Linebacker Devon Kennard had a big game for the Giants against the Bills last weekend, but he won’t be able to follow it up against the 49ers this Sunday night.
Kennard will not play because of the hamstring injury that kept him from practicing with the team this week. Kennard made a great play to pick off Tyrod Taylor and set up a Giants score early in last Sunday’s game and also broke up two other passes in a performance that highlighted his status as the most athletic member of the team’s linebacking corps.
The 2014 fifth-round pick won’t be the only member of the Giants defense missing on Sunday. Defensive ends Robert Ayers and George Selvie have also been ruled out. That makes three straight weeks without Ayers, who is suffering from a hamstring injury, and it will be the first game Selvie has missed this season.
That leaves the Giants thinner than they’d like in the front seven, although they can take some solace from the lack of any signs that the 49ers offense is equipped to take advantage.