Antonio Pierce out indefinitely
by Ed Valentine on Nov 20, 2009 10:11 PM EST
in New York Giants News
Email
PrintFrom the Giants:
Giants middle linebacker Antonio Pierce was diagnosed with a bulging disc in his neck this afternoon and will be sidelined indefinitely, according to the team’s medical staff.
Pierce underwent an MRI today at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan and was examined by team physician Dr. Russell Warren and Dr. Frank Camissa, Chief of the Spinal Surgical Services at HSS.
Pierce originally suffered a burner in the Arizona game on October 25 and experienced very little discomfort until practice this week, at which point the team’s medical staff scheduled this afternoon’s MRI.
"I'm shocked with what I heard from the doctors this afternoon," said Pierce. "I had no idea that what happened a few weeks ago could keep me off the field. I didn't think it was that serious. I'm going to do everything the doctors tell me to do so I can get back out on the field as soon as possible."
My take: This is one of those 'get what you wish for' moments. Lots of Giants fans have been asking for Pierce to be replaced. Now we find out just how much Pierce means, or doesn't mean, to the Giants defense. NOTE: Good job by a couple of you guys to get this posted as a 'FanPost.' I posted the official release to give you as many details as I could.
43 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I honestly think
Chase will play out of his mind on Sun. It’s a big break for him. Down the road? That’s different.
Maybe so
I think at some point we will get a look at Jonathan Goff.
by Ed Valentine on Nov 20, 2009 10:34 PM EST up reply actions
I quit, I'm sorry it's just not happening this year for this team
too many injuries and too much retooling. I wanted to feel good about this weekends game but once again out of no where the Giants get another series injury to a key player. Ever since the Plax thing last year it seems like this kind of late breaking bad news is the norm with this team. . Every piece of news relating to this team is bad news. This could be a carrer threatning injury givin AP’s age and considering KP’s injury the GIants now have to find a new saftey, MLB, D-Tackle and maybe some o-line men. I think the Giants used all of their good Karma on that SB 42 win now it looks like were turing into the Jets, oh god! I think I just threw in the towel, I know people are going to say what are you nuts you cant give up just yet and AP’s not that good we’ll guess what Chase Blackburn is worse and Goff is even close to being ready. When KP went down and CC came in I think all Giant fans loned for the often maligned James Butler, well it’ll be the same thing with Pierce. God do I hope I’m wrong but I doubt it, this D tanked in 05 after Pierce went down with a sprained ankle.
they tanked
with AP in the lineup last season too. one player does not make or break a team. let the young guys step up and give them a chance to play.
What young guys?
Blackburn? He’s a slower less athletic version of AP a carrer backup at best. Goff? He’s basically a rookie with little comand of the D. There are no other MLB’s on the team. I’d agree with you if there was young talent behind him but there is none just like when KP got hurt.
TC will probably move Clark or Blackburn to MLB. They both have experience there.
There was talk of Sintim playing there some day. Boley will probably fill in at the vacant OLB position. No matter how you cut it, guys like Goff and Sintim will probably see more time than they have in the past.
they are still in the race.
win this week and a cowboy loss and we are tied with philly for 1st. DONT GIVE UP
"Yes we lost and yes we are upset. But like all Champs we will bounce back."
Osi umenyiora
by donnybaseball23 on Nov 21, 2009 3:11 PM EST up reply actions
Why don't you think philly will lose?
Than we’d be tied for first with the ’boys.
The Cowboys are the France of the NFL
-thwalls
On 3rd down, throw it to Smith.
un real...
does anyone know how serious a bulging disk is? it certainly doesn’t sound good.
I would really like to see Goff get some time out there.
"If you don't know what you're doing... just rush the quarterback" - LT
pretty serious stuff.
all bulging discs aren’t creted equal, but the disc is the connecting portion between two vertebrae.
Its soft tissue and with the vertebrae pinch…it compresses the disc and makes it bulge out. It can tear too, and that could be the ‘discomfort’ AP had this week (what the hell is ‘discomfort’ for a football player anyway?)
