Vernon not stooping to Trump’s level
Giants defensive end Olivier Vernon found himself at the center of one of President Donald Trump’s tweets last week, but was not going to take the bait and engage in a war of words with the President of the United States.
Trump sounded off on Vernon, quote tweeting an article that ripped him for kneeling during the national anthem on Thanksgiving.
“Can you believe the disrespect for our Country, our Flag, our Anthem without penalty to the players,” Trump tweeted above the article trashing the defensive end.
Vernon, who has been kneeling since Week 3 to protest police brutality and social injustice, just shrugged it off.
“I didn’t really pay attention to it,” Vernon said. “So, I don’t have an answer for that.” Asked if it was brought to his attention, Vernon replied: “Yeah, but I really have nothing to say, really.”
HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?
Veteran corner Dominique RodgersCromartie put perfectly on Wednesday how terrible this Giants season has spiraled into chaos and irrelevance.
“The way this season has been going, man, with all the downs and downs. I can’t even call it ups and downs, it’s just been a whole lot of downs,” RodgersCromartie said. “A lot of injuries, a lot of role changes.”
Offensive coordinator Mike Sullivan also had a telling moment of fatigue with all the offensive futility, when he discussed how “everybody is tired of having to deal with the fact that we’re not scoring more points” and said it doesn’t matter who the quarterback is “if we’re stubbing our toe on third down.”
SMOOTH LANDON
Landon Collins, the Giants’ first-team All-Pro strong safety from 2016, struggled in the middle of this season, but it turns out he was dealing with a “high ankle sprain,” per defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, for quite some time.
And guess when Collins hurt his ankle? It was none other than that Week 5 loss to the Chargers that was truly one of the unluckiest days in Giants history, when Odell Beckham Jr. and Brandon Marshall broke ankles, Dwayne Harris fractured a toe, Rodgers-Cromartie was banged up and Collins was hobbled, too.
Collins has bounced back as he’s gotten healthier. In fact, he set a career high with 15 tackles in a Week 11 win over the Chiefs and then matched that career high with 15 more tackles in the Thanksgiving loss at Washington. “I just think he feels healthier,” Spagnuolo said.