Giants' Rakeem Nunez-Roches compares car accident to practice

New York Giants defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches kept things in perspective while speaking Tuesday about his recent car accident. 

"I definitely was fortunate coming out of the situation," Nunez-Roches acknowledged, according to Darryl Slater of NJ Advance Media for NJ.com. "Looking at the accident and both vehicles being totaled, it was definitely an eye-opener. But at the same time, shoot, I’m in a car wreck every week in practice. So it wasn’t nothing different. No bumps, bruises, or broken anything. So it was all good." 

The Athletic's Dan Duggan and Slater reported last Wednesday that Nunez-Roches was in the concussion protocol at that time following a two-car accident that occurred shortly after the 30-year-old left the team's facility the previous day. Slater updated that the Giants cleared Nunez-Roches from the concussion protocol ahead of practice scheduled to take place later Tuesday evening. 

Nunez-Roches suffered no other setbacks related to the accident other than the head injury. He said Tuesday he was struck after the other driver ran a stop sign. 

"I was able to apply the brake a couple seconds before (the other driver) hit me," Nunez-Roches explained. "Because if I didn’t, she was going to hit me straight on. As she hit me and I spun in a circle, it was more frustration, because I was heading home to help my wife put the kids down. And I was just disappointed I wasn’t able to help. Because I knew I was going to have to go to the hospital. I knew I was going to have to do all these [medical] tests. So I really was more mad about that than the accident." 

Giants beat writer Paul Schwartz of the New York Post noted on March 13 that Big Blue and Nunez-Roches agreed to a three-year deal worth $12M with $7.5M guaranteed. While Nunez-Roches certainly can afford a new vehicle, his comments Tuesday indicated the incident on July 25 could've been much worse for the one-time Super Bowl champion.