Injuries continue to plague Giants
Running back Saquon Barkley. Wide receivers Golden Tate and Sterling Shepard. Tight end Evan Engram. After quarterback, those four are the New York Giants’ top offensive playmakers.
On Monday night, all four were scheduled to dress together for the first time this season — at home, against the hated Dallas Cowboys.
But on Sunday afternoon — just one day after saying Shepard finally cleared concussion protocol after three weeks — the Giants announced the receiver will not play.
“He practised fully this week and was limited with no contact the two weeks before that,” Giants head coach Pat Shurmur said Sunday in a statement. “He told (head trainer) Ronnie (Barnes) last evening (Saturday) he didn’t feel well, and was sent for examination and evaluation. When he arrived for work this morning, he still did not feel well. At that point, the decision was made to continue in the concussion protocol.”
The Cowboys entered Week 9 leading the NFC East at 4-3. The Giants sat in third at 2-6. A win by the Cowboys would put them alone in first, ahead of Philadelphia (5-4 after beating Chicago Sunday) as well as the Giants and cellar-dwelling Washington (1-8).
Thing is, if rookie QB Daniel Jones can lead the Giants to an upset victory at MetLife Stadium, Dallas would fall to 4-4 and the Giants would improve to 3-6 — close enough to keep division title hopes alive.
Shepard missed Weeks 6-8 with his second brain injury of the season; he missed Week 2 with his first.
On Saturday, after being temporarily cleared, Shepard told reporters he would not hide anything from medical personnel regarding his concussion recovery. Good for him. It’s another meaningful indication that NFL players take brain injuries far more seriously than they did even five years ago.
Tate, meantime, missed Weeks 1-4 for an off-season PED suspension. Barkley missed Weeks 4-6 with a high ankle sprain. And Engram missed Week 6 with a knee injury.
New York’s 0-2 start behind veteran passer Eli Manning included an authoritative 35-17, curtain-raising loss at Dallas.
After that, the Giants won their first two games with Jones at the helm, but since then have dropped their last four.
Jones seems to be more focused than usual this week.
“It’s a divisional game, it’s an important game, it’s a big game, and I realize that there’s a rivalry element to the two teams playing.” JoKryk@postmedia.com Twitter.com/JohnKryk