The New York Post reports that the Giants and Eli Manning experienced a frightening moment in last night’s preseason game against the Jets, with Manning forced out early in the second half with blood pouring out of his forehead.
The play was brutal to watch. On third-and-goal from the Jets 5-yard line, Manning and Brandon Jacobs were involved in an unfortunate and costly miscommunication.
Manning looked as if he was fading back to pass when he slammed into the side of Jacobs, who either was too close to Manning or else was expecting to get the ball on a handoff.
The unexpected contact loosened the quarterback's helmet, which began to come off. From the blind side, linebacker Calvin Pace slammed into Manning from behind, causing the helmet to fly off, sending the ball into the air and bending Manning nearly in two. As he was thrust forward, Manning's bare head knocked into the helmet of safety Jim Leonhard.
That blow caused a deep gash on the left side of Manning's forehead, which immediately turned bright red.
On one knee, Manning weakly motioned with his hand for help as he slowly got to his feet and began trotting to the Giants sideline. Blood flowed freely from the wound and when he got to the sideline a white towel pressed to his head was covered with blood.
Manning suffered a three-inch laceration that required 12 stitches to close.
He showed no sign of a concussion and X-rays at the stadium were negative. He was sent home by the Giants medical staff.
"I feel fine,'' Manning said. "I feel normal. The play was my fault. We had a run play with
an option to throw a fade that I thought I might try, but Brandon was coming right up the middle. Sometimes you make a mistake and you get hit in the head.
It's preseason. You learn from it. I'll be back as soon as I can. It's really
not an injury. Nothing serious. I really feel like I could go back out and play right now if I had to."
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