Because it looked so obvious on film and possibly affected the outcome of the game, there’s been a lot of talk about two Giants players faking injuries in an effort to interrupt the Rams’ offensive rhythm Monday night.
The Rams’ no-huddle offense seemingly had the Giants’ defense gassed. St. Louis had marched to the Giants’ 7 when, on second-and-2, Giants safety Deon Grant and linebacker Jacquian Williams suddenly dropped to the turf.
The forced the officials to stop play with the Rams about the snap the ball. Neither player appeared to be truly injured and each played the rest of the game.
The Giants held the Rams to a field goal.
Yesterday, Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said the team has notified the league office.
“That’ll go on the list of things we’re going to send in,” Spagnuolo said. “I think the league is looking into it. I’ll let it run its course from that point of view.”
Rams quarterback Sam Bradford said he was “pretty upset” about the Giants players halting the drive with those stall tactics.
“They couldn’t get subbed, they couldn’t line up, so two of their guys … someone said, ‘Someone go down, someone go down,’ so [Grant] just went down and grabbed a cramp, and I was pretty frustrated about that,” Bradford said.
Giants coach Tom Coughlin downplayed the alleged fake on Grant’s part.
“From my standpoint, I thought [Grant] was cramped,” he said. “When I looked down on the field all I saw was a player down.”
Giants safety Antrel Rolle, speaking on WFAN, said he didn’t know if his teammates had faked injury, but said it would have been smart if they did.
“Many teams do it all the time,” Rolle said. “In my eyes as a veteran, it was an extremely smart play on their behalf if they were in fact faking.”
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Coughlin tried yesterday to clarify the cloudy injury situations of receivers Mario Manningham and Domenik Hixon, both of whom were knocked out of Monday night’s win over the Rams.
Manningham left the game with what the team termed a concussion, but after the game Manningham told people he didn’t have a concussion but had stiffness in his neck.
“As far as I know, all the tests and all the protocol for a concussion are being conducted right now” on Manningham, Coughlin said yesterday. “He’s going through the entire battery of tests you give to a player who leaves a game with any kind of head injury.
“He was much clearer when he left the stadium [Monday] night and he was much more bright-eyed this morning when he was in. We will just wait and see what the doctor says after he finishes the exam.”
Hixon came down awkwardly on his right leg while making a touchdown catch at the end of the first half. He said after the game he hurt his calf. But Coughlin yesterday said Hixon, who missed 2010 with a right knee injury, was having tests, including an MRI exam, to check out his right knee.
“As far as I know it’s a knee injury,” Coughlin said. “He, too, will be completely checked out. Dom came in after the half, he loosened up, he tried to go. There was still some look in his eye as to the discomfort factor and the lack of true feeling as if things are normal, so that is when he came off the field and the decision was made that he should not return.”
Though Coughlin didn’t have the results of the tests, it doesn’t appear the injuries will keep either player out of Sunday’s game.
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Cornerback Terrell Thomas said in a 1050 ESPN radio interview yesterday that he will have surgery to repair the torn ACL in his right knee on Friday.
Thomas, who suffered the season-ending injury in an Aug. 22 preseason game against the Bears, said he was “devastated” by the injury.
“I felt like I finally got my body healthy over the last couple of years without injury,” he said. “I finally got my speed, strength back. I had a great offseason of training, did a lot to get ahead and showcase my talents this year.
“God had a different plan. I never question Him.”
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Coughlin called the TD-saving tackle safety Kenny Phillips made of Rams receiver Danario Alexander at the 1-yard line after a 68-yard pass play “as important a play as any” in the game. Three plays later, the Giants held the Rams to a field goal.