Giants React to Talk of Faking Injuries

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — When the Giants’ Deon Grant and Jacquian Williams simultaneously fell to the ground clutching their legs in the first quarter of Monday night’s victory over St. Louis, Rams quarterback Sam Bradford was visibly perturbed. He screamed toward the Giants defense as he walked off the field during the injury timeout.

There was soon speculation that Grant and Williams, who quickly got up, were faking injuries to slow the Rams’ no-huddle offense and allow the Giants to substitute players.

“They couldn’t get subbed, they couldn’t line up,” Bradford said after the game. “Someone said, ‘Someone go down, someone go down,’ so someone just went down and grabbed a cramp.”

Grant took exception to those questioning his injury and quick recovery (he jogged off the field and was back in the next play), although he said someone told him to go down and essentially dive like an Italian soccer player.

“Yes, I was, I really was,” Grant said when asked if he was injured. “When I watched the film, you see me bending my knee after I made the tackle. I’m walking, I’m bending my knee at the same time and someone was like, ‘Just go down, D, just go down,’ and I was like, ‘No, I’m good.’ ”

He said that he saw the Rams hurrying to snap the ball: “I’m like, I can’t get to my position, I can’t get off the field, so I’m going to have to go down. I’m going to have to go down, and that’s what I did.”

He continued: “As far as me coming back in the game, you can go back and watch all my film. I ain’t never just played the game and didn’t finish the game. I finished every game my whole career. That’s just how I am.”

The Rams filed a complaint with the N.F.L., but the league has decided not to discipline Grant or the Giants. The league, however, did send a memo to all 32 franchises warning of fines, suspensions and loss of draft picks if it was determined that players faked injuries in a game.

How exactly the league can determine whether a player is faking injury is sure to be difficult and controversial, and Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said he thought it would be problematic.

“I don’t see how you can understand what’s going on in somebody’s body,” Kiwanuka said. “I think that’s a dangerous path to go down. If you start letting referees decide whether a player is hurt or not, that could come back to bite them big time.”