Giants LB Pierce done for season
December 1, 2009
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)—The slumping New York Giants placed linebackerAntonio Pierce(notes) on injured reserve Monday with a bulging disk in his neck, endingthe season for one of their defensive leaders.
Pierce has missed two games since being ruled out indefinitely after an MRIexam Nov. 20 revealed the bulging disk. The Giants (6-5) decided to put Pierceon IR after he received a second opinion from Dr. Robert Watkins, an orthopedicsurgeon based in Los Angeles.
The 31-year-old Pierce, in his ninth NFL season and fifth with the Giants,has 55 tackles, one sack and one forced fumble in nine games this season.
New York, which has lost five of six since opening the season 5-0, hostsrival Dallas on Sunday is also dealing with an injury to quarterback EliManning(notes), who has a stress reaction in his right foot.
Pierce played 15 games last season after appearing in all 16 games in eachof the previous two seasons. He has led the Giants in tackles for the past threeseasons and missed only four regular-season games since leaving the WashingtonRedskins to join the Giants.
He spent much of the past year in the spotlight after helping formerteammate Plaxico Burress(notes) when the wide receiver accidentally shot himself in thethigh in a New York nightclub.
Pierce drove Burress to the hospital and then took the gun that Burress usedback to his home in New Jersey, later arranging to get it back to the woundedreceiver’s home. Pierce testified before a grand jury, which declined to indicthim for his role in the incident.