You are the Redskins, you see a short middle linebacker who hasn’t played a down in the NFL starting in the season opener, you lick your chops and go right after the kid.
“I would if I was them, too,” Greg Jones of the Giants, the aforementioned short middle linebacker, said yesterday. “I believe in myself to be ready, I believe in my teammates to help me out.”
Belief is about all the Giants have as they try to put together a defense for the first game and beyond. They were stunned to learn their starting middle linebacker, Jonathan Goff, is gone for the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee suffered on a seemingly innocent play in Monday’s brief practice. Jones is next in line, and the rookie sixth-round pick from Michigan State never expected so much so soon.
“I didn’t think it would happen this fast,” Jones said. “I thought it would be a more gradual thing. My teammates are telling me, ‘Just don’t panic, relax.’ “
Panic can’t be far off, considering the Giants have lost six defensive players for the season. The loss of Goff was particularly unnerving, considering all he did Monday was bang his right knee with an offensive player and left the field to get some ice.
“The first initial report was it was a stable knee,” Tom Coughlin said, “and it wasn’t that way.”
No, it wasn’t. An MRI on Tuesday revealed the ligament damage, ending Goff’s season even though teammates saw him walking around the locker room as if nothing had happened.
“It was very shocking,” linebacker Michael Boley said. “Would have never thought just by the way he walked off the field and his whole attitude about it. It was devastating.”
How devastating remains to be seen. Goff made all the defensive calls and was a sturdy run-stopper who had an excellent preseason.
Jones was a prolific producer (465 tackles, 46 ½ for loss) in his four-year college career, dreadlocked and generously listed at 6-foot but not small at 248 pounds. Coughlin didn’t announce that Jones moves in as the starter, but there’s really no other choice, because all four reserve linebackers are rookies. If Jones makes the start, he would be the first Giants rookie linebacker to start in the opener since Lawrence Taylor in 1981.
Veterans and former Giants Chase Blackburn and Kawika Mitchell were at the Giants facility for a tryout, but no signing was expected this week. The Giants may want to wait to add a veteran until after the first game, when contracts are not guaranteed for the season.
“He’s been here all preseason, he’s a good football player, he’s had a good preseason himself,” Coughlin said of Jones. “Sometimes it’s time to step it up. I think he’s got that force, that inertia, always been an outstanding tackler, physical player.”
Coughlin said another rookie, Mark Herzlich, “can play in there, sure,” but Herzlich is more of a strong side linebacker.
Jones said he can make the defensive calls if asked, but that might be too much to expect of a youngster who did not have the benefit of any minicamps or OTAs. When Goff stepped in for injured Antonio Pierce in 2009, the helmet with the radio transmitter was worn by Boley, who made the defensive calls. That scenario could play out again Sunday in Washington.
“It’s easy to make a call when you know what you’re doing,” Boley said, “as opposed to ‘I don’t really know what I’m doing so I’m going to be kind of hesitant.’ ”
Even if he doesn’t make the calls, Jones will have to make plays. Safety Deon Grant, re-signed in mid-August, said Jones impressed him in his first practice.
“I didn’t even know his name, didn’t know who he was,” Grant said. “I was impressed first time I saw him, the way he was getting to the ball, the way he was hitting, the way he was controlling the defense. Jones is a smart young linebacker who can play ball.”
But before yesterday, Jones had never taken one snap with the first-team defense.
“I’ll be as ready as I possibly can,” he said. “And be a leader. Try to gain the respect of my teammates. That’s something I have to do.”
