EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Mike Glennon finds himself in the same circumstance as the player he replaced, Daniel Jones, as his season has come to a premature end due to injury.
The quarterback who has started four of the Giants' five games since Jones was forced from the lineup due to a neck injury, hurt his left wrist in the team's 29-3 loss to the Chicago Bears. Glennon will undergo surgery and miss the season finale Sunday in MetLife Stadium against the Washington Football Team.
"I'm not going to go through the specific diagnosis, but it was an injury to his non-throwing hand," coach Joe Judge said today. "It's something that has to be handled probably sooner than later, but he'll be unavailable to play this week."
Glennon played in six games, tying the second-highest total of his nine-year career, in his first season with the Giants. He completed 90 of 167 passes (53.9%) for 790 yards, four touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Glennon was sacked nine times, including four in Soldier Field.
Against the Bears, Glennon completed only four of 11 passes for 24 yards.
Judge expressed admiration for Glennon's attitude, preparation, competitiveness and willingness to stand tall in a collapsing pocket.
"I'm pleased with what Mike's done for the team and how hard he works," Judge said today. "It's a shame. Mike got hurt in the game yesterday. He's going to have surgery coming up soon and he won't be available for the game this week. I know Mike wanted to go out there yesterday and compete and do everything he could for the team, and that's the way his season will end."
Jake Fromm will likely make his second start and third appearance of the season. Brian Lewerke, who has spent the entire season on the practice squad, is expected to be Fromm's backup.
"Right now, it would be Jake," Judge said. "We have Brian Lewerke with us all year, including some of the preseason. He's been with us and familiar with our schemes. We'll work both those guys in practice this week. Right now, based on reps and games, Jake would have the nod. I would anticipate getting him prepared that way, but like any other week we'll get both guys ready and make sure they're both prepared and ready to play."
Fromm made his NFL debut on the Giants' final offensive possession against Dallas on Dec. 19 and completed six of 12 passes for 82 yards.
That performance earned Fromm his first career start the following week in Philadelphia, where he and the team struggled. Fromm hit six of 17 passes for 25 yards and an interception, and the Giants scored just three points on the eight possessions in which he took the snaps. He was replaced by Glennon in the third quarter of a 34-10 loss.
Left tackle Andrew Thomas was a three-year teammate of Fromm's at the University of Georgia. He said the quarterback welcomes the opportunity to acquit himself more favorably after posting unimpressive numbers in Philly.
"I think he's eager," Thomas said. "He comes in every day, and he works, doing his best to pick up the playbook. I'm excited to see him get another chance."
Lewerke has never played in an NFL regular-season game. In four seasons as Michigan State, he completed 721 of 1,249 passes (57.7%) for 8,29 yards, 47 touchdowns and 32 interceptions. The Spartans were 22-16 in the games Lewerke started.
The Giants have scored only six touchdowns in their last seven games, in part due to inconsistency at quarterback. But Judge said the other players on the team should be concerned with their duties and not what's happening at the game's most important position.
"Everyone's focus is to come in and do their job," Judge said. "Our defensive players come in every week, they get prepared to stop the opponent's offense, they know what the big targets are and the focuses are. The kicking game knows they have to … stay focused on the other team's strengths and what they have to go ahead and neutralize and how they can make a play to give us some field position. Offensively, everyone's got their individual job. The offensive line protects and opens holes for the run. The receivers block when they don't have the ball. When they get open and work to get the ball their way, and their focus is to catch it when it comes their way. Whoever prepares to play quarterback, their job is to facilitate the offense and move it around.
"It's not everyone's job to worry about other positions. It's their job to come in and focus on what their assignment is, how they can execute and how they can help the team."
*Judge said Glennon's wrist was "the one injury of note" from the game. "There's a lot of other bumps and bruises in there," he said.
*Saquon Barkley rushed for 102 yards in his most productive game of the season. It was his first 100-yard game in more than two years.
"I'd say in terms of what I saw from him, he really ran tough and aggressive yesterday" Judge said. "He ran with good ball security, he ran downhill. He was very productive for us in a game that a team knew that we were going to just run the ball and run the ball. We were able to run the ball when they knew we had to run the ball and a large part of that – obviously, it takes everybody – but a large part of that was his ability to find a seam, push vertical, run tough, create extra yards. Some of his best runs were only two-, three-yard runs where he was able to go ahead and make someone miss in the backfield and certainly make something productive out of it. When something was blocked up in front of him, he didn't miss on that. He got vertical with it and he did a good job getting downhill.
"Again, yesterday, the marks we really wanted to hit in this game were run the ball, stop the run, cover kicks. In terms of running the ball, I thought him and Book (running back Devontae Booker, who ran for 6 yards)) both did a good job of getting the thing downhill aggressively. Our offensive line was able to generate enough lanes to get these guys going and get us an opportunity to be productive in that phase."
From Little League World Series star to prolific passer at the University of Georgia to a 2020 NFL Draft choice, view photos of quarterback Jake Fromm through the years.
Giants App
Download the Giants' official app for iPhone, iPad and Android devices