Like an unblocked Jason Pierre-Paul, the injury bug has hit the New York Giants receiving corps hard.
Dwayne Harris, Brandon Marshall and Sterling Shepard. Not only are they three people who have never been in my kitchen, but they were all knocked out of Sunday’s game between the New York Giants and Los Angeles Chargers due to injury.
Some of those injuries, according to early reports, are more serious than others.
While Marshall and Shephard—who were both knocked out of the game with ankle injuries—are big parts of the team’s passing game, losing Harris might be the most significant injury of the three. Not only was he the team’s No. 4 or No. 5 wide receiver, but their primary kick returner and punt returner.
Running backs Orleans Darkwa and Shane Vereen took over kickoff return duties after Lewis was carted off the field.
Neither Marshall (two catches for 15 yards) nor Shephard (one catch for nine yards) was having big days against the Chargers, but their absence leaves the Giants with just two healthy(ish) receivers—Roger Lewis Jr. and Odell Beckham Jr., the latter of which has been dealing with his own ankle injury since early in the preseason.
Should either one (or both) of them be out for any significant amount of time, you can be sure that we’ll start to hear speculation about the Giants promoting Travis Rudolph from the practice squad or, perhaps, reaching out to former receiver Victor Cruz, who recently took his talents to the broadcast booth.