Gates carted off with awful broken leg vs. Washington

LANDOVER, Md. — The Giants lost captain and offensive line leader Nick Gates to a gruesome broken left leg in Thursday night’s first quarter at Washington.

Gates, the team’s starting center, shifted to left guard in a new plan to help the struggling offense. But then he fractured his lower left leg on the first play of the Giants’ second drive.

Gates was twisted down to the ground awkwardly by Washington D lineman Jonathan Allen and simultaneously rolled up on by D-lineman Daron Payne.

The injury required the attention of at least 10 doctors, trainers and staff members on the field. The entire Giants sideline came out onto the field to wish Gates well before he was carted off.

Gates, 25, waved to the crowd as he was carted to the locker room, but his injury is a huge loss for an offensive line that already was in flux and shorthanded.

Hours earlier, the Giants had placed Week 1 starting left guard Shane Lemieux (knee) on injured reserve.

Lemieux has a partially torn patellar tendon in his knee that may require surgery. Ben Bredeson had replaced Lemieux after three series in the Giants’ Week 1 loss to Denver.

Bredeson also replaced Gates after Thursday night’s injury. That put both recent trade acquisitions on the Giants’ front line: Bredeson at left guard and Billy Price at center.

GM Dave Gettleman, facing a talent problem on the interior, had traded for both players on consecutive days on August 30 and 31.

The Giants sent a 2022 fourth-round pick to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for Bredeson, a 2022 fifth-round pick and a 2023 seventh-round pick. And they traded backup defensive end B.J. Hill and a 2022 conditional seventh round draft pick to Cincinnati for Price.

Then on Sept. 2 they signed center Matt Skura to their practice squad, and on Thursday night they signed Skura to the active roster and dressed him as an emergency backup.

Gates’ start at guard was just the second of his career and the first since Week 15 of the 2019 season, a win over the Miami Dolphins in Eli Manning’s final appearance. He was a tackle in college at Nebraska.

The Giants initially signed him as an undrafted free agent in 2018. He spent his first season on injured reserve and then showed promise in limited snaps (275) in 2019, mostly at right tackle (198). He made three starts at tackle compared to one at right guard.

The Giants then converted the versatile Gates to center and gave him a contract extension prior to the 2020 season. Gates was the only Giants player to play 100% of the snaps on his side of the ball last season (1,013).

Now they’ve lost their most dependable lineman and one of their key leaders.