John Michael Schmitz Heads NY Giants Week 9 In-game Injury List

Another week, another loss, and more injuries for the New York Giants.

The Giants, whose inactive list for their Week 9 tilt against the San Francisco 49ers consisted mostly of injured players, added a few more guys to the growing list, the most notable being center John Michael Schmitz, who left the game with a shin injury.

Schmitz suffered the injury early in the third quarter after the Giants opened the frame with an eight-play, 64-yard drive that ended with a 22-yard field goal by Graham Gano to cut the 49ers' lead to 20-10. 

Austin Schlottmann replaced him, the second time this season Schmitz had to leave a game early due to an injury (the first was a concussion he suffered against the Eagles in Week 6).  

Losing Schmitz for the rest of the afternoon was another brutal loss for the Giants' offense, which has struggled to get much going against a fiery San Francisco defense that's been suffocating the passing attack, limiting New York to just 16 completions for 89 yards and sacking quarterback Jaxson Dart twice for a loss of 12 total yards.

In addition, the Giants announced that inside linebacker Darius Muasau, who was starting inside with Bobby Okereke for the Giants, sustained an ankle injury in the second quarter after helping the team's defense make a stop on 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey, who earned a short two-yard gain on first down-and-10 on their drive.

The Giants initially deemed Muasau questionable to return to the action before the halftime break, but upon consulting with the medical staff, decided the 24-year-old linebacker, who ended up rotating with Demtrius Flannigan-Fowles in this game, would be held back for the rest of the afternoon.

With Muasau, the latest player to hit the sidelines, the Giants' defense is now a little thinner in its personnel ranks. 

They entered the day with three members of their defensive secondary missing the game — starting corners Cor’Dale Flott and Paulson Adebo, and starting safety Jevon Holland. 

The inside linebacker spot, already thin after losing Micah McFadden back in Week 1, appears to have taken another hit. However, it’s unknown at this time how much, if any, time Muasau, who is among the top five New York players in tackles for loss this season, will end up missing.

In addition to Schmitz and Muasau, receiver Beaux Collins left the game with a neck injury, his status moving forward uncertain.