The Giants say they have not given up on running back David Wilson, but that might be less out of the goodness of their hearts than simple necessity. It’s not like they have anywhere else to really turn.
Head coach Tom Coughlin and veteran wide receiver Hakeem Nicks came to Wilson’s defense, sort of, after the second-year back fumbled twice in New York’s loss to the Cowboys on Sunday night. While insisting that Wilson will get a second chance, no one on the Giants would commit to how much they would count on him the rest of the season.
“Keep his head up, been down that road before, get ready to come back and compete,” Nicks told Wilson, according to the New York Post. “But letting him know, at the same time, we can’t have that right now. We’re on the big stage right now, our goals for this season, got to eliminate turnovers.”
The problem for the Giants is, they don’t have a ton of options. Andre Brown is hurt, and Da’Rel Scott is not nearly as talented as Wilson, a former first-round pick out of Virginia Tech. The Giants made plans Monday to work out Brandon Jacobs, Willis McGahee and Joe McKnight as they grasped for solutions.
That may have been why the notoriously strict Coughlin not only sent Wilson back into the game after his first fumble against Dallas but also continued to defend him after the game.
“He is a talented young man,” Coughlin told reporters. “We will get him right even if he has to run around the field with two balls. We need him.”
