Giants kick returner Braxton Berrios announced on Instagram that he needs surgery to fix his foot/ankle injury, ending his season.
“Two of my last three seasons ended this way, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t miserable right now,” Berrios wrote. “I felt I belonged here this year, and everything finally fell in place. Now it feels like everything I’ve poured into the last nine months is gone in the blink of an eye. The timing that I thought had arrived feels like a punishment again, but the good news about God is I know it’s coming. Maybe not when we want but always on time. Time to rebuild. Pray for the Bear.”
The Giants signed Berrios to the active roster after releasing Odell Beckham Jr.
Charlie Jones replaced Berrios against the Cardinals.
Berrios averaged 2.5 yards on four punts and 27.6 yards on five kickoffs.
Giants Clips
For first-year players, a 17-game season means eventually hitting the so-called rookie wall. Cardinals running back Jeremiyah Love is preparing for that reality.
His postgame comments from Sunday suggest it has possibly already happened.
Love tiptoed around the question of whether the ankle he sprained in the preseason is still bothering him. On multiple occasions during his session with reporters after the 36-24 loss to the Giants, Love said it isn’t. Still, his full remarks (which lasted less than five minutes) oozed with the idea that he’s already worn down after only four regular-season games.
“Not really bothering me,” he said when asked about the ankle, “kind of just a managing because, you know, we got a long season. Coaches don’t want to overload me, so not necessarily, like, bothering me to the point where I can’t play, because I can go out there and play regardless of whether it’s bothering me, like, I gotta go out there and put something on my opportunity to put us in the best position to have success, but it . . . it was all right. It was all right.”
While he understands the importance of pacing himself, he doesn’t like having his workload managed.
“It’s frustrating because, you know, I’m the type of guy that’s going to, you know, do anything for my team to have success,” Love said. “Like, so I’m gonna be out there despite, you know, how I’m feeling, but my coaches care about me. They care about everybody on this team. So they’re not gonna put you out there if you’re not in the best position to go out there and, you know, do what you need to do and be yourself.
“So it’s frustrating for me personally. I’m not frustrated with the coaches. I’m really frustrated with myself because, you know, like, I just want to be good. I want to be 100 percent, you know, and I want to go out there and do what I need to do. I’m not saying I’m not 100 percent, but, like, I’m not where I want to be. Like, I’m not able to go out there and do spectacular plays every single time, or do stuff like that. So I’m just frustrated with myself, not with the coaches, but they’re doing a great job of managing me.”
Is it because of the ankle?
“No, it’s not really just my ankle,” Love said. “It’s more of just the whole thing. It’s been a long year for me. Like, [my] body sometimes is down. Somebody [is] sometimes tired. So, like, it’s just managing those things. Like, coaches know that. Like, this is probably gonna be the longest year of my life. You know, and I just want to manage that workload. So today, you know, just obviously making sure to keep an eye on me, managing me. But I didn’t go out there and hurt anything or anything like that. It’s just, you know, they’re doing what they need to do to keep me up so that I can finish the season.”
That included playing only 11 snaps in the second half and not being on the field in crunch time. Instead, Tyler Allgeier was in the backfield.
“Then again, like I say, like they even put people in the best position have success,” Love said. “You know, me going out there, um, feeling like how I feel, like, you know, I would probably just hamper the team if I’m going out there and I’m not feeling like myself. So why not put somebody else out there? It’s, you know, that’s playing at a better, just physical, like, physically they’re playing better. And I accept that, you know. Like, I’m not gonna go out there and I’m honest with my coaches. Like, they asked me, ‘Can you go out there and do this, do this, and that?’ And I’d be like, ‘I feel pretty good, but I think Tyler can, or Bam [Knight] can do — can exert themselves a little bit more. So that’s kind of, you know, how it is. Like I said, my coaches care about me. I’m not hurt or anything like that. It’s really just managing me.”
Love had 30 snaps on Sunday. Allgeier had 36. Love finished with 14 carries for 62 yards; Allgeier had eight for 42.
Whatever the reason, Love isn’t consistently where he’d like to be. It seems that the ankle is still something of an issue, even if he insists it isn’t.
