By the time the clock ran out on their 16-13 loss to the Vikings, the Giants were down 60 percent of their starting offensive line.
Sunday started with some unexpected news.
Ninety minutes before kickoff, left guard Jon Runyan appeared on the inactive list because his wife had gone into labor earlier in the day. Runyan and right guard Greg Van Roten had been the only two Giants who had not missed a snap on either side of the ball this season.
Aaron Stinnie made his first start of the season, the 16th of his career, in place of Runyan.
The Giants had to shuffle around the offensive line again when left tackle Andrew Thomas injured his hamstring with 11:36 left in the second quarter. Rookie Marcus Mbow, the Giants’ fifth-round pick, entered for Thomas and was immediately penalized for illegal formation for not being on the line of scrimmage on his first offensive snap since Week 9.
“Sore,” Thomas said after the game. “We haven’t done the image yet, so we’ll see tomorrow what the diagnosis is. … I talked to the training staff at halftime, and we decided it was the best to stay out.”
The injuries really piled up when center John Michael Schmitz then left in the second half with a hand injury and was replaced by Austin Schlottmann.
Adding to the situation, Evan Neal (neck/hamstring) was inactive after being designated for return from injured reserve on Tuesday. He practiced fully on Wednesday but was a non-participant on Thursday and Friday, when he was ruled out for Sunday. The former seventh overall draft choice has yet to appear in a game this season, his fourth in the NFL.
It all amounted to a season-low 141 yards for the offense, which did not score a touchdown for the first time since Week 1.
“I’ve gotten reps with all those guys throughout my time here,” quarterback Jaxson Dart said. “This is probably the first time we’ve had that much movement in the rotation, but I trust in all those guy and they have prepared and work really hard. So, I have all the trust in the world in them.”
