Giants Edge Rusher Brian Burns Suffers Devastating ACL Tear After Playing Through Ankle Injury

The NFL's obsession with playing through pain just handed the New York Giants a catastrophic bill. Star pass-rusher Brian Burns is believed to have suffered a torn ACL on Sunday, turning a gritty performance into a season-ending disaster.

Burns sprained his left ankle during Monday night's 28-6 blowout loss to the Los Angeles Rams. He missed practice all week, slapped a metaphorical band-aid on it, and suited up six days later against the Tennessee Titans. That is the kind of decision that looks heroic in a football documentary but usually ends with a medical cart in real life.

"Ian Rapoport reported that Burns is believed to have suffered a torn ACL after playing Sunday through ankle pain."

Sure enough, with 11 minutes left in a 12-7 rock fight against Tennessee, Burns went down with a non-contact injury to his right knee. When a guy who just spent a week nursing a bad left ankle suddenly grabs his right knee without being touched, you do not need a medical degree to know the structural integrity of his lower half just collapsed.

This is a brutal loss for a Giants defense that relies heavily on the 250-pound edge rusher to create chaos. Burns racked up 8.5 sacks and 17 tackles for loss in his debut season in New York, and his absence leaves a massive crater in their front seven.

You can expect the betting markets to immediately downgrade the Giants' defensive projections. Opposing quarterbacks suddenly have a lot more time to throw, which makes fading the New York pass defense a very logical angle for the rest of the season.

Burns will undergo an MRI to confirm the tear, but the writing is on the wall. The Giants won the game, but losing your best pass-rusher because he tried to tough out a bad ankle in Week 3 is the kind of victory that feels exactly like a defeat.