Giants rookie Arvell Reese earns first NFC Defensive Player of the Week honor

The New York Giants’ rookie linebacker Arvell Reese has earned his first NFC Defensive Player of the Week award, the team announced Tuesday.

Reese’s Week 9 performance against the Philadelphia Eagles featured 12 tackles and three sacks, along with a forced fumble tied to a major hit during the Giants’ 19-11 win in Philadelphia. The win ended a long drought for New York in the city, where it had not won since Reese was a child.

At 21 years old, Reese became the youngest player in NFL history to record at least three sacks in a single game since sacks became an official statistic in 1982, according to the Giants’ release. The team also noted that no other NFL rookie had reached a 10-tackle, three-sack game since 1994, when tackles became official.

For the season, Reese has recorded 66 total tackles (47 solo), eight tackles for loss, five quarterback hits, 4.5 sacks, four passes defensed, one interception, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery, based on the Giants’ season totals. The award comes as the Giants are positioned atop the NFC East heading into another divisional matchup.

Giants head coach John Harbaugh described Reese as the kind of player the organization hoped to find after drafting him with the fifth overall pick. The team also highlighted that Reese is the second Giants player to win NFC Defensive Player of the Week this season, after cornerback Deonte Banks earned the honor earlier in the year.