(Photo Credit: BOBBY O’HARA/PureSportsNY)
In case you haven’t been following closely this year, the New York Giants are playing football on Sundays and their record is a lousy 3-9. However, 20 Giants players are spending their season on the IR. Twenty! Five of those twenty were placed on the season ending list in one day!
Offensive linemen Geoff Schwartz and Adam Snyder, defensive ends Mathias Kiwanuka and Robert Ayers, and linebacker Terrell Manning were placed on injured reserve Monday. Coach Tom Coughlin said Ayers is the only one of the five who will avoid surgery. You can add those to an already big list of important players for New York with losses like Victor Cruz, Jon Beason, Prince Amukamara, and Walter Thurmond.
Bad luck, or whatever you want to call it, the Giants are using no excuses for their losing record. In fact the team has put themselves in situations to win many games, but haven’t been able to close. Tom Coughlin stated that although through all his years of coaching he’s never seen this many injuries, the team simply hasn’t finished in the closing minutes.
Robert Ayers will be only player of the five placed on IR who will not undergo surgery.
“The message is we’ve gotten the game into a position where the critical aspect of the game was on the line. Someone has to make a play or somebody, some group, some people collectively, have to make a play for us to win.”
Coach has the right mindset, but Giant’s fans still have to wonder what the record would be if they had Thurmond or Amukamara in there for those moments. Would it be different with Jon Beason healthy?
“It has definitely taken its course on this team,” safety Antrel Rolle said of the injuries. “I don’t know the reason for it; it has just been a weird year all the way around.”
The questions will always be asked, but now the players in the locker room are just focused on ending their seven game skid this week against Tennessee.
“Everybody in this locker room, since I’ve been here, has been capable of getting the job done,” said running back Rashad Jennings. “If somebody pinches you you’re going to say, ‘Ouch.’ But how you respond to it is important. We come to work every single day and nobody’s satisfied.”
“We’re going to keep going. We still feel like we can move the ball and we can play well enough to win a game,” said Manning.
Here is what the list currently looks like:
Reserve/Injured
20 Amukamara, Prince CB
91 Ayers, Robert DE
52 Beason, Jon LB
29 Cox, Michael RB
80 Cruz, Victor WR
18 Harris, Marcus WR
33 Hillis, Peyton RB
48 Howard, Travis CB
12 Jernigan, Jerrel WR
94 Kiwanuka, Mathias DE
70 Kropog, Troy T
97 Manning, Terrell LB
38 McBride, Trumaine CB
74 Schwartz, Geoff G
68 Snyder, Adam G
30 Taylor, Cooper S
24 Thurmond III, Walter CB
22 Wilson, David RB
Practice Squad Injured
36 Jackson, Bennett CB