdul Carter, who already has a sack this season, and Kayvon Thibodeaux, the former first-rounder who piled up 11.5 sacks in 2023.
For the Cardinals, the challenge gets a little clearer: Jacoby Brissett has been sacked five times in three games this season, and he’ll face a Giants front that still has enough talent to make life messy.
Sunday’s game kicks off at 1 p.m. ET, 10 a.m.
Arizona time, at MetLife Stadium. It’s the Cardinals’ first East Coast trip of the season.
In Other News...
Cardinals Snap Counts Expose Who Carried The Defense In Costly Loss
The Cardinals defensive workload against San Francisco was spread across a wide cast, with 20 players logging snaps on that side of the ball and the snap totals offering a clear look at who the coaching staff leaned on in a costly loss. The breakdown across the defensive line, linebackers and secondary showed a unit that had to shuffle responsibility throughout the game, while the special teams group was even busier, with 32 players taking part there.
Those snap counts also help explain how much Arizona had to manage around injuries and uneven individual performances as the game wore on. Beyond the defensive rotation, the special teams numbers added another layer to the story, including the kicking and punting work that can swing field position in a tight NFC West matchup, and the full usage chart left plenty to unpack about who held up and who was pushed into a heavier role than expected. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals May Have A Tough QB Decision Around Carson Beck
Arizonas quarterback room is already drawing attention as the Cardinals weigh whether to reshuffle it before the season pushes deeper into view. Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew are both on expiring contracts, and that detail has sparked talk that the front office could explore trades to open up more snaps for rookie Carson Beck, who remains the long-term storyline at the position.
Mike LaFleur has acknowledged the offense has had its struggles, but he stopped short of placing those issues on Brissetts play. That leaves the Cardinals in a familiar spot for a team trying to balance present stability with future plans, and the next move at quarterback could say plenty about how aggressively they want to hand the job over to Beck. [Read more 🡒]
Cardinals Rookie Back Is Giving Fans A Real Draft Debate
As the NFL calendar turns into October, the rookie class still has not produced many true difference-makers at the most important spots, which is why the early standouts at running back and receiver keep drawing extra attention. Around the league, a handful of first-year players have flashed enough to give their teams real reasons for optimism, and the conversation has started to narrow toward which newcomers are already forcing their way into bigger roles.
For Arizona, Jeremiyah Love has become part of that discussion. The rookie back has given the Cardinals a useful burst of production while the rest of the class sorts itself out, and his start is the kind that naturally gets fans wondering how much more he can handle as the season develops. The answer may still be ahead, but his early impact has already made him one of the more interesting rookie storylines on the roster. [Read more 🡒]