The loss of Terrell Thomas for the season was, of course, the major story following Monday's night's 41-13 preseason victory by the New York Giants over the Chicago Bears. Make no mistake, the loss of the fourth-year cornerback is devastating for the Giants defense. And they know it.
"I think it's obvious. Him being pretty much emerging himself as one of the elite corners in this league. A young kid, that you can just tell his confidence level was tremendous coming into camp. Probably our number one corner," said Giants' defensive captain Justin Tuck. "He's going to be missed because you don't just replace a guy like that as far as his instincts, as far as his athletic ability, as far as his knowledge of how we play the game. You can just tell, this season he was just on another level."
Safety Antrel Rolle said replacing Thomas would be "extremely difficult."
"It comes with the territory and it just leaves room for other guys to step up," said Rolle. "It's definitely going to alter our defense a little bit, but we can't hang our heads on the season. We still have a lot of football to play."
Thomas was injured in the waning seconds of the first half while blitzing Chicago quarterback Jay Cutler. Should he -- and the Giants first-team defense in general -- still have been in the game?
"We were going 25 to 30 snaps and that's exactly where we were -- between 25 and 30 snaps," said Giants coach Tom Coughlin. "They had their ones in there -- their first quarterback was in the game. We were facing a two-minute drill, which we thought would be a very good experience for our defensive team."
To make matters worse for the Giants, cornerback Brian Witherspoon also suffered a knee injury of undetermined severity. With Bruce Johnson (Achilles) down for the season and first-round pick Prince Amukamara recovering from a broken foot Witherspoon had emerged as a guy pushing for playing time. The Giants will now be looking for reinforcements at the corner.
"We have to address it. We just have to make some decisions, whether or not there is anybody out there that we can bring in, and shuffle some guys around," Coughlin said.
-- Keep it here for much, much more throughout the day. The traditiional 'Kudos & Wet Willies' will be up at some point, though maybe a little later than usual.