Officially, it’s not the ankle. Although Love was limited throughout the practice week before the regular-season opener against the Chargers, Love has not appeared on the injury report since then.
The Giants will not have one of their key special teams players for at least the next four weeks.
Braxton Berrios will be placed on injured reserve, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports.
Berrios suffered a foot injury during Sunday’s victory over the Cardinals.
Charlie Jones came in to replace Berrios on punt returns. Tyrone Tracy also returned kicks on Sunday.
New York will be on the road to face Washington in Week 4.
On any given Sunday of NFL games, expect the unexpected.
Week 4 resulted in an unexpected exchange between line judge Jeff Seeman and Cardinals tight end Trey McBride.
It happened after a non-call of pass interference late in the Cardinals-Giants game. It looked like a fairly clear foul. McBride made his case to Seeman. And while the cameras and microphones captured nothing McBride said, a CBS camera on the sidelines showed Seeman apparently saying to McBride, “Fuck you.” Twice.
NFL Players Association executive director JC Tretter issued a statement calling Seeman’s behavior “unacceptable” and expressing hope that the league will hold the officials to the same standard that is applied to the players.
Via Sam Neumann of Awful Announcing, CBS reporter Aditi Kinkhabwala witnessed the interaction. She heard no profanity from McBride.
“I was standing right there,” Kinkhabwala said on Twitter. “What’s wild is that it all started with Trey McBride saying ‘please’ when pleading his case for a PI flag. He was heated for sure, but I never heard a curse from him. The harshest he got was, ‘You’re ruining the game.’”
It was a bad call, to be sure. The latest in a recent epidemic of erroneous calls and non-calls of pass interference. The point is that, as players, coaches, and officials interact after such decisions are made, certain lines shouldn’t be crossed.
If McBride had said to Seeman what Seeman apparently said to McBride, there surely would have been consequences. During the Fail Mary misadventure of 2012, the NFL issued multiple fines to coaches for their conduct toward replacement officials.
The league has said it will review the situation. There’s not much that needs to be reviewed, however. The eye in the sky doesn’t lie, and it doesn’t take extensive lip-reading skills to understand what Seeman said to McBride.
If Jayden Daniels is not ready to play in Week 5, rookie Athan Kaliakmanis may get more playing time.
According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, quarterback Marcus Mariota suffered an MCL sprain during Sunday’s loss to the Colts.
Mariota previously suffered an MCL sprain during the preseason.
Mariota went down during the first quarter of Sunday’s game in London and was not able to return. That came after Mariota was able to beat the defending-champion Seahawks in Week 3. In his three appearances with two starts this season, Mariota has completed 64.7 percent of his passes for 340 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions.
Kaliakmanis completed 15-of-33 passes for 186 yards with a touchdown and an interception on Sunday.
As PFT reported on Sunday night, the Commanders are hopeful that Daniels will be able to play in Sunday’s game against the Giants. But practice participation will be a key factor in Daniels’ return from a dislocated left elbow. Daniels was limited in practice on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday last week.
Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota is believed to have an MCL sprain. That increases the urgency to get starter Jayden Daniels back from a dislocated elbow.
The Commanders are hopeful, we’re told, that Daniels will be able to play next weekend against the Giants.
One key factor will be Daniels’s ability to fully participate in practice. He got some team reps this week, when he was limited in practice on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.
If neither Daniels nor Mariota can go, seventh-round rookie Athan Kaliakmanis will get his first career start. It was a little rough at first, but a 47-yard touchdown pass to receiver Treylon Burks cut the score to 17-13 in the third quarter.
It was all Colts after that, dropping the Commanders to 1-3. Sunday’s game against the 3-1 Giants becomes critical to any effort by the Commanders to turn things around.
The Giants entered Sunday’s game with a chip on their shoulder. They were 2.5-point underdogs at home to the Cardinals.
The Cardinals?!
The Giants won 36-24 and offered a sharp rebuke to oddsmakers and naysayers.
