Posted by Josh Katzowitz
You think Giants safety Deon Grant was faking his injury Monday night in order to slow down the Rams no-huddle offense? Well, color Grant offended. Extremely offended.
"I want to ask a question: From the first time I touched the football field, how many games (have) I (missed)?" Grant said Wednesday via ESPN New York. "None, right? None. Now to this day I got two torn MCLs. I just had wrist surgery two years ago. I had a hole in my labrum and a torn rotator cuff. I (haven't) missed (any) games."
Grant also made sure to point out that he’s played 162 out of 162 games since he entered the league in 2001.
"I went out one play," Grant said. "I got banged up, and went right back in and finished the game -- (just like I have) every game for my career. My whole thing is when (do) you know (if) somebody faking an injury? ... I'm not no duck or no dummy. I'm not about to be going out there banging myself up like they do in the movies.
| Was Grant faking? |
OK, but what about the fact you and Jacquian Williams looked like you were doing some kind of synchronized dance when the two of you went to the turf at the same time? Grant counters by claiming that he banged his knee on the play before and that he tried to play through it. But one play later, he knew he needed a breather.
"As I was walking, they lined up knowing I couldn't get back into my position because of the injury, so I went down. It just so happened Jacquain -- he was catching a cramp at the same time -- and he went down.
"I went out (and) came back in. I've been doing that my whole career. But you go and check my medical report. I (have) the injuries to speak for it. Two torn MCLs I never had surgery on. Wrist surgery. Shoulder surgery. (A) broken hip with a metal plate with screws in it, so I don't fake nothing. How can another person that's not in your body tell you when you're faking an injury?"
While he makes a good point -- nobody outside the Giants locker room and those Rams players within earshot Monday night -- knows if Grant was injured one minute and then miraculously healed the next or if he was truly faking.
And while I appreciate Grant’s passionate defense, nobody is questioning Grant’s toughness. Nobody, from what I can tell, is calling him a pansy because he would fake an injury when New York’s defense was in so much flux. We’re questioning his tactics and the Giants’ ethics in allegedly endorsing such a move.
We’re not saying Grant isn’t a tough SOB. We’re saying, at that moment, he might have helped his team the only way he could. By falling to the turf and acting like he was injured when he wasn’t to force a stoppage in play to halt the whirlwind.
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