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With the Giants eliminated by the Eagles last week, rookie pass rusher Kayvon Thibodeaux spent his Sunday in a Twitter feud during the NFC and AFC Championship games.
It started with a tweet near the end of the Eagles’ 31-7 victory over the short-handed 49ers — using their fourth-string quarterback after a Brock Purdy injury — where Thibodeaux wrote, “Way this game look we might be better than the 49ers.” He added three laughing emojis at the end.
Two hours later, San Francisco defensive end Arik Armstead responded to Thibodeaux’s comment and replied, “Don’t do that bro . I watched y’all film.”
Former 49ers offensive tackle Joe Staley engaged with a series of jabs back at Thibodeaux, too.
“Ur a flash player who gets bodied by average tackles,” Staley tweeted. “Don’t let the New York media affect you too much.”
Thibodeaux kept the exchange going by replying to Staley, who spent his entire 13-year career with the 49ers and made six Pro Bowls — including five consecutive appearances between 2011 and 2015.
“Who are you bro…” Thibodeaux typed in a quote-tweet.
“Enough for u to respond,” Staley said in a quote-tweet an hour later. “Congrats on your 4 sacks this year tho. that’s huge. Unbelievable numbers.”
Thibodeaux impressed for the Giants throughout his rookie campaign, backing up the team’s decision to select him No. 5 overall out of Oregon in the 2022 NFL Draft. Thibodeaux, though, made headlines for the wrong reason following a Week 17, playoff-clinching victory over the Colts. He celebrated a sack by making fake snow angels as Indianapolis quarterback Nick Foles was injured next to him. The injury ended Foles’ season.
Colts players and interim head coach Jeff Saturday blasted Thibodeaux for his “tasteless” and “trash” celebration. Thibodeaux responded by saying he didn’t care what others thought, adding that he didn’t know Saturday “so I’m not really too concerned about people who comment on me and I don’t know them.”
“So what am I supposed to do now?” Thibodeaux said during the Giants’ next week of practice. “Every time I sack a quarterback, stop and look and make sure and help him up?’’
The Giants made a surprising run to the NFC Divisional Round under first-year head coach Brian Daboll. New York finished 9-7-1, secured the No. 6 seed in the NFC and even upset the No. 3-seed Vikings in the wild-card round before getting throttled 38-7 by the Eagles.
In his first two postseason games, Thibodeaux recorded 11 combined tackles and one quarterback hit.
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