With both sides of the ball riddled with injuries, having a short week -- on the road against the undefeated Patriots nonetheless -- isn't ideal for the Giants, to say the least. And head coach Pat Shurmur doesn't really want to talk about it.
Speaking after practice on Tuesday, Shurmur didn't go deep into his injury situation that involves Wayne Gallman and Sterling Shepard dealing with concussions, Saquon Barkley still up in the air with his high ankle sprain, and now Evan Engram potentially being out with what ESPN's Adam Schefter is hearing as a sprained MCL on his left knee. Lorenzo Carter was also limited once again with a neck injury.
But, other than Gallman and Shepard's documented concussions and being in the protocol, he was mute.
"Like I said, I'm not going to talk about injuries other than the two concussion guys didn't participate at all today," he said.
Though Barkley and Engram's statuses are still in question for Thursday night in Foxborough, Daniel Jones must practice on this short week thinking he won't be able to have them as weapons to go along with Gallman and Shepard -- both of whom should be out when the injury report surfaces again on Wednesday. That leaves only Golden Tate, who just got off his suspension this past week, as a healthy star on offense.
That isn't getting Shurmur down, though, as he says he'll continue to gameplan with the expectation that Jones will play well -- no matter who he's throwing to.
"We're going to play with the guys we have and we expect Daniel to go out there and execute," Shurmur said. "And I'm going to try to call the game so that he has the best chance to do so."
Maybe this avoidance of questions from the New York media is gamesmanship from Shurmur, who warned not to look into all the reports out there on his players given that the Giants haven't released them all.
"I understand you're curious about the injuries," he said. "I really don't have anything to add other than what's out there. And some of what's out there is not stuff that we put out."
A coaching tactic or not to throw the Pats off (if that can even happen after their hot start to the season), Shurmur's offense won't be 100 percent yet again. And this short week certainly doesn't help matters at all.
Luckily, the defense should be getting some bodies back in LB Alec Ogletree (hamstring), Tae Davis (concussion) and Josiah Tauaefa (knee) all full practice participants.