Jon Beason injures knee, no timetable for return of Giants' linebacker

There is no timetable for the return of middle linebacker Jon Beason, who suffered a sprained knee Saturday during the New York Giants 22-12 preseason victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars. Beason was one of three Giants who suffered long-term injuries Saturday,. Safeties Bennett Jackson (torn ACL) and Justin Currie (fractured ankle) are lost for the season.

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin said Beason's injury was a "tough one" in terms of figuring out how long the veteran linebacker would be sidelined.

"These things are all different," Coughlin said. "Without some doctor or expert telling me what to think in terms of the amount of time out I'm not gonna speculate.

"All these things end up being week-to-week. Sometimes in these cases it's longer than you think."

Beason, of course, has had a history of injuries over the past few seasons. He played only four games last year due to foot and toe injuries. He played only four games in 2012 due to a knee injury. In 2011, a torn Achilles tendon limited him to just one game. The 30-year-old has played just 22 of a potential 64 regular-season games over the past four seasons.

Without Beason, veteran Jameel McClain will once again step into the middle linebacker role. McClain filled in for Beason in 2014, as well.

Here are Coughlin's thoughts on several other topics.

On the overall game ...

"Obvious we took some hits last night ... lots of people had a chance to play, lots of people did many, many different things. We threw the ball pribably a little bit more than I wold have wanted it thrown, but we had 77 snaps in the game, which was good."

On the play of rookie left tackle Ereck Flowers ...

"We thought he played well," Coughlin said. "Technical very sound. He is improving. If you watch some of the run game you see him move people off the ball, did a nice job with that. He and [Justin] Pugh got involved in a couple of nice twist exchanges where we picked up a pass protection. ... I think there's no dount that each one of these experiences he's grown and benefitted from."

On Geoff Schwartz ...

"Played pretty well when he was playing at the guard spot. I don't think quite as good at the tackle spot, but it was his first time out and he did get a lot of snaps so it had to help him.

On the return of Victor Cruz and Rueben Randle ...

Coughlin said he didn't know if the two receivers would practice this week, but that he is "confused" by Randle's knee tendinitis.

"He's [Randle] been able to handle this so well over the years, yet this circumstance has been bothersome."

On defensive tackle Markus Kuhn ...

"He's a big, strong guy. He can hold the point in there, which he's done over and over. He's very smart. We look at him as a guy who can anchor down in there and not get knocked back off the ball, and he's pretty much done that."