Giants need to work hard to replace Jon Beason
Giants linebacker Jon Beason looks on during practice at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J. on July 24, 2014. Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams, Jr.
The Giants know they have clarity now that linebacker Jon Beason is out for the season with the right foot injury that caused him to miss three of their first seven games.
Coach Tom Coughlin talked about moving on and hoping Beason still will be a force in the locker room. It's part of the "next man up" philosophy a coach and team have to have when a key player is lost.
"Hopefully," Coughlin said, "we're not going to lose anything in terms of his presence."
Unlike Coughlin, defensive coordinator Perry Fewell didn't downplay the loss of Beason -- on or off the field.
On Monday night, the Giants will host the Indianapolis Colts, currently ranked as the No. 1 offense in the NFL, without their middle linebacker.
"It's a relatively huge void because your captain is gone," Fewell said on Friday. "The guy that came in a year ago and was my voice on the field is now gone. That is a pretty huge void. The voice in that meeting room when I would ask questions and he would gather the guys together after practice, or before practice, or what have you, that type of voice is gone for us. Some other guys will take up and carry the flag, but that was a pretty strong voice."
Jameel McClain will start in Beason's spot. The Giants have had trouble stopping the run lately, but the Colts are a pass-first team with Andrew Luck at quarterback.
"They are a passing team and they love to throw the football," Fewell said.
Fewell did note that former Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw has been playing well for the Colts.
"Ahmad Bradshaw is coming back to New York," Fewell said, "and I am sure he is in that coordinator's ear saying, 'Man, give me that ball.' "
Still, the Colts are going to do what they do best -- let Luck run the offense. Fewell knows Indianapolis is going to put up some yards. He just wants to limit how many points the Colts score in the red zone.
"They will move the ball," he said. "We have to get red-zone stops and we have to get turnovers. A team with good skills and with an excellent quarterback like that, they will move the football on you."
With two weeks to prepare for the Colts after their bye, the Giants seem to be harping on their inability to stop the run. That will be harder to fix without Beason.
"I know that people have run the ball on us and that has set us up for play-action," Coughlin said. "It's not, yeah, you'd like to have a shutout every week, but let's face it, when you're playing against teams that are putting an awful lot of yardage up and points . . . for me it starts with that -- it starts with stopping the run. But, of course, you've got to get after the passer. It seems like every week we're facing an outstanding passer. We will again this week."
Anthony Rieber covers baseball, as well as the NFL, NBA and NHL. He has worked at Newsday since Aug. 31, 1998, and has been in his current position since July 5, 2004.