“It’s dumb. It’s dumb to be underdogs at home, especially when you’re a good football team,” Giants running back Cam Skattebo said, via Jordan Raanan of ESPN. “When people want to bet against you at your own place and you have a team coming from a six-hour flight on a time change, it’s a pretty brutal feeling as a team when you feel you’re put underneath them. We came out here and handled business.”
The Giants are 3-0 at home, 3-1 overall and in first place in the NFC East.
The Giants?!
The Cardinals went into their previous 15 games as underdogs, and quarterback Jacoby Brissett had been an underdog in 25 games in a row.
“We talked about it as a team. I think we were underdogs with them coming into our house,” Skattebo said. “I think that was kind of BS. This is our home. This is our house. These guys love each other. They know we have to protect our castle. They got it done. We got it done -- 3-0 at home is pretty good.”
The Giants made a trade to add quarterback J.J. McCarthy to the roster this week, but Jameis Winston remained the starter against Arizona and put up the kind of rollercoaster performance he’s been known for over the years.
Winston threw a pair of interceptions that the Cardinals turned into 10 points, but he also threw three touchdowns and the Giants improved to 3-1 on the season with a 36-24 home win. After the game was over, Winston was asked if he drew any additional motivation from the trade and he responded by saying that he feels like he’s just getting warmed up.
“I’m just grateful for the opportunity I have now,” Winston said, via a transcript from the team. “And right now, I get to smile and say I’m the starting quarterback for the New York Football Giants. So, focusing on what I would love is winning games with my team, being the best that I can be. And I just feel like that, man, I’m heating up and I’m starting to get better, better, and better. Last week, I was questioning if I could even throw. This week, I’ve got people talking about the Jamis Winston experience again. So, I’m just still so curious and I’m so inspired to be the best me every single day. And that alone pushes me. Not another man, not another teammate, just my desire to be what I would love.”
As long as Winston’s good outweighs the bad and the Giants are winning, it’s unlikely that John Harbaugh will be in a hurry to make a change under center.
During Sunday’s game between the Cardinals and the Giants, CBS camera caught an interaction between line judge Jeff Seeman and Arizona tight end Trey McBride.
We’ll defer to the lip readers in the crowd to interpret. We have a feeling that Seeman didn’t say, “Thank you.” (Twice.)
The moment got the attention of NFL Players Association executive director JC Tretter.
Said Tretter, in a statement provided to Football Night in America before he thereafter posted it on social media: “This kind of behavior from an official towards a player is unacceptable. Players are consistently held accountable when the roles are reversed. We expect the NFL to hold officials to the same standard.”
An NFL spokesperson tells PFT that the league will look into the matter.
The Jameis Winston Experience struck again on Sunday, but the Giants were able to overcome giveaways to defeat the Cardinals, 30-24.
Winston and the Giants got off to a bit of a slow start in the first half. But the quarterback then got the offense in the end zone with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Malachi Fields and a 25-yard touchdown to Malik Nabers.
The Giants held a 19-17 lead at halftime and went down 24-19 when the Cardinals scored on a 2-yard pass from Jacoby Brissett midway through the third quarter.
But Winston then connected with Theo Johnson for an 11-yard touchdown, giving New York a three-point lead late in the third quarter. And Dominic Zvada hit a 52-yard field goal with just over two minutes left in the contest to extend the lead to six.
The Cardinals had a great chance to take the lead at the end of the contest, but New York’s defense kept Arizona out of the end zone and put an exclamation point on the victory. On fourth-and-goal from the 4, Deonte Banks picked off Brissett’s pass to Michael Wilson, returning it 98 yards for a touchdown.
Winston ended the contest 18-of-29 for 250 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions. Nabers led with six catches for 112 yards and a TD.
On the other side, Brissett was 21-of-35 for 166 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions. Wilson has seven catches for 95 yards while Trey McBride was held to just seven catches for 31 yards.
Giants defensive lineman Chauncey Golston (neck), receiver/returner Braxton Berrios (foot), safety Jason Pinnock (concussion) all exited and did not return.
With the win, the Giants are now 3-1 and will take on the Commanders on the road next week.
The Cardinals are now 1-3 and will host the Lions in Week 4.
