Blake Martinez injury: Giants LB suffers torn ACL

The New York Giants confirmed Monday afternoon that middle linebacker Blake Martinez suffered a torn ACL in Sunday’s loss to the Atlanta Falcons

Both Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network and Jordan Raanan of ESPN reported that the Giants’ worst fears regarding Martinez were confirmed when Martinez’s knee injury was diagnosed as a torn ACL on Monday morning.

The report was confirmed by Martinez himself in a retweet of Raanan’s initial report.

Martinez also posted this:

Martinez was quickly ruled out of Sunday’s game after going down with a non-contact injury after missing a tackle in the first quarter.

It’s difficult to understate just how significant the loss of Martinez is for the Giants’ defense. Much of their defensive scheme focuses on funneling running plays to Martinez, and his football IQ is instrumental in executing Patrick Graham’s coverage and blitz schemes.

LB Tae Crowder played every defensive snap for the Giants following Martinez’s injury. We also saw him wear the green dot on his helmet, signaling that he was relaying the defensive calls from Graham to the rest of the defense. The loss of Martinez was evident in the second half of Sunday’s game, as RB Mike Davis eventually averaged 4.5 yards per carry and the Giants had to use a pair of time outs on the defensive side of the ball due to confusion.

This has been a brutal stretch of injury luck for the Giants, with the team losing starting linemen Nick Gates and Shane Lemieux to injury just last week.

Stay with Big Blue View for more updates, including expected updates on the health of wide receivers Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton, who both left Sunday’s game with hamstring injuries.