Second-year Giants cornerback Prince Amukamara learned two valuable lessons in Friday’s preseason loss to the Chicago Bears: If you’re hurt, go down, and if you’re not, keep your mouth shut.
After blocking Bears wide receiver Brandon Marshall on a reverse by Devin Hester, Amukamara suspected he had injured his right ankle.
“I kind of got rolled up when I was blocking Marshall,” Amukamara told the media before Sunday’s practice. When he told Corey Webster, the other starting cornerback, the eight-year veteran told him to go down on the turf.
“I didn’t want to go down on the field,” Amukamara said. “I always stay a play after just to see how serious it was and I guess the Bears heard me say that I was hurt and they tried to come after me on the next play. So that wasn’t smart.”
The Bears rushed to the line and quarterback Jay Cutler tossed a screen to Marshall, who was immediately undercut by Amukamara.
By now most Giants fans know that the injury has been diagnosed as a moderate or “mild high ankle sprain” but at the time, Amukamara feared he had re-injured his surgically repaired right foot.
“I just felt something poking out the side of my leg and I definitely had a flashback of my fifth metatarsal from last season so I didn’t know what was going on,” Amukamara said. “Then they brought out the cart. I thought the cart was pretty dramatic, but they were just taking precautions because they weren’t sure.”
Amukamara and the Giants have refrained from projecting when he can return to the field, but Amukamara said they might have a time frame after observing the ankle again in a few days. Traditionally, high ankle sprains take longer to heal, so it seems as though veteran Michael Coe will be starting opposite Webster when the Giants’ regular season opens on Sept. 5 against the Dallas Cowboys.
The real question is, how many games will Amukamara be out of the lineup?
As bad as things seem for Amukamara at the moment, he’s not overly concerned because, he said, he has a history of overcoming ankle sprains. “I rolled my ankle last week in actually the same foot and I played through it, everything was fine,” Amukamara said. “I feel pretty confident that I do recover quick from ankle sprains. I used to play basketball and deal with them, but this one is different. It is a mild high ankle and I’ve never experienced one like this.”
Meanwhile, this is nothing new for Coe, who is very well versed in defensive coordinator Perry Fewell’s scheme.
Coe told the media on Sunday that he doesn’t feel any particular pressure because cornerbacks coach Peter Giunta always tells his players to prepare is if they’re going to start.
“I feel like I’ve been building up enough confidence and comfort level in knowing what the coaches expect,” said Coe, who came back from a hamstring injury on Sunday and said he’s feeling close to 100 percent. “In that room, you’re always held accountable for everything. Coach Pete makes sure of that. The players make sure of that.”
Since Amukamara has never started a regular-season game -- he was promoted when veteran Terrell Thomas aggravated his surgically repaired right ACL -- he’s not guaranteed to return to the top of the depth chart when his ankle heals.
That’s one reason why Amukamara, the star of the team’s recent “Ice Bath” YouTube clip fiasco, is in a hurry to get better. “You get banged up and I know the saying is ‘You can’t make the club in the tub,’” he said. “I’ve been in the tub enough. So I just have to hurry up and get out and do everything I can to help this team.”
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