The Giants knew it was serious as soon as center Jon Halapio went down, stayed down and writhed in pain in the third quarter of Sunday night’s 20-13 loss to the Cowboys. Their worst fears were realized when Halapio on Monday was diagnosed with fractures to his lower leg and ankle, injuries that will require surgery to repair.
It is a similar injury to the one Odell Beckham Jr. suffered in Week 5 last season. After an extensive rehab, Beckham has returned to form this season. Halapio, in time, should be able to do the same.
This ends Halapio’s season after two games. He earned a starting job with a strong spring and summer, beating out Brett Jones, who was traded to the Vikings for a conditional 2019 seventh-round draft pick. John Greco replaced Halapio and finished out the game at center for the Giants, and the 33-year-old veteran is the starting center for the foreseeable future. Coach Pat Shurmur made that logical call Monday and said there will be more of a focus on preparing Spencer Pulley, 25, who was signed prior to the season and has been inactive the first two games. Pulley started all 16 games at center last season for the Chargers. Evan Brown, an undrafted rookie free agent from Southern Methodist, was inactive the first two games.
“We’ll start with John and then obviously get Spencer ready to go,” Shurmur said.
An offensive line that could not have embarked on the season any worse just took a hit. The re-assembled line, with four new starters and Ereck Flowers moved from left to right tackle, has been a disaster and a major reason for the 0-2 start. Eli Manning was sacked six times by the Cowboys.
It is a tough break for Halapio. The 27-year-old took a long and winding route to a starting role. He was a 2014 sixth-round pick of the Patriots out of Florida and bounced around practice squads until last season, when he played in 10 games for the Giants, starting the final six games at right guard when injuries hit the offensive line. Halapio is a natural guard and developed into a center, helped along by Jones, as the two became fast friends. The new coaching staff preferred Halapio to Jones.
“He went from a guy who was on the practice squad to a starter,” defensive tackle Damon “Snacks” Harrison said of Halapio, a player he knocked heads with during training camp. “I just feel for him. All that hard work and to have something like this happen. He did everything right, did everything that was asked of him.”
Greco is in his 11th NFL season in a career that began with the Rams in 2008. He spent six years with the Browns. He has 70 NFL starts, almost exclusively at guard. He was signed by the Giants last November and this year made the final roster at the expense of another veteran, John Jerry, primarily because Greco can play guard and center.
“He’s a vet,” Manning said of Greco, “and he’s been here and he knows what he’s doing.”