On Monday, Giants quarterback Russell Wilson said he suffered a previously-undisclosed Grade 2 hamstring tear on the last play of Friday’s practice before a Week 2 overtime loss to the Cowboys.
Wilson later reacted to the suggestion that this development will result in the NFL scrutinizing the Giants for failing to disclose the injury.
“Not the [Giants] fault!” Wilson said on Twitter. “They didn’t know bc I didn’t want to tell anyone bc of the circumstances. I just had to play through it to try and go ball that day! Thought we were going to Win that wild crazy game!”
Wilson had said this to reporters on Monday morning: “I played that [Week 2] game, you know, I tore my hamstring on Friday in practice — the last play of practice. And I had a grade two [tear]. I couldn’t tell anybody. I had to go and play on it just because I knew the circumstance, I had to play on it, no matter what. I actually ended up going to the Dallas Mavericks’ facility, training. And, you know, kept it quiet, just trying to get treatment on it and just knowing that I probably couldn’t run from the goal line to the 10-yard line if I wanted to, but I feel like, you know, I got to play this game.”
Under Wilson’s version, he said nothing to anyone from the team about the hamstring injury that occurred during a practice rep, in the presence of teammates, coaches, and anyone else who was there. And no one noticed that anything was amiss — even though, as anyone who has ever suffered a hamstring injury knows, it’s something that prompts a reaction in the form of immediate limping and/or grabbing at the back of the leg.
Then, Wilson went about his business, staying silent about the hamstring injury. He flew with the team to Dallas (no high knees on the plane), arranging a secret treatment session at the Dallas Mavericks’ training facility while breathing not a word of his condition to anyone with the team.
Once in Dallas, he left the Giants to get treatment on the hamstring from the local NBA franchise, again with no one from team management (or, apparently, anyone else) knowing what was happening.
He returned, prepared for the game, played in it, and kept completely quiet about the situation — to the point that the injury didn’t appear on the team’s Week 3 injury report, either. Or Week 4, when he was benched for Jaxson Dart. (Wilson next appeared on the injury report in Week 5, with an ankle injury that did not impact his practice availability.)
Through it all, nothing was said to anyone about the secret hamstring injury until today.
Regardless of Wilson’s claim that the Giants didn’t know, the failure of the Giants to disclose the injury via an update to the Week 2 injury report will undoubtedly attract the league’s attention. (The NFL declined comment on the situation via email to PFT on Monday.)
The prevalence of gambling makes the injury report more important than ever. While it’s unclear whether a team is responsible for an injury that the player affirmatively and successfully conceals from the organization, Wilson’s comments compels the league to launch an inquiry. The NBA’s latest gambling scandal has underscored the importance of ensuring full compliance with the injury-reporting rules.
Speaking of the NBA, that league could have questions about the Mavericks’ apparent willingness to provide secret treatment to Wilson. If, as Wilson says, he went to the Mavs’ facility to get the injury treated, someone there knew about the injury — and participated in its concealment.
Then there’s the question of why Wilson wouldn’t say anything to the team about the injury. Did he fear that he’d be benched for the Week 2 game, if the Giants believed he was less than 100 percent? (Apparently, he did.)
Regardless, Wilson said enough to activate curiosity from the league. Claiming the Giants didn’t know isn’t nearly enough to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Either the NFL cares about the integrity of its injury rules, or it doesn’t.
If it does, the only option is to start asking the Giants questions about what it knew, when it knew it, and why it didn’t disclose the injury. If it doesn’t, Wilson’s disclosure will be forgotten and never mentioned by the NFL.
