Nov 042021
 
Xavier McKinney, New York Giants (August 14, 2021)

Xavier McKinney – © USA TODAY Sports

NOVEMBER 4, 2021 NEW YORK GIANTS INJURY REPORT…
The New York Giants practiced on Thursday at Quest Diagnostics Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

The team continues to have issues regarding COVID testing. To recap, 12 of 13 members of the organization falsely tested positive on Tuesday. The only person within this group who received two positive tests was Running Back Coach Burton Burns. He will miss Sunday’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders.

Three additional players tested positive on Wednesday, including RB Saquon Barkley (ankle), OG/OC Matt Skura, and S Xavier McKinney. Skura was cleared as a false positive today, but it appears the team also believes that Barkley and McKinney could be false positives.

The Giants issued the following statement this morning: Bio-Reference Laboratories (BRL) is experiencing an unusually high number of false positives using the Rapid Mesa Test at our facility. With the exception of one individual, all of the positive Mesa test results over the last two days have come back negative through PCR testing. The laboratory is working with experts to determine the source of the problem. The NFL and BRL are monitoring this situation closely. We are temporarily halting the use of the Rapid Mesa Test and administering PCR tests only.

To make matters worse, RB Gary Brightwell tested positive today as well. All of the players were tested this morning, then sent home to participate in team meetings via Zoom calls. Then they returned to Quest Diagnostics Center to participate in practice. “This has been, obviously, a different type of day,” Head Coach Joe Judge said. “We’ve kind of flowed with it pretty well, I think, as an organization. We got the meetings accomplished virtually. It was kind of like stepping back into last season… No one has been ruled out completely as a player at this point (for Sunday’s game).”

Per an earlier Giants’ press release: Vaccinated players and coaches who test positive but are asymptomatic can rejoin their team after two negative tests at least 24 hours apart. If an unvaccinated person tests positive, the protocols from 2020 remain in effect. The player is isolated for 10 days and is permitted to return to duty if asymptomatic.

Not practicing were RB Saquon Barkley (ankle/COVID protocol), RB Gary Brightwell (COVID protocol), WR Sterling Shepard (quad), WR Dante Pettis (shoulder), TE Kyle Rudolph (not injury related), LB Lorenzo Carter (ankle), S Xavier McKinney (COVID protocol), and S Nate Ebner (ankle).

Limited in practice were WR Kenny Golladay (knee), WR Kadarius Toney (thumb), WR John Ross (quad), and TE Kaden Smith (knee).

OG/OC Matt Skura (cleared COVID protocol) fully practiced.

ROSTER MOVES…
LB Benardrick McKinney has been activated off the Practice Squad as a COVID-19 replacement player. S Steven Parker, who was signed to the 53-man roster on Monday and then waived on Tuesday, was re-signed to the Practice Squad.

THE COACHES SPEAK…
Transcripts and video clips of the media sessions with the following coaches are available in The Corner Forum and at Giants.com:

THE PLAYERS SPEAK…
Transcripts and video clips of the media sessions with the following players are available in The Corner Forum and at Giants.com:

WHAT’S UP NEXT…
The Giants practice again on Friday. Head Coach Joe Judge and select players will also address the media.

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Eric Kennedy

Eric Kennedy is Editor-in-Chief of BigBlueInteractive.com, a publication of Big Blue Interactive, LLC. Follow @BigBlueInteract on Twitter.

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