Prince Amukamara latest to join Giants' injured reserve list
Prince Amukamara of the Giants tackles Donte Moncrief #10 of the Indianapolis Colts in the first half at MetLife Stadium on Monday, Nov. 3, 2014 in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Prince Amukamara, Walter Thurmond and Trumaine McBride would make a pretty good starting secondary for just about any team in the NFL. Unfortunately for the Giants, those three players are no longer starters but members of the team's injured reserve list. Amukamara is the latest to join them after tearing his right biceps early in Monday night's loss to the Colts. He'll require season-ending surgery, Tom Coughlin confirmed Tuesday.
The Giants still have two veterans who will most likely be starting at the outside cornerback positions in Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie (who is battling back and hamstring injuries and was not expecting to play as much as he did Monday night) and Zack Bowman. Beyond them, it gets a little thin. Jayron Hosley has been in the nickel. Chandler Fenner is on the roster. The Giants acquired Mike Harris off the Lions' practice squad last week.
"As far as restrictions go," he said, "I'm sure we're going to have to be very selective and perhaps we'll have to taper a little bit with the broadness of the [game] plan."
Coughlin takes blame
One of the most scrutinized plays of Monday night's game continues to be the touchdown pass to Coby Fleener with the Giants defense in disarray. Linebacker Jacquian Williams said the unit was in "chaos" on the scoring play, which occurred after Fleener caught another long pass that looked like it might have been incomplete.
Coughlin attempted to challenge the first reception but was late. The defense was watching Coughlin and not the Colts. Fleener was uncovered for an easy score. "The players have to line up and play," Coughlin said. "If there's going to be a challenge, it comes from the sideline, same thing as any other occurrence. It's not an excuse, it should not have happened, it did happen. Blame it on me."
Giant steps
Coughlin did not have an update on the right ankle injury suffered by starting LG Weston Richburg late in the game. If the rookie is unable to play, Coughlin didn't sound optimistic about Geoff Schwartz (toe) coming off short-term injured reserve to fill the role . . . WR Preston Parker rolled his ankle but Coughlin said he thinks he'll be OK . . . Eli Manning has not thrown an interception in 145 passes, the longest stretch of his career.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
