Dexter Lawrence is elbowing his way back into the lineup.
Lawrence will play Monday for the Giants against the Patriots after he returned from two missed practices to participate Saturday on a limited basis.
He was restricted to rushing the quarterback on third downs for most of the final three quarters last week and was not on the field for any of the Lions’ three chunk runs because he took “two direct shots” to his surgically repaired elbow on the second and third defensive series, according to defensive line coach Andre Patterson.
“For him to do what he did in the game, most guys I’ve been around would’ve tapped out in his situation,” Patterson said. “I had to put him in situations where he could at least defend himself. He kept trying to fight through it for his teammates and he couldn’t move the arm.
“I got him through the first half just letting him rush on third down. In the second half, it was the same way: ‘Just let me know when you can go.’ He’s got the heart of a lion.”
Lawrence continued to refute the idea that his elbow has been in pain all season after he suffered a dislocation on Thanksgiving 2024.
It would help explain his dip in production from nine sacks in 12 games to a half-sack in 12 games while remaining the most frequently double-teamed defender in the NFL.
“Just aggravated something else in the elbow,” Lawrence said. “But I’ve been hitting recovery hard, so I feel good.”
Lawrence said that his availability for Monday was never in doubt, despite the Giants (2-10) being out of playoff contention.
Whether he plays a full snap load or exclusively rushes the passer remains to be seen — the Giants have the NFL’s worst rushing defense — but Patterson balked at the theory mentioned by WFAN radio analyst Carl Banks during the broadcast and echoed by fans that Lawrence was rotated out on the first snap of overtime when Jahmyr Gibbs ran for a 69-yard touchdown.
“It had nothing to do with a rotation,” Patterson said. “To be honest with you, I kind of take that as a slap in the face. I’ve been doing this for so long and been on great teams and had great players that you would think that I would be rotating my best player on the first play of overtime? It’s not my first barbeque.”
Interim head coach Mike Kafka said that Lawrence was nearly “in tears on the sideline” about not being able to contribute more.
Is that true?
“It’s more of a figure of speech,” Lawrence laughed. “Obviously I want to be on the field as one of the better players on the team, but that wasn’t the plan in that moment.
“Me and Dre had something good working and they so happened to break it on the first play. But I love playing football, and I’m going to be on the field when I can.”
The one-year anniversary of Lawrence’s broken elbow passed Friday, as Lawrence sat out a practice.
“A few people brought it up,” he said. “But it didn’t give me any icks or anything like that.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
