Nick Gates is Giants’ ironman on healthy O-line heading into Week 13 of wild 2020 NFL season

Daniel Jones had played every snap this season prior to Sunday’s right hamstring injury. Now the list of ironmen Giants is down to one:

Center Nick Gates.

Gates, 25, is the only Giants player to have played every eligible snap on his side of the ball, 732 on offense through 11 games.

The next closest to 100% participation on the team is top corner James Bradberry, who has played 721 of a possible 723 snaps on defense (99.7%).

Durability this season is an especially impressive feat, given the absence of organized offseason workouts due to the COVID-19 pandemic, not to mention the virus itself.

But Joe Judge’s strength and conditioning staff, led by director Craig Fitzgerald, and the players have the Giants’ offensive line in particular as the healthiest in the NFC East by far.

Four of the Giants’ five starters on the O-line have played at least 92% of the snaps this season. That’s reflected in their playing time leaders on offense: Gates (100%), right guard Kevin Zeitler (98%), Jones (96%), left tackle Andrew Thomas (95%) and right tackle Cam Fleming (92%).

By comparison, the Cowboys, Eagles and Washington have only one O-lineman apiece who has logged more than 90% of their offensive snaps this season, per Pro Football Reference: Cowboys left guard Connor Williams (99.8%), Eagles center Jason Kelce (99.57%), and Washington tackle Morgan Moses (98.65%).

The Cowboys are down four of five starters. The Eagles have been ravaged by injuries, with starters going in and out. The Washington Team has been healthier than the Boys and Birds but doesn’t compare to the Giants.

The Giants of course had to place Week 1 starting left guard Will Hernandez on the COVID-19 reserve list in Weeks 8 and 9 following his positive test. And he has been replaced by rookie Shane Lemieux, who started at left guard again Sunday while Hernandez played only two series.

Judge’s bye week firing of offensive line coach Marc Colombo also created an element of unknown in Sunday’s first game under new position coach Dave DeGuglielmo. And there was some up and down but encouraging pass protection, at least.

The Bengals did not record a sack and were credited with only three quarterback hits. The Giants rushed 42 times for 142 yards (3.4 yards per carry) and committed four penalties, including three by Fleming (two holdings and a false start) and one by Zeitler.

Fleming’s holding penalty on the Giants’ final offensive drive cancelled out a critical third-down conversion and nearly helped the Bengals come back and win the game.

Judge’s preliminary review postgame, though, was that the offensive line had played tough and helped the Giants accomplish their goal: to control time of possession.

The Giants certainly did. They ran 81 offensive plays to the Bengals’ 49, and they had the ball for a season-high 37:26 compared to the Bengals’ 22:34 with the ball.

“We don’t want any penalties at any time,” Judge said of the offensive line’s outing. “I’ve got to look at the tape and get down to play in and play out how everyone played as a unit, but I’m proud of the way those guys have worked. They’re a tough group. It all starts up front for us, and we knew to have success we needed to run the ball, get the ball downhill, physically move it, keep time of possession on our side, and we were able to do that. That starts up front as an offensive line. I thought they did a nice job.”

BRADBERRY BACK FOR GOOD?

Judge said top corner James Bradberry was getting a game ball for the personal and professional sacrifices he made last week. Bradberry practiced only one day with the team as he tended to a family situation, but still played all 49 snaps in a smothering defensive effort in Cincinnati.

“He’s getting a game ball for the way he had to handle last week and really made a lot of sacrifices and was able to combine some personal adversity and some sacrifice to make sure he was still there for the team,” Judge said. “I’m really proud of the way he handled that.”

The Giants’ coach could not say definitively that Bradberry’s situation was behind him, though, either.

“I really couldn’t answer that. It’s a family matter with him. I don’t want to go into his personal business,” Judge said. “Look, if anyone on this call was dealing with the same thing, we’d encourage them to take care of your family right now and make sure everyone’s good … I hope for his family’s sake and everyone else’s sake that he doesn’t have to deal with it again, but if it comes back up and he does, same as last week, we’ll support him and make sure we’re in a position to help him with whatever he needs.”

QUITE AN ANALOGY

Judge expects special teams captain Nate Ebner (knee) to “rebound pretty fast” and “do whatever he can to be back this Sunday.”

“One thing being around Nate for a long time, he’s like the girl who’s got eight kids and can tell ya she’s pregnant before she’s taking the test. He kinda knows what’s going on with his body,” Judge said. “And walking off at halftime he was able to relay to me what the injury was similar to and what he was thinking about it. Sure enough that’s exactly what was confirmed by the doctors today.”

The status of edge Kyler Fackrell (calf) is uncertain. The Giants will evaluate him later this week.

BEING CAREFUL WITH COVID

Judge said the Giants are hoping to get tight end Kaden Smith, offensive tackle Matt Peart and wideout Dante Pettis off the COVID-19 reserve list this week. But there is no guarantee they’ll be able to play or be major factors either. It’s wait and see.

“We have to remember these guys have missed a significant amount of time,” Judge said. “This isn’t like they just missed a week of practice. They’ve been dealing with something physically for over a week and they haven’t been up or active. So we can’t just bring them back and assume they’re full go.”

Tuesday will be the third day of the players’ “cardio ramp-up period” to get cleared from the protocol and their second straight day on the field. There is a chance they could be practicing with the team Wednesday.

“All the guys are getting stir-crazy,” Judge said.

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