Giants, Amukamara catch bad break

Shocked.

That's the word Tom Coughlin used to describe his reaction to the news Saturday night that rookie cornerback Prince Amukamara will miss significant time -- likely two months or more -- after fracturing the fifth metatarsal in his left foot in practice. It was only his second practice and one of the first reps the first-round pick took in full pads for the team.

"It's shocking," Coughlin said. "It's most difficult. You wait and wait and wait and you get a guy in here and . . . "

Poof! Just like that, he's no longer available. Amukamara was quite literally here today, gone tomorrow.

"I'm really down on myself," Amukamara said Sunday to reporters, balancing on crutches with a protective boot on his foot. "I feel like I let the team down, I let myself down."

He said it was a "fluke thing." He was lined up in press coverage against Duke Calhoun. The receiver stopped and so did Amukamara.

"I just came out of the cut and I don't know if he stepped on my foot or anything like that," Amukamara said. "What was funny about it was we repped that drill like five times right before I had to do it live on the receiver and there was no problem and then it was just one of those random injuries."

Amukamara said he felt a sting there but actually played one more rep before coming off the field to have the foot looked at.

Coughlin said Amukamara told the Giants he had encountered some soreness in the foot during the offseason, but he was not in communication with the team at the time because of the lockout. Amukamara made it clear that he checked out fine in his physical.

"We were very conscious that he hadn't been around, hadn't been here, so regardless of what we were dressed in, we were going to make sure and take good care of him," Coughlin said. "He wasn't going to get many snaps. But all to no avail. We're disappointed, greatly disappointed. The only thing we can say now is hopefully, he's on track to have a chance to recover."

There is no date set for the surgery, which will involve inserting a screw into the foot for support, and no definitive timetable for his return.

"I've never broken a bone in my body and I've never had surgery before," Amukamara said. "It's definitely a little adversity I'm going to have to deal with, but I still have high expectations for the Giants and I have high expectations for myself. So it's all about focusing on the things that I can control, and that's getting better in my rehab and still staying in the playbook."

The loss of Amukamara was the latest in a training camp that has been full of pitfalls. Besides having Osi Umenyiora on the sideline and not practicing, the team lost tight end Kevin Boss as a free agent and has struggled to find a replacement. More specific to the defensive secondary, Amukamara was the second cornerback in the projected rotation to go down with an injury; Bruce Johnson suffered a ruptured Achilles.

"It is unfortunate with the injuries and the stuff going on with the cap and the Osi situation, but we are not going to let it distract us," cornerback Terrell Thomas said. "We are going to keep going out there to practice and play football . . . It is a part of the game and somebody has to step up and fill that role."

The Giants are lucky to have three veteran cornerbacks with starting experience -- Thomas, Corey Webster and Aaron Ross -- and they have Michael Coe as their fourth right now. But as Amukamara showed them, they are one false step away from losing another player.

"It's a big issue," Ross said. "Team depth at corner is really important right now, especially how fast corners go down throughout the season. Losing those two guys is really big."