The Giants announced yesterday that wide receiver Domenik Hixon suffered a torn ACL in his right knee inMonday night’s victory over the St. Louis Rams.
The injury, which happened on Hixon’s touchdown reception, is to the same knee as last season when he tore it returning punts in the first mini-camp practice. And just as when he injured it last June, Hixon simply jogged off the field.
The sixth-year veteran said he doesn’t believe he or the team is jinxed, but had to chuckle because of the sheer absurdity of his personal circumstances.
“It’s devastating news, after I did everything I could do to come back 100 percent, that I have to start all over again,” Hixon said, adding when he initially felt discomfort it was more in his calf than anywhere else. “It was wishful thinking more than anything else when I felt my calf tighten up. More or less the doctors said that must’ve been the swelling going there [instead of his knee].”
What frustrates Hixon the most is the fact he doesn’t have a noticeable limp and others keep asking him if it’s really torn.
“That’s what’s kind of [funny] … well, it’s not comical, but I can walk around. And I even came back into the game and ran a couple of routes and it never felt stiff or never felt bad,” Hixon said. “Even now walking around everyone is saying ‘you’re walking normal,’ so obviously the doctors didn’t make it up. But there was no pain. The calf is the only thing that’s sore. The knee feels fine.”
A team source said Hixon will undergo surgery “in the near future” though there hasn’t been a timetable yet. One thing Hixon is sure of is that this new setback won’t deter him from soldering on and resuming his NFL career.
“I’ll come back and be just as fast and just as explosive,” he said.
The Giants indeed seem like a snakebitten team this year. Hixon will be the ninth Giants player to go on injured reserve and the fifth with a knee injury. Starting middle linebacker Jonathan Goff, starting cornerback Terrell Thomas, reserve linebacker Clint Sintim and reserve cornerback Brian Witherspoon are all sidelined with torn knee ligaments. Sintim, like Hixon, hurt his knee for the second year in a row.
Hixon’s season ends after appearing in just two games, catching four passes for 50 yards and returning three punts for 31 yards. Primarily a third or fourth receiver, Hixon’s role will now fall to a trio of reserves — Victor Cruz, the newly-signed Brandon Stokley and rookie Jerrel Jernigan, who has been inactive the first two games.
Veteran cornerback Aaron Ross will most likely assume punt return duties in Hixon’s absence. Ross had a pedestrian two returns for 13 yards against the Rams.
Follow Giants beat writer Tony Williams on Twitter