Whenever you talk about injuries near the spine, its pretty serious stuff.
"It ain't over till its over"---
by FreeBradshaw on Nov 20, 2009 11:47 PM EST up reply actions
My father had 2 of them...
…and the pain ends up lasting a lifetime for the most part. Constant throbbing, etc. Sure, he’ll get it fixed up and it will be fine for a while, but most people who get this are never quite the same after. My father included.
It’s a very bad situation and I wish AP well.
Bugger
Can we just promote AP to defensive coordinator now?
/jk
I also don’t have that great of a feeling on this.
While I thought AP needed to be eased out, I never thought he should have just been yanked, just have blackburn come in occasionally.
Like Blue said, this first game won’t be a great indicator of blackburn for the future. Usually players in their first start play amazingly than fade (Hixon last year is the most prominent I can think of).
Hopefully I’m wrong and blackburn/chase prove I know nothing about football
The Cowboys are the France of the NFL
-thwalls
On 3rd down, throw it to Smith.
This is not good news..
It seems like we get a key guy back and lose a key guy to injury every week..What Pierce causes is a major problem with the defensive signal calling, on a defense that is already playing confused and disorganized…Where the hell did the Giants find this training staff?..Walmart?!?..This guy gets hurt on 10/25 and they call it a “stinger”?..Now we find out a month later that it is a serious neck injury?..and I don’t buy that bullshit that it just suddenly appeared in practice this week. Who are they trying to kid?…We have guys sitting out with hamstring pulls for six months?..Gime a break..Who the hell ever heard of a six month hamstring injury?..These morons could have caused Pierce to be paralyzed with that!..They are totally incompetent. Now, in the most critical phase of our season we will be relying on guys that don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground quarterbacking our dyslectic defense..When should we stick a fork in our team to see if it is done?..Everybody thinks Ross’s return is going to save the day..Hell he will have a huge target on his back on Sunday..The Falcon’s will absolutely test him out whenever he is on the field..This is just plain crazy letting a guy with that type of injury go unexamined until this week!..“Stinger”..Where might one find that term in a medical manual..“Stinger” is a general term to describe basically anything until you dig down and diagnose the real issue..These trainers and medical staff are totally asleep at the wheel. I know these athletes will ignore pain to stay out there because they are always looking over their shoulders and fear being replaced, losing their jobs..but this is just ridiculous and dangerous to let players fool them into thinking they can go when in reality they shouldn’t..This study finally focussing on concussions…About time!!..Have you listened to Steve Young talk?..He sounds like Forest Gump..When will the league become more proactive in diagnosing and treating players that get hurt?..You sure as hell can’t listen to them..The league needs to step up and enforce strict medical evaluations of players that get hurt and treat accordingly..Well, sorry for the rant..I think I have a “stinger”…
One last thing on AP's injury..
Now we know why he has seemingly slacked off in his play this past month..Who out here with that obvious pain could play at 100%?..Not me..You know the guy is out there..better yet, he knows he’s out there having second thoughts on whether he can stuff a gap and stick his helmet and shoulder pads into the gut of a running back..and pass coverage..Can you imagine how much pain this guy is in when he has to run back and turn his head towards the ball?..I can.
Right on, Bobbi.
It had to take an heroic effort for AP to get out there and play and it sure seems as though the staff should have been able to make a better diagnosis. It’s hard to believe that whoever they replace AP with won’t have a greater physical impact than he did. The question is how much will we miss his playcalling. Whoever does it will be wired to Sheridan. Maybe it’s time to let Sheridan go up to the box where he wanted to in the first place? It’s a trade off. He’ll see the field better, but he won’t be able to cheerlead on the sideline. Hell, he doesn’t do much of that anyway.
S. Young sure sounded like Gump
when he predicted the Pats to beat the Giants 44-10 in the SB. I think the Giants training staff is the same as the NY Mets, espcially when it comes to hamstring injuries.
While I have been advocating for AP's replacement...
