The big kid in Jermaine Eluemunor couldn’t help but laugh as a couple of giddy kids collected the fart-blasters on their holiday shopping list.
The nine-year NFL veteran in him couldn’t help but smile, knowing he made wishes come true Monday for 25 children battling cancer through his donation and partnership with the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund.
Each child received a $150 Target gift card to shop in Clifton along with assistance navigating the aisles from Eluemunor, Giants teammates (John Michael Schmitz Jr., Marcus Mbow, Casey Rogers, Austin Schlottmann and Jake Kubas) and Jay Fund volunteers.
“It means a lot, especially when you go through a season like we are having,” said Eluemunor, the starting right tackle for the Giants (2-12). “You need to have things like this that put everything into perspective for you and show that it’s bigger than football.
“No matter your record on the field, there are way bigger things going on — and us, as professional athletes, can really make a difference in people’s lives. It’s important to me to give back in the way I wanted to — with kids.”
Started by former Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, The Jay Fund’s mission is to help families tackle childhood cancer by providing financial, emotional and practical support. The second annual “A Season to Give: Jermaine’s Night of Giving” event allowed parents time to have a coffee break while their kids shopped.
“I’ve always loved working with kids,” Eluemunor said, “but it’s special getting to work with kids who are fighting every day and are used to being hospital beds, and giving them a day where they can get away from everything to go toy shopping. As a little kid, that’s one of the coolest things you can do. On top of that, you are with a bunch of big, special athletes who are committed to you.”
Eluemunor and Coughlin met while the former was playing for the Raiders under Coughlin protégé Antonio Pierce.
“He’s royalty when it comes to this franchise,” Eluemunor said, “so to be able to partner with him and have my vision for what I wanted to do today align with his was really cool.”
Interim head coach Mike Kafka had no reason to suspect that QB Jaxson Dart was experiencing any delayed concussion-like symptoms Monday morning after passing an in-game test Sunday against the Commanders for the fourth time in five tries this season. That happened to the Vikings’ J.J. McCarthy earlier this season after he was cleared during the game.
“We’ll have a medical meeting here in a little bit and go through each guy,” Kafka said, “but it sounds like we were pretty clean.”
Analytics say that the Giants should’ve tried a two-point conversion when trailing, 29-20, with 3:43 remaining. The thinking is that a successful conversion makes it easy to tie the game on another touchdown and PAT and a failure gives you more time to adjust to needing to squeeze out an extra possession.
The Giants kicked the PAT to make it an eight-point deficit.
“Sometimes you’re in the heat of it,” Kafka said. “It’s a 50/50. There’s really not a sway either way. So, we were just really banking [on] make it a one-score game, let’s go score one more time, then go for two to tie it. Versus you roll the dice if you go for two there and you don’t get it. Now you’ve still got to get another touchdown and then a field goal. So, we were just trying to keep it a one-score game.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
