The loss of Andre Brown took some of the joy out of Sunday's dominating win over the Green Bay Packers. Tom Coughlin admitted as much in his postgame press conference, knowing his running back's injury was bad.
A day later, Brown, who broke his fibula, was placed on injured reserve with a designation to return after eight weeks. The Giants addressed the void Tuesday by signing running backs Ryan Torain and Kregg Lumpkin.
It will take a collective effort by Ahmad Bradshaw, David Wilson and the newcomers to pick up the slack. And by Henry Hynoski. The second-year fullback is now the most tenured Giant in the backfield after Bradshaw, and he will be leaned upon both on the field and in the film room.
"It's a five-game schedule and we just have to keep staying consistent," Hynoski said Monday. "We can't get complacent and say, 'Oh, we just beat up on the Packers, so we can beat up on anybody now.' Every week is big boys football and we just have to come out, buckle our chinstraps and prepare every week like we did last week and approach practice like we did last week and we have to carry that here on out for rest of the way through."
If Hynoski has any say, this could include more touches. He has three carries for 12 yards this season, which is a lot for a Giants fullback in recent memory.
"We didn't get there yet," Hynoski said. "But I'll be fighting for a couple hopefully."
Also looking for more action will be Wilson, who is at the stage of the season when rookies are expected to do more. Hynoski knows this well. He was at that point just a year ago.
"The rookie year is all about learning, learning everything about the NFL, and you really start getting comfortable late in your rookie year and starting your second year," Hynoski said "So now is a time where David has to really step up and turn it on. It's getting to that point in the season where we expect a lot more out of him."