Injuries to date

It is not even training camp and we have already been hit with a season ending injury.  Now let’s look at the injury list since voluntary and OTA:

• DT Jay Alford has a sprained MCL
• LB/LS Zak Deossie has a strained back
• LB Michael Boley strained hamstring
• DE Justin Tuck sore foot (“Tuck has had foot issues for several years now. It’s not known if any of his current problems were caused by the practice in the new stadium on the turf.”)
• CB Corey Webster jammed finger
• S Chad Jones injured hip
• DE Osi Umenyiora sore hip (Umenyiora has been battling a minor hip injury for much of the spring.)
• TE Kevin Boss ankle surgery out until training camp
• OL Kevin Boothe torn pectoral muscle.  Boothe “likely miss the start of the regular season and will almost certainly open the 2010 slate on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list – if he’s able to avoid season-ending injured reserve.
• Other minor issues carrying from last season: RB Bradshaw foot/ankle, WR Hakeem Nicks toe, and S Phillips knee.

Last year we saw how a hamstring strain led to chronic issues for Ross and Canty while injuries like Bernard rotator cuff was hidden.  Are we headed down the same road this year with lingering injuries such as strains and hip injuries that become chronic? 

Let’s look at the Giants’ bunk mate the Jets and their injury list to date:

• DT Kris Jenkins offseason knee surgery
• QB Mark Sanchez offseason surgery

All of their injuries are prior season with no new injuries to date.  Do the Jets know something Coughlin and Jerry Palmieri don’t know?

Meanwhile the man who called the injury bug a cancer when he was hired back in 2004 faces a season of uncertainty.  Per Paolantonio TC “knows his job could be on the line if there is a repeat of 2009.”  We all heard the freelancing comments from Osi but per Sal they were “facing a near player revolt” and as a result “myopic defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan was fired after one miserable season.”  Well TC has now brought in “the fiery — but unproven — Perry Fewell from Buffalo.” 

We heard comments from John Mara at the end of last year as he was “unhappy with everybody.”  Well he has higher expectations this year and Mara told ESPNNewYork.com: “We should be a better team than we were last year. We better be.”  Mara and Tisch have too much on the line this year as the “team is moving into a new $1.6 billion stadium” and “to move across the street, loyal longtime fans were asked to part with major coin for personal seat licenses – a first in the team’s history. And, there is too much talent on this Giants team, too much money invested, to possibly justify finishing .500 again.”

All this leads us to a question of what will they have to achieve in order for him to keep his job?  The Mara clan has “has not allowed its head coaches to enter the final year of their deal a lame duck.”  TC has 2 years left on his current contract.  Some team insiders and observers believe “if the Giants are competitive, but finish out of the playoffs for the second straight season, Coughlin could survive that.” 

Fire away with your comments on that one guys.