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Giant hole to fill

Brown out three to four weeks with sprained knee

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Posted: Saturday September 04, 1999 08:31 PM

Brown, the Giants' leading rusher a year ago, will begin rehabilitation immediately. AP

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Cancer survivor LeShon Johnson and rookie Sean Bennett will probably share the load as halfback for the New York Giants with Gary Brown expected to be sidelined through opening month of the season with a sprained left knee.

An MRI on Brown's knee on Saturday showed a Grade 2 sprain of the medial collateral ligament, coach Jim Fassel said Saturday in a conference call. There was no cartilage damage and no surgery will be necessary, the coach added.

Brown, the Giants' leading rusher a year ago with 1,063 yards, was hurt early in the first quarter of Friday's preseason finale against Baltimore. He will begin rehabilitation immediately, but Fassel's best estimate was that it would take three to four weeks until he is ready to play.

The Giants open the regular season next Sunday at Tampa Bay.

"I have a lot of confidence in LeShon Johnson and Sean Bennett," Fassel said. "Regardless of who starts, both will play."

Neither Johnson, who missed all of last season fighting lymphoma, nor Bennett, a fourth-round draft pick out of Northwestern, has Brown's ability to run inside.

A 227-pound pudgy bull, Brown did not practice for the first two weeks of training camp because of a buttocks injury sustained in a motorcycle accident in late June.

However, he was starting to show signs of rounding into shape.

Fassel has concerns about Johnson and Bennett.

Johnson tore a ligament in his right thumb early in training camp and had to have surgery to fix it. He still wears a small cast on the thumb, and there have been times when he has had problems holding on to the ball.

He lost a fumble in the Giants' 28-24 last-second loss to the Ravens. Ironically, the officials correctly ruled that Johnson's fumble was caused by the ground, but the play was reviewed and the officials blew that call.

While Bennett has looked very good running outside tackles and scoring on two screen passes, he has been tentative running inside.

"I don't think you take a veteran out, a 1,000-yard rusher, and say it won't have an effect," Fassel said. "However, and I know it was the preseason, I thought we functioned pretty well in the first couple of games with those guys playing. Sean Bennett started one of those games.

"I think both of those guys functioned well," Fassel said. "There is no reason to have despair. I think those guys can play well and I have confidence in them."

The Giants only averaged 3.0 yards in the preseason and Fassel plans to spend a lot of time working on that this week.

"I feel really bad for Gary," said Johnson, who was undergoing chemotherapy when the regular season started last year. "We were just talking on the sideline the other day and he was saying that he was starting to feel it again. The guy can't catch a break, but thank God he has a chance to come back in a couple of weeks."

Fassel spent much of Saturday making personnel decisions. He has to cut 19 players by Sunday and he said that job was 90 percent done by 5 p.m. Saturday afternoon, although he refused to disclose the names of any players cut.

Fassel plans to look at the waiver wire over the next two days in hopes of finding someone to help the team. However, he said he is not interested in signing another running back.

The only job seemingly up for grabs on Friday was the starting free safety, where Percy Ellsworth was trying to hold off a challenge by Shaun Williams. Fassel said Williams played well against the Ravens.

While he was extremely unhappy with the way the Giants lost in the last second on Friday, Fassel said he does not expect it or Brown's injury to take a toll on the team heading into the season.

"Everybody in this league faces adversity," Fassel said. "Nobody goes through the season without it, whether it's a tough loss, an injury to a player or a setback here or there. Everybody faces adversity.

"It's part of the game, you have to move on," he added.

NOTES: Center Brian Williams (knee) and defensive tackle Robert Harris (ankle) are both expected back this week. Cornerback Conrad Hamilton, who has been sidelined almost a month with an ankle injury, is expected to practice this week. Fassel said there is an outside chance cornerback Jason Sehorn (hamstring) may get back on the field this week.

 

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