THIS HURTS
Shepard’s migraines add to 2017 woes
Giants Shepard suffering from migraines, may not play against Washington on Thursday
THE forlorn look on Sterling Shepard’s face in Tuesday’s locker room was difficult to stomach. Nine days ago, the promising second-year receiver had set career highs with 11 catches for 142 yards in the Giants’ Week 10 loss at San Francisco, a performance Shepard described to the Daily News as simply being “in the zone.”
But the distraught and pained look on Shepard’s face Tuesday said he is likely about to miss his second straight game Thanksgiving night at Washington due to what the team is calling migraines. And for the Giants (2-8), Shepard’s plight is another example of how drastically this team’s fortunes have turned since they last played at FedExField.
“Sterling is not feeling well,” coach Ben McAdoo said Tuesday, after Shepard did not practice, adding an ambiguous diagnosis. “We kept him in the training room and they’re taking a look at him. They’re looking at all the possibilities.”
On New Year’s Day, Week 17 of last season, the Giants entered Washington at 10-5, already having clinched the franchise’s first playoff berth in five years in McAdoo’s rookie year as head coach. And then they sharpened themselves in a physical 19-10 road win over Washington.
Paul Perkins rushed for 102 yards in his first NFL start as a rookie. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie intercepted Kirk Cousins twice. Odell Beckham Jr. caught a team-high five passes for 44 yards to close his third NFL season with 101 catches for 1,367 yards and 10 TDs. Shepard caught three passes for 30 yards to cap an encouraging rookie year of 65 catches, 683 yards and eight TDs. And the Giants finished an impressive 11-5.
But since, it’s all fallen apart. McAdoo and the Giants have won only two of their 11 games since.
The night of that win, a Giant receiver group including Beckham, Shepard, Roger Lewis Jr. and Victor Cruz flew to Miami to party into the morning in the clubs with Justin Bieber and on a boat with Trey Songz. Their infamous boat photo went viral and six days later the Giants were blown out in Green Bay in the Wild Card round, 38-13. Beckham and Shepard each dropped two passes early.
And this season, though they enter Thursday’s game coming off a 12-9 overtime win over the Chiefs, the Giants’ misfortune since overpowering Washington in Week 17 of the 2016 season has been staggering.
Beckham badly sprained his ankle in Cleveland in the preseason and then broke his ankle in Week 5 and had season-ending surgery. Rodgers-Cromartie was suspended in Week 6 for walking out of the Giants’ facility when informed he’d be benched for breaking team rules.
Perkins struggled out of the gate as the starting back this season, missed three games with a rib injury, hasn’t had a carry since Week 4, and didn’t play a single snap even on special teams in Sunday’s 12-9 OT win over the Chiefs despite being dressed — and despite forcing a fumble on a punt return at San Fran the week prior.
Shepard, 23, though, looked like he was on his way to bucking the narrative and being one of the silver linings of a lost season. He was one reason, if you’re a Giants fan, to keep smiling when the games came on.
Shepard did sprain his ankle in the preseason and again in Week 5. And after the second sprain, he said he was going to go back to taping his ankles, as he had done all through college. (He said he had stopped taping his ankles because he had “started listening to other guys in the locker room, saying it made you a little more free a little more elusive.” Beckham doesn’t tape his ankles).
But after missing two games before the bye, Shepard re-entered the lineup in Week 9 against the L.A. Rams and said he wasn’t worried a single bit about his ankle any longer. He even had five catches for 70 yards in that blowout loss to the Rams and got free for what should have been a long, game-changing touchdown, but Eli Manning overthrew him.
Then came Shepard’s outburst against the Niners, including a stunning one-handed, left-handed catch. Shepard’s resilience and ascendence were a thrilling footnote to a forgettable year.
“I just let it loose and just trusted it,” Shepard said last week of his stellar game. “I can’t pinpoint one reason why I was on like that.”
Now this. Now a sudden migraine issue that you have to hope is just a bad headache.
On Monday, McAdoo said on his conference call that Shepard was not in the concussion protocol, but the coach wouldn’t answer if Shepard had a history of migraines.
“That’s a better question for Sterling,” McAdoo said.
And on Tuesday, McAdoo’s update that the Giants training staff was “looking at all the possibilities” for Shepard’s condition was troubling. The Giants still have Wednesday to determine if Shepard improves and can suit up on Thanksgiving night against Washington (4-6). Still, uncertainty about an injury involving a player’s head dictates that the Giants error on the side of caution, which is what they’ve done by holding him out on Sunday and being cautious all this week.
It’s such a shame because Shepard has been a bright spot.
It’s so typical because this just hasn’t been the Giants’ calendar year.