Loading ...On Monday, the New York Giants announced that cornerback Terrell Thomas had suffered an "injury to the right knee involving the ACL" and that he would consult with Dr. Arthur Ting, who handled Thomas' previous two ACL tears, to determine the extent of the damage. Whether or not Thomas has had that opportunity to consult with Ting remains unclear, but ESPN's Adam Schefter reports that the doctors who have examined Thomas' knee do not believe he has re-torn his ACL and are optimistic he can still play this season.
"Giants CB Terrell Thomas is scheduled to meet Tuesday in Pensacola, Florida with Dr. James Andrews. But doctors who have examined Thomas so far do not believe he has a torn ACL and they are optimistic he will play again this season," Schefter tweeted.
Head coach Tom Coughlin did not sound quite as optimistic on Wednesday, saying he was hopeful but had "enough information to counter some of that hope."
“[Thomas] did a great job of masking, I'm sure, his true emotions,” Coughlin said. “His emotions I am sure are very fragile at this point in time. He did not show that with me. From what I understand, with [Dr. Ronnie Barnes], he kept a stiff upper lip."
Whatever the case may be, you have to hope one of Schefter's sources wasn't Dr. Ting, who has twice been reprimanded by the Medical Board of California throughout his career, and was once on probation for unprofessional conduct after prescribing "dangerous drugs and controlled substances" to athletes without keeping any records. He's also the doctor who handled Barry Bonds' three knee surgeries, while his son, Brandon Ting, was busted at USC for steroids.
Thomas allegedly had to persuade the Giants to allow Ting to handle his ACL surgery a year ago (allograft reconstruction). The choice to perform allograft surgery may play a significant role in what's ailing Thomas now as a cadaver tendon was used, which means the healing process is much more rapid, but there's also a chance the body may deny the new organ, which it could potentially see as an invading force.
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jfunk – Going back to the previous article, where does your Mother live that my Father was there on work? Haha. That’s hilarious! Small world.
Dirt – Did I earn this “I told you so”? I just happen to know a lot about ACL injuries due to my own horrible experience (which I regret to say was handled by the Jets’ orthopedic surgeon).
My wife, not mom (she lives in KY). We are in Woodstock (Zena area), just up the road. I assume you’re related to Kerry, no? My wife and I graduated HS with him.
My mistake – not sure why I read “Mother.” Not related to Kerry, but I know right where you live. I went to Zena Elementary school. I actually live out in Glasco and my parents live in West Hurley.
Dan,
The entire world has written off Thomas and his ACL tear while you were the only person saying hold up he may be aight. Kinda like “I’m telling you people, LaVar WILL be a Giant”
Still a lot of info on this incident we don’t have. But an torn ACL made no sense to me given his ability to talk and no feeling of pain. ACL injuries are incredibly painful.
Crazy article, Dan, especially the stuff about Ting.
If TT has in fact not torn his ACL that would be terrific.
Is he still headed for a scope?
Will that procedure alone mean at least 4 weeks on the shelf?
Well, the scope was never a certainty, and they’re not exactly saying what tests Dr. Andrews will perform. My guess is he’ll do a stability test to determine if the ligament is, in fact, torn (which other doctors believe is not the case) and then he’ll likely review the MRI results to determine if there is a partial tear. If not, they’ll have to consider if the tendon is being rejected by the body and then possibly do a scope to determine what exactly is causing the swelling.
As I said previously, my knee will still occasionally swell depending on the activity I’m doing and how involved my knee is. There stands a chance that what they may discover is that after multiple surgeries, Thomas has developed arthritis (which is what happened to me). It won’t prevent him from playing, but will cause swelling and will need to be cleaned out from time to time. Again, I’m no Doctor and that’s just how my process went, but Thomas’ situation sounds awfully familiar to mine.
After I experienced swelling the first time (which occurred after a car accident), the immediate assumption was that the ligament had been re-torn. I had an MRI that revealed no tear, but they still assumed it was an ACL injury. Only after seeing the Jets’ orthopedic surgery and having them dig around in there, did they determine I developed arthritis.
I have a hard time believing that TT is anything but done. Sounds like he made that decision on his own with eyes wide open based on his choice of doctor though.
Following Dan’scomment on the inference that might be drawable from the fact that TT was walking the day after and not in dramatic pain despite the swelling, I’ve never had a torn ACL so I can’t comment directly, but I did watch one of my high school son’s lacrosse teammates tear his ACL completely in half and subsequently play the entire season in a brace without swelling or pain (or stability — he would periodically drop like a brick). I was told then that a completely severed ACL is actually easier to address than a partial tear
Full tear is easier to address than partial. And with a brace, you technically could play with a brace since it adds the necessary stability. But I can tell you from my experience, you are in pain when an ACL tears. Horrible, horrible pain (as you can see on the faces of those who tore them). It feels like you’ve been shot right in the knee cap.
On that note, I was able to walk off the field, to my car and drive home. I even talked around for a few days before I eventually went to the hospital for an MRI. But I can tell you, my leg kept collapsing (then again, my PCL was completely torn and I also had a partial tear of the MCL). I could literally pivot on my leg and spin my entire body around my knee. It was disgusting.
On a different note, I had to cool my heels at my office last night waiting for my wife’s plane to land so I took the opportunity to watch all of the interviews on giants.com. When I get to Martellus Bennett I am treated to his stand-up comedy routine — my wife, she don’t know if she wants chicken or beef; Eli knows when he wants chicken; I love playing for Eli.
What’s he going to be like if he starts catching balls during real games this season?
He also said he feels like a black unicorn. Haha
And he said he was a talker
Could be amusing
But if he does something wrong, the new York media will surely feast
Also was asked how his hamstring said and his response.. It feels good, you want to feel it?
In all of this you really have to commend Jerry Reese for having the foresight to stack up at that position. I have little doubt that Hosley or Amukamara will fill the gap as long as we keep providing safety help.
The experience that I have with knee injuries tells me that we just aren’t going to see the T2 we were used to seeing prior to this 2nd and 3rd injury. Is it possible that the severity of this latest one might be small enough to minimize the recovery time and offer him a window of return? Sure. But this didn’t happen in a game, or even on the practice field…the dude slipped in a non-football activity, and the result is what we’ve been talking about for the last 4 days. What happens when a running back or a receiver dives at his legs? What happens when he’s running on a wet, sh*tty field? Guy doesn’t stand a chance…
uut