It was one of those seasons for David Baas, the worst season of his career, and it ended Wednesday with the news he has been placed on season-ending injured reserve by the Giants.
Baas hurt his left knee at the end of the first offensive series in Monday night’s 23-7 victory over the Vikings. The results of an MRI exam clearly were not encouraging, leaving the Giants center with a season to forget.
He played in only one full game. He missed the opener recovering from a strained left knee suffered in the preseason. He started games against the Broncos and Panthers, but came out of the game in Carolina with a neck injury. After missing three games, he returned to face the Vikings, but did not make it out of the first quarter before reinjuring his knee.
“It’s very frustrating, to say the least,” Baas said. “You work so hard. We said we can’t catch a break.”
Baas was hurt on the 17th and final play of the opening drive.
“The doctors showed me that a linebacker whipped into my leg or something like that,” Baas said. “I didn’t even know that it was almost a touchdown catch [by Hakeem Nicks]. I had no idea, because I got hit and obviously went down to the ground and then got back up and limped off. You kind of know right away when you get that feeling. I was hoping it wasn’t anything worse, but it’s definitely bad enough to where it’s come to this.”
Baas needs surgery to repair the knee, but said his ACL is intact. This will be the first time in his career that Baas — signed in 2011 as a free agent after starting his career with the 49ers — will play fewer than 11 games in a season. He has played in 16 games five times. He is the second starting offensive lineman to go on IR. Right guard Chris Snee played in four games before he was shut down with a hip injury.
Jim Cordle has started in place of Baas and likely will continue to start at center. The only other option for the Giants is left guard Kevin Boothe, who also has experience at center.
Baas is on the books for $4.75 million in 2014 and $5 million in 2015. It remains to be seen whether the Giants will keep him on the roster, but he is expecting to return.
“That’s what you live for,” Baas said. “Obviously, there’s things that happen and you’re a man about it and you realize that’s a part of the business, but you don’t think about [not playing] right now. That may come down the road and I’m smart enough to be prepared for that, but as of right now, I’m just worried about getting healthy and getting to a point where I can play and play at a very high level again.”