'Decent' game by Arvell Reese shows why the Giants saw him as an every-down linebacker

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Arvell Reese turned in a dominant performance with Hall of Fame New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor in attendance, then downplayed it.

“With a guy like that in the building, him setting the standard for how that position is supposed to be played back in the day, it definitely means a lot to play a decent game like that,” Reese said.

Decent?

“A bunch of plays I left out there,” he said.

Reese made plenty of them, showing why the Giants took him with the fifth pick in the draft and saw him as an every-down linebacker instead of an edge rusher. He led them with nine tackles, including one for loss, had three pass breakups and picked off Jacoby Brissett for his first NFL interception.

“He has really taken off,” coach John Harbaugh said after New York beat Arizona 36-24 to improve to 3-1 this season. “He was all over the field again. He played great.”

The tackles were not the most of his young career because he had 13 the previous week against Tennessee. But the Ohio State product was noticeable throughout the Cardinals game as the Giants improved to 3-1.

“He's playing out of his mind,” 2025 No. 3 pick Abdul Carter said.

Reese attributed his success to being in the moment and staying poised.

“Having that win-the-game-on-defense mentality,” Reese said. “Just trying to show up, play for the person beside me. Not playing selfishly: trying to show up for the person beside me.”

Reese, who played all 66 snaps on defense, isn't the only member of this rookie class shining. No. 10 pick Francis “Sisi” Mauigoa has started all four games at right guard, and third-round receiver Malachi Fields made his first career touchdown catch against Arizona.

Only Miami had fewer sacks than the Giants' one through three games. They had the third-worst quarterback pressure rate.

Defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson adjusted, blitzing Brissett on 53.8% of drop-backs and pressuring him on 38.5% of his throws, according to NFL NextGen Stats. Brissett threw three interceptions, including his final pass that Deonte Banks returned 98 yards for a pick-6.

“The thinking was to hurry him up, try to get the ball out of his hand as quick as we could,” Harbaugh said. “He was going to get the ball out quick, try not to take sacks, although we got a few sacks. And the ball came out pretty quick those last four plays, so it helped us.”

It was forgotten by the time Banks ran around the field celebrating, but a brutally slow start made the first quarter utterly forgettable. The Cardinals went on two lengthy touchdown drives, the Giants failed to get into the end zone and it was 14-3 just 12 minutes in.

“We can play so much better,” Harbaugh said.

Jameis Winston, starting quarterback?

Sunday had it all: some crazy throws interspersed with missing would-be pass catchers and getting picked off twice. Winston finished 18 of 29 for 250 yards and three TDs, and newly acquired J.J. McCarthy never got on the field.

“I’m heating up and I’m starting to get better, better and better,” Winston said. “Last week, I was questioning if I could even throw. This week, I’ve got people talking about the Jameis Winston experience again.”

There were things to like and a lot of the opposite.

“I thought he played well, except for the turnovers,” Harbaugh said. “The turnovers were the thing, and those were throws he can make — he can make in his sleep. That’s something to clean up.”

John Michael Schmitz, who missed practice Friday for the birth of his first child, did not start at center as he did for the bulk of his first three professional seasons. Instead, it was Bryan Hudson.

“It just made sense,” Harbaugh said. “JMS, he’d been up. His wife had the baby. He didn’t have a lot of rest. It just made sense, and I think it paid off. It’s not a long-term thing. I mean, we just have two centers we really like.”

Braxton Berrios' foot injury turned Charlie Jones into the punt returner. Jones was promoted from the practice squad to replace Odell Beckham Jr. when the 33-year-old receiver was released last week.

If safety Jason Pinnock misses time after getting concussed, it could be a path back to the active roster for Ar'Darius Washington, who was inactive against Arizona.

Defensive lineman Chauncey Golston left with a neck injury.

3 — Years since the Giants' last three-game winning streak from Nov. 19-Dec. 11, 2023, a drought that would end if they win at Washington this weekend.

Probably expect Jayden Daniels to start for the Commanders after he missed the past two games with a dislocated left elbow and Mariota injured his right knee in London.

