EAST RUTHERFORD (N.J.) -- This week is not easy for New York Giants quarterback Daniel Jones and his injury-plagued offense. On Sunday, they will be without running back Saquon Barley and wide receivers Kadarius Tney and Kenny Golladay when they host Carolina Panthers at MetLife Stadium.
Barkley (ankle), and Golladay(knee), will miss the game for the second time in succession. Toney (ankle), who suffered from an injury that had aggravated, was forced to leave last Sunday's 38-11 loss to the Los Angeles Rams.
Toney was a Giants first-round draft pick. Despite not being active for much of the season's first two weeks, he has 23 catches and 317 yards.
Barkley is the Giants' leading scorer with three touchdowns, despite only playing four games.
The Giants are likely to have Evan Engram, a tight end, and wide receivers Sterling Shepard and Darius Slayton, both hamstring-tightening, available. These are the Giants that have been listed as questionable. John Ross (hamstring), a fast but often injured receiver, is also listed as questionable.
Engram and Shepard were both injured in an earlier season game, and they appeared on Thursday's injury report. It was downplayed by Coach Joe Judge on Friday.
"We must include every detail on the injury report. Judge spoke out about Engram's inability to practice on the previous day. "Just a normal bump and nick coming out of games. Things that are aggravated at practice. We had to restrain him a bit on Thursday."
Shepard, Slayton and others were only limited participants in all of the practices this week. Slayton said Friday that he expected to return to the field after missing three games due to a hamstring injury.
He said, "Yeah I feel good", before adding that he had a great week of practice.
Judge is optimistic about Slayton's return against the Panthers, even though the Giants may opt for him to take one final pregame test.
This is encouraging news for the Giants' offense. However, it will still be missing Barkley, Toney, and Golladay, its most dangerous weapons. This is a lot offense from the sideline.
Barkley has made slow progress since his ankle injury on Oct. 10, against the Dallas Cowboys. Barkley did not practice this week and was not even close to returning against Panthers.
Toney and Golladay did not agree. The Giants are now without any significant firepower after a week in which they already placed starting left tackle Andrew Thomas (foot/ankle), on injured reserve.
Judge stated earlier in the week that they had all made progress. It wasn't enough for them to return on the field this week. Before their bye week, the Giants will play two more games next Monday at Kansas City and vs. Las Vegas.
Some of the prominent trio may not be able to return until after the bye on Nov. 22, when they take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
