BT and Sal’s lack of belief in Kayvon Thibodeaux was front and center heading into Sunday’s Jets/Giants game, where the former top-five pick logged 3.0 sacks, including one on fourth down in the fourth quarter that would have sealed a victory had Big Blue not collapsed at the end of regulation.
So, BT and Sal made sure to give props to Thibodeaux during Monday’s show, while Sal admitted that labeling Thibodeaux a bust midway through his second NFL season was “premature.”
“Kayvon Thibodeaux finally had the game we were waiting to see,” Sal said. “I’ll admit, I was dead wrong calling him a bust. I was dead wrong. It was premature.
“I wanted to feel the impact. Yesterday, we saw the impact. I didn’t need to break down the All 22 to feel the impact Kayvon Thibodeaux had. That is what I was expecting from a top pick that is supposed to be an edge rusher. He chewed up and spit out Mekhi Becton. That’s exactly what we wanted to see. It took a year and eight weeks, but I hadn’t seen that type of impact from Thibodeaux ever at the NFL level.”
Both BT and Sal stood by the critiques they had of Thibodeaux during their heated conversation with Carl Banks last week, as they had not seen the difference-making play from Thibodeaux up until that point. On Sunday, they saw it, and were more than willing to acknowledge it afterward.
“We weren’t wrong,” BT said. “We might have undersold it a little bit, but that is the first time he has looked like that…that player was a game wrecker. He was a beast.”