EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — The injuries keep piling up for the New York Giants and on Sunday night it cost them one of their best rookies in camp. Kayvon Thibodeaux left New York’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals in the second quarter after suffering a knee injury, but it appeared after the game that the injury wasn’t too serious.
The play occurred with 11:16 left in the second when Bengals tight end Thaddeus Moss went for a cut block and connected with the right knee of Thibodeaux. The Giants outside linebacker crumpled to the ground in pain and was looked at by team personnel and the cart did come onto the field, but Thibodeaux walked off under his own power.
Kayvon Thibodeaux down after this cut block…. pic.twitter.com/RXbOGCDs8n
— Talkin’ Giants (@TalkinGiants) August 22, 2022
He was looked at in the medical tent and eventually ruled out for the rest of the game.
Thibodeaux was spotted by reporters as he left the stadium and appeared to walk without any issues. He told the media waiting for postgame availability that he had already gotten good news and that “I’ll be back… We good.”
Head coach Brian Daboll said that they’ll get the tests back and see where things are with the rookie.
“I think it’s a scare anytime (players go down),” Daboll said. “These players work as hard as can possibly work to try and do as well as they can. Anytime you see somebody on the turf regardless of how they got here it’s always hard for a coach to watch a guy go down.”
With New York already down 18 players due to injuries, losing Thibodeaux for any period of time would be a tough blow for the Giants. There was at least some positivity during the game about Thibodeaux’s status after he appeared to be in good spirits on the sideline when NBC 4 cameras caught him later in the game.
He looked as though he was laughing and joking around with his teammates.
Kayvon Thibodeaux seems to be alright? pic.twitter.com/lMM4HvbR3G
— Talkin’ Giants (@TalkinGiants) August 22, 2022
Thibodeaux has been one of the major bright spots out of camp this year and he has made quick believers out of his teammates and coaches. The fact that he was on the sideline still at least pointed to the injury not being too serious, but Daboll wasn’t going into details about what the initial indications were for the standout defender.
“I can’t answer that,” he said. “I think they’ll do the tests tonight. The MRIs and stuff like that and get a better feel for it in the morning. I hope (it’s not serious), but I don’t know the answer to that yet.”
Quarterback Daniel Jones, who completed 14 of 16 passes for 116 yards on Sunday, called the moment Thibodeaux got hurt a “scary” one.
“You never want to see anyone go down, so we’ll see,” Jone said. “It was a tough play. You kind of saw the block and the collision there, but hope he’s alright and I think he’s doing better.”
Thibodeaux wasn’t the only injury New York suffered on Sunday night either.
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C.J. Board also left the game with a rib injury and punter Graham Gano was ruled out for the rest of the game because of a concussion. Gano had to run to try and make a tackle during a long kick return in the second quarter.
Rookie linebacker Darrian Beavers also left the game with an injury in the third quarter.
