Ballentine gets up after scary injury
Giants corner Corey Ballentine wasn’t moving at first. He’d just collided with wide receiver Austin Mack during a violent one-on-one drill at the goal line in Joe Judge’s second padded practice.
The entire field went silent. Trainers ran to Ballentine and tended to him for several minutes, folding his arms over his chest and talking to him.
GM Dave Gettleman walked out onto the field, concerned. Judge hovered and so did several teammates, as well. Safety Julian Love knelt.
Eventually, Ballentine walked to a cart on the field and started rotating his right arm and reaching for his right shoulder.
It was a surprise, though, after Ballentine was sent to the sideline for a time, that he was allowed to resume practicing.
Ballentine sustained two concussions as a rookie in 2019, and this collision was nothing short of frightening.
“I’ll wait for the trainers for the official on Ballentine but he finished practice, he was up quickly right there, he’s good to go,” Judge insisted afterward.
It may not have even been the most serious injury on Tuesday: wide receiver and special teams ace gunner Cody Core was carted off the field late. Judge didn’t have an update immediately after.
Still, the Ballentine scare was jarring. It happened during a drill that hasn’t been seen around these parts in some time.
Judge was ready to explain and defend the drill, though, and why it’s necessary.
“Listen, we can’t get the guys ready to drive on I-95 by riding (on back roads),” Judge said.. “If we think the Pittsburgh Steelers are coming in here to hug us, we’re all sadly mistaken. So we have to train these guys in a physical manner to make it safe for them to play the game the way it needs to be played.
“And I’ve been doing that drill personally with the programs I’ve been in for the better part of a decade,” he added. “It’s a safe drill. It’s a controlled space. It’s how we can teach guys to safely have collisions, because that’s what the game’s gonna be is a collision game. It reinforces technique, we can teach off it on the tape.”