See AP’s full NFL coverage here

Arizona Cardinals running back Jeremiyah Love, center, runs with the ball as Cardinals center Hjalte Froholdt (72) blocks New York Giants linebacker Arvell Reese (52) during an NFL football game, in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Giants linebacker Arvell Reese (52) celebrate his interception against the Arizona Cardinals with Giants cornerback Deonte Banks (2) during an NFL football game, in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

New York Giants linebacker Arvell Reese (52) gets a hand on a pass by Arizona Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett (7) during an NFL football game, in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger)

New York Giants linebacker Arvell Reese (52) celebrates his interception against the Arizona Cardinals with Giants cornerback Greg Newsome II (20) during an NFL football game, in East Rutherford, N.J., Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

ITHACA, New York (AP) — Cornell’s main administration building was splashed with graffiti and a glass door was broken overnight as the university faces anger over allegations of sexual assault at a fraternity house.

Holes were knocked into one of the administration hall’s glass doors, and the walls beside them were marked with red-painted messages condemning patriarchy and the Ivy League school’s handling of sexual assaults, news media photos showed.

Student groups planned a protest Monday over the university’s handling of the alleged 2024 fraternity-house gang rape that has ignited a firestorm of reactions on campus and beyond.

Cornell spokesperson Kyle Kimball said in a statement that the university was investigating and that “damaging property is not the answer” to Cornellians' “frustration and strong emotions.” Campus police referred questions to his office, which declined to provide more detail on the incident.

Meanwhile, a roster of student organizations planned a late-afternoon “Justice for Survivors” demonstration to push for changes in the university's process for handling sexual assault complaints and for more punishments connected to the one that followed a party at the Chi Phi fraternity in October 2024.

A then-student alleges that she was sexually assaulted there by multiple men after being pressured into drinking and taking drugs.

The woman, identified in court documents as Jane Doe, recently sued the university, seven former students, the fraternity and others. Her lawsuit said that she became fully incapacitated as fraternity members assaulted her, and that one man sent others a message inviting them to participate.

“I felt like bait. I felt like lions around me. It just was a totally debilitating place to be in,” she told Cornell investigators last year, according to records reviewed by The Associated Press.

Lawyers for two of the former students denied they participated in a sexual assault. Attempts by The Associated Press to reach the other men or their representatives have been unsuccessful. Court records show that some of the accused students, when interviewed by Cornell investigators, described the sexual activity as consensual.

Shortly before she went to Cornell police in November 2024, Jane Doe recorded a phone call with one of the men she says raped her, ABC News reported Monday, saying it had obtained the recording. The network played portions, containing only what it said was his voice, and recounted other parts of the conversation in writing.

The woman asked on the call how the man and, at first, one of his fraternity brothers initiated sexual contact with her, according to ABC. The man told her that after dancing with her for five minutes or less, he suggested a three-person encounter. He maintained that she agreed to it, and that he then fetched the second Chi Phi member from the dance floor.

Her lawsuit says she was too intoxicated to give consent.

On the call, she tried to pinpoint who else later came into the room, ABC said. The man suggested both he and she might be misremembering something that's “not true,” but she countered that she recalled looking up and seeing “too many people” there.

“What y’all did would be classified as gang rape,” she told him at one point, according to the network, which said she had provided the recording to the university.

The suit has drawn national attention to what Cornell, its police force and the local district attorney did after she told the campus police in November 2024 she “can say with 100% confidence I was raped.”

No criminal charges have been filed. The Chi Phi chapter at Cornell was shut down, and the Ivy League university has said it expelled some students and suspended others. In a statement last week, the administration bristled about the “false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case.”

Students, however, have demanded more accountability and transparency, and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has said Jane Doe was “failed by people and institutions" including the Cornell police and local District Attorney Matthew Van Houten.

Hochul appointed the state attorney general last week to take over a criminal investigation that Van Houten had reopened days earlier, and the governor called for an independent review of Cornell’s handling of the matter.

After the week's developments, Cornell President Michael Kotlikoff released an apologetic video Saturday, saying that Jane Doe's account “raises heartbreaking and troubling issues about sexual assault, dehumanization and aspects of party culture, alcohol and drug use.”

Kotlikoff reaffirmed his support for an independent review of the university's actions and vowed more transparency and a commitment to "finding the answers our community deserves.”

A Cornell University police car is seen parked on campus at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Thursday, Oct. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)