…let me be clear, I have been saying all along that he should be replaced in the offseason and the position (across the board) upgraded. Considering that he was an undrafted free agent not considered at the time among the top 230+ players coming out of college in his draft class, he’s had a pretty remarkable run thus far, and has gotten by on brains, experience, and heart for some time now. Still, as disappointed I have been in his play over the last season and a half, I don’t like seeing any of or guys miss significant amounts of time due to injury.
But, as other have mentioned, Goff or Kehl or whoever will get an opportunity to show what they have. Let’s hope for the sake of our D that whoever is called upon is able to, “step up and make big plays.”
by Step up and make big plays on Nov 21, 2009 12:26 AM EST reply actions
damn, just when i thought we were finally starting to get healthy
i personally think this is a big blow to the giants defense. while he has lost a step and isnt the player he used to be, AP is undoubtedly the signal caller and ‘quarterback’ of our defense. it will be tough trying to replace him, but the giants certainly have the depth at lb to try.
by GiantsReignSupreme on Nov 21, 2009 12:51 AM EST reply actions
The Hospital for Special Surgery...
…is one of the best in the country for this kind of thing. The two doctors listed, I believe, were the guys who looked at my father originally when he went there for his disc problems.
Yes Jonathan..
I’m sure the doctors that finally examined him were experts..my problem is what took so long?..Players are going to try to ignore their injuries and convince the coaches they can play..just yesterday that guy for Miami the center (I forget his name)..They had to hide his helmet from him..I remember the Giants hiding Joe Morris’s helmet from him years ago when he got his bell rung..The team’s medical staff need to ignore what the players say and take action right away..AP was hurt a month ago, and now finally we know the extent of his injury..More importantly, he now knows.
c'mon now.
I think you gotta realize that these are tough dudes. AP is a tough dude.
If he’d been feeling little discomfort since the end of October…well, why would he go in and see the trainers?
Its also one of those things that can get worse over time.
You gotta go and take an MRI to see what it is anyway.
"It ain't over till its over"---
by FreeBradshaw on Nov 21, 2009 8:08 AM EST up reply actions
Whats odd to me
Is the length of time for this to come to the forefront. If they can pinpoint this to almost a month ago, it would seem that this wasn’t too serious. Afterall, i haven’t heard or seen AP on the injury list pertaining to this, which by the way would be a violation if the Giants were hiding it.
Again though, a month seems like a long time for a bulging disk to be exposed to the point of reporting it. Especially given the games played and practices. It would seem logical at some point, that AP would noticeably look, play or practice differently than normal. I’m assuming that this just finally happened and there was nothing anyone could do about it!
Ugh
AP has clearly lost a step (or five), but he’s still an integral part of the D. Like some of the other commenters I was hoping JR would find a replacement for him this offseason, but I’m not looking forward to being without him for the rest of the year.
Remember when I compared the Giants to the Mets back in like week 2 and everyone called me crazy? Yea….
"[The Giants] beat us down. We were beat by a grown-man team, a team we want to be like one day. They came in here and took it to us. Out-manned us, out-gunned us. ... It wasn't even close." - Raheem Morris, 9/27/09
I've always admired AP's moxie
and his great play calling. Unfortunately he can’t play his position at the level required anymore. No one could question his heart. He plays with all he has. Though we may struggle wlith a new play caller and the timing is bad, at least we can look forward to finally working out this linebacker issue that has exposed us on defense. Let’s face it, when you allow the opposition to score 22 touchdowns out of 29 attempts in your redzone it’s obvious something needs to change.
Maybe now is the time to start looking for a few key people to impliment the 3-4 defense and bring us back to glory….(Ed, you knew that was coming, didn’t you?)
by giant fan since 57 on Nov 21, 2009 6:16 AM EST reply actions
Ugh!
4-3, 3-4 … whatever! Doesn’t matter if you don’t tackle, don’t cover and don’t pressure the quarterback. And yes, I knew that was coming at some point.
by Ed Valentine on Nov 21, 2009 9:03 AM EST up reply actions
N0 3-4
We don’t even have 3 good linebackers right now, and none of our defensive tackles is big or strong enough to play nose tackle. If we were going to radically alter our defensive alignment it would be better to go with a 5 – 1 – 5 with Boley the only linebacker.
