The highest-graded pass rusher in the NFL last week didn’t have a sack.

In keeping with the Giants’ early-season messaging that sacks don’t tell the full story of a pass rush, Abdul Carter made his impact felt during a win against the Cardinals with three quarterback hits, earning a league-best 90.1 grade from Pro Football Focus.

The most encouraging part of the Carter-created disruption was that it came against a significant uptick in double teams because the extra attention usually sent toward Brian Burns was redirected his way with Burns (torn ACL) out for the season.

“He’s been disruptive every game — run and pass,” head coach John Harbaugh said. “He probably had his best game this last game, no question about it.

“If they do that [more double teams], to whom much was given much is required, right? So, he’ll have to take on the responsibility of more attention. But I would guess that Abdul relishes that. That’s what he wants. I’d be willing to bet that he’ll rise to the occasion.”

Freed from the admitted pressure of a 12-game sack drought like he had to begin his rookie season, Carter is playing up to his potential as the former No. 3 pick, even though he only has one sack and the Giants only have three.

Since entering the league, Carter leads all NFL players with 57 quick quarterback pressures (under 2.5 seconds). The eight that he tallied against the Cardinals were tied for the fifth most by any player in a game since 2019, per NextGenStats.

“Before the game, I had seen that when Jacoby [Brissett] is not being pressured and everything is clean he is very accurate, high passer rating, high completion percentage,” Carter said. “When you hit those guys, all that stuff goes down. You want to pressure them and hit them as much as possible.”

On the Green Light podcast, retired NFL brothers Chris and Kyle Long referred to Carter as a “pressure generator,” a “maniac” and “someone who [will] go anywhere, loop from anywhere, end up anywhere.”

“This dude is, case in point, sacks are overrated,” said Chris Long, who recorded 70 career sacks. “He has one sack this year. He is one of the best rushers in the league when it comes to winning rushes and winning them fast. [Sunday’s] tape, watch it. He’s up and down the line just beating the dogs–t out of people.”

Giants defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson heavily increased his blitz rate, and the confusion it created for the Cardinals seemed to unleash Carter.

“Trusting the scheme,” as Carter said, is key and might be the difference again Sunday against a Commanders offensive line that has allowed the second-fewest sacks in the NFL (five) in front of a quarterback (Jayden Daniels) who is happy to scramble when overpursued.

“We’re going to have a plan for that,” Carter said. “With the injury he has [dislocated left elbow], we want him to run. We’re trying to encourage it to see how he reacts and if he’s going to play comfortably. At the end of the day, it’s about rushing smart and rushing together.”

Kayvon Thibodeaux — Burns’ replacement in the lineup — is off to a slow start this season, but the versatility of rapidly improving rookie linebacker Arvell Reese could ease the pass rush burden on Carter.

“The better he plays, the more it helps me,” Carter said. “The better I play, the more it helps him. It goes hand in hand. If you play hard and take on two people, somebody else is going to have [an] opportunity. So, you take advantage of that.”

Burns sent Carter a text message before last game that was “much appreciated and needed.”

“It was just hyping me up to make sure I play hard,” Carter said. “Knowing that Burns came out there [to play in Week 3] while he was hurt, it makes me want to play harder just for him.”

One of the final acts of Carter’s up-and-down ride on the maturity roller coaster as a rookie was to say in the locker room that Giants owner John Mara “deserved more” than just a commemorative game ball after a meaningless victory while he fights cancer.

Carter had a playoff berth in mind.

The Giants are 3-1, and his play has backed up his words.

“It juices us up a lot,” Carter said. “All the guys who were here last year, you can see it just means a little bit more knowing that we went through (4-13) last year. We’re starting to stack some wins. We like this feeling. We’ve got to keep this feeling.”