The news spread fast. Michael Boley heard one of his former linebacker teammates with the Giants, Bryan Kehl, made an accusation against defensive coordinator Perry Fewell and Boley scoffed and sneered.
“It’s a bunch of bull, man,” Boley told The Post.
Kehl, a Giants draft pick in 2008 and now a reserve linebacker for the Rams, said in a radio interview Fewell encourages faking injuries.
“He coaches that,” said Kehl, who played one game for Fewell last season before he was waived.
This comes in the aftermath of two Giants players, safety Deon Grant and rookie linebacker Jacquian Williams, hitting the field as if shot in the first quarter of Monday night’s 28-16 victory over the Rams. The Giants’ defense was off-balance as the Rams were driving in a no-huddle offense and, after an eight-yard gain by Cadillac Williams on first down to the Giants 7-yard line, first Williams then Grant hit the turf in what certainly looked like an orchestrated ploy to slow the Rams momentum.
The NFL didn’t like what it saw and issued a warning to all 32 teams, threatening fines, suspensions and loss of draft picks if the league determines players faked an injury during a game.
Boley was steamed Kehl said what he did.
“Bunch of smoke, man,” Boley said. “That’s why he’s an ex-teammate, man. It’s one thing if you leave a team, you go somewhere else, if you didn’t like it there, keep it to yourself. There’s no point in trying to bad-mouth another team just because they let you go.”
Tellingly, Fewell yesterday did not deny coaching players to fake injuries in a classic non-denial denial.
“I can’t say I’ve ever done that and I can’t say I haven’t done that,” Fewell said. “I know the young man [Grant] was down and I was glad when he got up and he was able to play. If the guy can’t play to his full potential and he was hurt then he was hurt, but I can’t say I did and I can’t say I’ve never done that. I’m not going to go back and forth about what I’ve coached and what I haven’t coached.”
Grant on Wednesday said his right knee was hurting and that’s why he went down. He sounded disgusted yesterday when discussing Kehl’s accusation.
“As far as Perry Fewell coaching that, I never heard a coach on this team ever say anything about that,” Grant said, “so for Kehl to say that, he lost a lot of respect from me.”
Boley said Fewell has never said anything about faking an injury.
“I don’t think I’ve ever had a coach who ever said anything remotely close to that,” Boley said.
Defensive end Dave Tollefson said he considers Kehl “a great friend,” but didn’t agree with Kehl’s assessment.
“I don’t know why Bryan would say that,” Tollefson said. “Perry’s never mentioned to us about ever going down in a situation like that.”