Thomas out for season with torn ACL

Terrell Thomas wanted to make it to the Pro Bowl this year. He didn't even make it halfway through the preseason.

The Giants' starting cornerback who had led the team in tackles and interceptions the last two seasons and seemed poised for even more recognition this year, suffered a torn ACL to his right knee late in the first half of Monday night's 41-13 win over the Bears. Thomas was in pursuit of quarterback Jay Cutler when he and teammate Jason Pierre-Paul dove for the quarterback. Thomas' right leg was caught by Pierre-Paul's and appeared to buckle inside. Thomas was able to hobble to the locker room, where tests revealed the nature of the season-ending injury.

"That's the part of the game that just makes you shake your head," Tom Coughlin said. "You extend the play time a little bit to take full advantage of the fact that we've literally had no offseason and a very small preseason . . . It's one of those unexplainable kind of things."

Pierre-Paul said he, too injured his leg on the play. He got up slowly and started limping to the sideline and looked back to see Thomas still on the turf. He said he didn't know Thomas was injured until that point.

So how big of a loss is Thomas for the Giants' defense?

"I don't know if you can measure it," defensive captain Justin Tuck said. "I put him as one of the up-and-coming cornerbacks in this league. Coming into this camp, he looked poised to have a breakout year for us. It's unfortunate. You don't replace a guy like T. That's a big blow."

Not that the Giants have much to replace him with. Their secondary already has been banged up pretty good. First-round pick Prince Amukamara fractured a bone in his foot in his second practice of training camp and will be sidelined about another five weeks. Bruce Johnson has been lost for the season with a ruptured Achilles. And Brian Witherspoon, who had been having a strong camp and seemed ready to make the team, had to be carted off the field Monday night for X-rays on his knee. His preliminary diagnosis was a sprained MCL, he said, but he'll have further tests Tuesday.

Tuck said when he walked over to see Thomas on the turf, the medical staff was talking about a hyperextension. "That was like a relief," he said. "But when the team came into the locker room at halftime, they learned that it was actually a torn ACL.

"It's tough because I've been there," Tuck said. "I've had that injury before and I know how hard that recovery is going to be. But for him, the timing couldn't be worse. He was primed to have a great year."

Thomas was also in a contract year, a situation that was not lost on him when he spoke about his goals this preseason. Had he had a productive year in 2011, the Giants might well have signed him to a long-term extension before the end of the season. Now, he'll be a free agent coming off knee surgery at the end of the campaign.

Preseason knee injuries are nothing new for the Giants. Thomas joins a list that includes Osi Umenyiora in 2008, Jason Sehorn in 1998 and Phil Simms in 1982. Last year, Domenik Hixon tore his ACL in a minicamp practice at New Meadowlands Stadium.

Thomas tore his right ACL once before, early in the 2005 season at USC. Two years later, Thomas reflected on that injury to the Los Angeles Times. "It took a lot for me to come back from that," he said. "I grew from that into a man."

Safety Antrel Rolle said that the loss of Thomas will alter the defense. "But we can't hang our heads on the season," he said.

He did, however, bow his head with Thomas before the injured cornerback left the locker room.

"We talked to him and we prayed with him as a unit and we prayed with him one-on-one," Rolle said. "He's a tough guy . . . It's nothing he hasn't been through before. He's torn it before and he's worked extremely hard to get to where he was. There's nothing saying he's not going to do the same now."