Giants' Julian Love: Xavier McKinney accident 'a freak thing '

New York Giants safety Julian Love has come to the defense of teammate Xavier McKinney regarding McKinney's costly ATV accident.

"They hammer us with the be smart, look after each other type of thing," Love said about comments made by coaches ahead of the Giants' bye week during a Tuesday appearance on New York sports radio station WFAN, per Logan Mullen of Audacy. "It’s tough because you’re doing stuff and a freak thing can happen like that.

"That’s, like you said, the human side of it. So it’s tough. He wasn’t intentionally doing anything dumb I didn’t think. We were talking, we talk pretty much every day, it was crazy how quickly it transpired. Yeah, it’s tough, but I don’t think anybody has looked at him in (a negative) light."

McKinney injured his hand in an ATV accident that occurred in Cabo during New York's bye. He was placed on the reserve/non-football injury list and, thus, must miss a minimum of four games. He'll be out for contests against the Houston Texans, Detroit Lions, Dallas Cowboys, and Washington Commanders before he'll be eligible to return against the Philadelphia Eagles in Week 14 on Dec. 11. It's unknown if McKinney will be cleared for the Philadelphia matchup. 

"I think it’s a matter of him now still staying around and helping us out, because he’s a vocal leader of this team," Love added about McKinney, who is one of the club's captains. "Sterling Shepard has been that, even when he was out, he kind of brings that juice and that energy for the offense, and there’s a difference when he’s there. He’s in all the meetings with us knowing that he has to be our leader." 

Love will replace McKinney as New York's defensive signal-caller when the 6-2 Giants host the 1-6-1 Texans this Sunday. McKinney went into the break fourth on the team with 38 tackles to go along with a sack, two tackles for loss and four pass breakups this season.