He was upset, visibly so, when he came off the field and, without taking off his helmet, was met by running backs coach Jerald Ingram for a face-to-facemask lecture. David Wilson looked to be near tears after his second NFL rushing attempt resulted in his first NFL fumble.
But no, he insists, he did not cry.
Wilson said that wasn’t a tear rolling from his eye and down his cheek as he spoke with Ingram, as Osi Umenyiora came over to put a hand on the rookie’s left shoulder, after a Giants debut to forget in Wednesday night’s 24-17 loss to the Cowboys.
“Nah, I wasn’t crying, but I was definitely upset,’’ Wilson said yesterday. “But, I think it would have been a lot worse if I was smiling or feeling good about it. I am passionate about the game, and I know that is something I have been working on and not wanting to do, and for it to happen on my second carry in the opening game, I was highly disappointed.’’
The plan was to intersperse Wilson with starting running back Ahmad Bradshaw. On his first carry for the Giants, Wilson midway through the first quarter gained three yards. The ball was at the Dallas 29-yard line when Wilson got the ball again, picked up two yards and then was slammed by linebacker Sean Lee with a pinpoint helmet-to-ball hit that forced a fumble Lee recovered.
That was it for Wilson, because coach Tom Coughlin relegated him to the bench for the remainder of the game as far as getting any additional snaps on offense.
“Everybody says ‘Well, you didn’t play him after that,’ ’’ Coughlin said. “Well, we’re playing the opening game of the year. It’s a divisional game. We had just driven the ball. We’re going to be a bit reluctant. This is not preseason. Let’s go for Stage 2 here. This is serious business now.’’
Asked if he benched Wilson because of the fumble or because he feared the rookie’s confidence was shaken, Coughlin said “It’s more, ‘Let the veteran play and let’s hope we don’t have another occasion to shoot ourselves in the foot.’ ’’
No one ever explained this to Wilson, the first-round draft pick from Virginia Tech. Nobody really had to.
“I mean, after you don’t get back on the field because of that, you kind of put one and two together,’’ Wilson said. “It is not hard to understand that.’’
Wilson had seven fumbles last season at Virginia Tech.
“Ball security is a huge issue,” Coughlin said. “It was an issue when he first came here. He’s trying hard to make sure that it’s not an issue. We’ve got a little work to do, that’s all.’’