Assuming we stick with the 4-3, I’d put Goff in the middle and only go to Blackburn if Goff just couldn’t cut it. We need to get more athletic and more physical at that position.
by Tucker Fredrickson on Nov 21, 2009 1:15 PM EST up reply actions
I have new respect for AP
playing with an injury to his spine. Everybody’s dinged up, sure. But that’s dinged up, and undoubtedly affected his play. I wouldn’t have much of an issue if Chase stepped in there with the green dot on his helmet, listening to Spags on the other end of the radio. But that’s not possible. Boley-Kehl, Blackburn-Goff, Clark-Sintim. DeOssie is in the mix there somewhere I guess… yet to step up. Wilkinson done. AP probably done. Not exactly a lot of depth left on a very average LB corps. But they are who they are… they’ve got to step up their game to take some pressure off the secondary as Ross takes on his full load again.
wow
I think that the major loss for the Giants here is on the psychological side. AP wasn´t on his best seasons in the past years and it´s replaceable on the field. But on the leadership and capacity to make changes in the D he is irreplaceable.
Yeah, we like NFL here in Brazil.
This just came to me
Why is it such a neccessity to rely on the MLB for guidance on any particular play? Shouldn’t there be a sense of self-diagnosis from individuals? Afterall, you line up and see what the offense may try to do, and then what you prepped for during practice, it should register of what you have to do.
My point may sound simplistic, but it’s this idea. Back when i played high school football and i was a DE, our MLB would call out signals. But, before the signal, i already knew what would be called. I self-diagnosed the formation and knew my assignments!
I know NFL O’s are more complex, but it’s the idea of the preperation that you go through before each game. I find it hard to believe that we need to rely on one person for what we’re suppose to do?!
Well ..
the down linemen obviously can’t see everything. The safeties can, but it is generally the MLB who has traditionally called defensive signals. He is the one player looking directly into the QB’s eyes before the snap, and seeing the whole field.
by Ed Valentine on Nov 21, 2009 6:56 PM EST up reply actions
yea...
I don’t understand hoot….
The MLB is the middle of the defense. Everyone can hear him, while DE would have to get up and yell or a safety would have to come up to the LOS.
I don’t think there’s a NFL team that has a defensive “QB” other than the MLB.
"It ain't over till its over"---
by FreeBradshaw on Nov 21, 2009 7:19 PM EST up reply actions
How about this
Some of us have been saying, for offense and defense, stop reacting to the opponent and just go after them. We have the talent to do that.
Well without AP in there we may see less reaction and running around before the snap. That could actually help. Especially since we have a lot of young/new guys to the defense. KISS
Keep
It
Simple
Sheridan
I would consider this...
As playing within the confines of what was called. AP seemed to point out as much as Eli does on offense!
"...reaction and running around...."
I get the impression we do a lot more moving before the snap than other Ds. It might not hurt if we did less.
its time for the giants to surprise us....
hopefully the surprise is a winning streak, dont give up yet we are 5-4 tied with 3 other teams for the wildcards.
"Yes we lost and yes we are upset. But like all Champs we will bounce back."
Osi umenyiora
by donnybaseball23 on Nov 21, 2009 3:13 PM EST reply actions
I'll admit it
I thought “AP: Solid MLB” reached his expiration date about a year ago, and that it was time for a change. That said, I’d have rather seen Danny Clark give way to Clint Sintim for performance-based reasons first.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Community Guidelines
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
Get Your Giants' Gear
SBNation.com Recent Stories
In Association With
Shutdown Corner - NFL - Yahoo! Sports
- Jim Irsay says he would welcome Peyton Manning back … at the right price
- Roddy White isn’t thrilled with Roger Goodell’s $20 million salary
- Could concussions actually kill football?
- J.T. Thomas arrested for possessing some marijuana
- Bucs hire Butch Davis as ‘special assistant,’ have no issue with his double-dipping
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
