EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Xavier McKinney and Julian Love have been virtually inseparable on the football field since the Giants began their offseason workouts in April.
The team’s starting safeties, they sit next to each other in meetings, share play-calling duties in practice and have lined up in tandem for all but 43 of the Giants’ 506 defensive snaps this season (Love missed most of the Oct. 2 victory against Chicago with a concussion).
But McKinney is sidelined for at least a month with a “couple” of broken fingers suffered in an accident in Cabo San Lucas last Wednesday (Nov. 2), when the Giants were on their bye. His absence gave Love a strange feeling during the team’s walkthrough on Monday and practice on Tuesday..
“Every practice, we’ve been out there,” Love said. “Every game, we’ve been out there. To line up in the warmup line and not have him next to me, I think that’s when it first hit me. It’s weird. We have the same conversations each day, it seems like. It’s been a routine for months, and it’s definitely different. I’d be kidding myself if I said that it’s not different.”
It is for the entire defense, which will be without McKinney for the first time since Week 10 of the 2020 season when the 6-2 Giants host the Houston Texans on Sunday. McKinney has not missed a snap since Week 3 of the 2021 season and has participated in 1,432 consecutive plays, reportedly the longest active streak by an NFL defender. But he is now on the Reserve/Non-Football Injury list and must miss at least four games.
“I got into a Can-Am accident,” said McKinney, who described the vehicle as a “bigger version” of an ATV. “Kind of just flipped over, not flipped over but tilted over, fell on my hand. That’s basically what happened.
“We were on a sightseeing tour. It was nothing that was reckless. This was just simply being able to see, being able to be out of the country, seeing out of the country, seeing what it looked like. It was just an unfortunate event that happened.”
McKinney said he was examined in a hospital in Cabo and underwent surgery after returning to the metropolitan area. He spoke to the media in front of his locker with his left hand heavily wrapped and his arm in a sling.
“I’ve just got a broken finger,” he said. “Like I said, it was unfortunate. Luckily, and I thank God that it wasn’t anything worse but like I said, it wasn’t anything that was reckless that was going on. Just kind of a freak accident.”
“I feel bad for him,” coach Brian Daboll said. “I feel…
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