Ill wind will be blowing Sunday for Giants OT Andrew Thomas
Giants tackle Andrew Thomas looks on during the first day of training camp at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J. on July 26. Credit: James Escher
Andrew Thomas was pretty sick the last time he faced the Cowboys.
He hasn’t felt much better since.
Oh, that flu bug he was dealing with when he gamely took the field on a short week to face Micah Parsons & Co. on Thanksgiving has come and gone. The sting of allowing the only two sacks he yielded all season — both in the second half when his fatigued body was reaching its breaking point — has not.
It has stuck with him for the past eight or so months, simmering, waiting for another chance to show the world what he is truly capable of.
He’ll get that chance on Sunday night.
“It was a nationally-televised game so a lot of people saw it,” he said of the record-breaking television audience that tuned in between turkey bites to watch the one and pretty much only three hours of the season when Thomas was less than impenetrable. “Obviously, I didn’t perform the way I wanted to. I just have to do what I can in the next opportunity. I get to make a stance.”
There was a lot that came from that solitary lackluster performance.
Given the eyeballs that were on it and the impact Parsons’ play had on the outcome, it likely cost Thomas Pro Bowl and All-Pro votes. It’s probably one of the reasons why Thomas was left off this summer’s NFL Network list of the top 100 players in the league.
“I think he should have gotten all of those anyway,” Daniel Jones said.
The online taunts from Parsons after the game — “Heard he was the best!! I stayed on His side all game!!” he posted shortly after Dallas’ victory — seemed to magnify the disparity between their play, but according to Pro Football Focus, Parsons won just 23% of his pass rush reps. That’s a strong number, but far from dominant.
Perhaps the biggest takeaway from that day, though, wasn’t how Thomas played. It was that he did at all.
Despite his availability for the game being up in the air until about 90 minutes before kickoff, Thomas took the field knowing he was going to be at less than 100% health, could struggle, and could have his to that point unblemished season come to an end.
“My mindset is always to play,” Thomas said on Wednesday, recalling that decision. “If I can go, I’m going to go. I’m not going to make excuses. I decided to play and that was it . . . I stepped on the field, so I can’t make any excuses about how I felt or what was going on.”
Others in the Giants locker room noticed. That was a game in which the Giants were already down three other starting linemen. Playing without Thomas would have created further juggling of the lineup.
It’s one of the many reasons, some suggested, he was named an offensive captain for the second straight year.
“He’s played injured, he’s played banged up, and he’s played sick like he did there and found a way to get out there and help our team,” Jones said. “And he’s played well, played at a high level in those situations. I have a ton of respect for him. He’s an incredible player, incredible person and a really tough dude.”
“That just showed his toughness, his grit,” Evan Neal said. “To go out there and not be 100% is always a challenge for sure. He went out there and was there for his team. You can count on him.”
Neal even compared it to another epic under-the-weather performance.
“Michael Jordan did the same thing for his team,” he said. “That’s just who he is.”
Jordan won his flu game. Thomas and the Giants did not.
Anyone who knows anything at all about Thomas understands how that has gnawed at him since.
“That’s not something that helps him sleep at night, that’s something that will keep him up,” offensive coordinator Mike Kafka said. “He’s going to want to get that corrected, get that fixed. That’s just the kind of guy he is.”
Thomas said he saw that online taunt from Parsons after the game. He didn’t give it much mind, just as he has blocked out most of the web chatter that has surrounded his career. Often such postings compare him to others, whether it was the linemen in his draft class at first or now that his stature has grown his rank among the game’s elites.
Thomas could have easily responded by pointing out those two Thanksgiving sacks by Parsons were the first two of his career in four games against the Giants. The stud linebacker had been shut out in his first three games, two of them against Thomas. Not a lot of noise came from those games. Parsons didn’t lose any All-Pro votes because of them.
But make no mistake: The Parsons Tweet did not bug Thomas any more than his own performance did.
Now, finally, he can do something about it. In another nationally-televised game. Against the Cowboys.
“I’m not focusing on social media or anything,” he said, “I’m just focusing on what I can do better the next time. I speak with my play. I think that speaks the loudest, so I will focus on that.”
Expect him to be at full throat on Sunday.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
