Giants' Brian Burns has torn ACL, will undergo season-ending surgery

Giants head coach John Harbaugh has confirmed the worst.

As numerous reports indicated early Monday morning, star defender Brian Burns has suffered a torn right ACL that will require season-ending surgery.

Burns underwent an MRI after leaving Sunday's win over the Titans midway through the fourth quarter.

The All-Pro pass rusher remained down for several moments in visible pain after colliding with a Titans lineman while rushing the passer. Burns pounded on the MetLife Stadium turf in frustration, then was able to walk off to the sidelines under his own power, but went to the locker room and was deemed questionable to return.

Harbaugh said postgame that there was "some hope" the Giants might have avoided the worst-case scenario, but the MRI unfortunately revealed that was not the case.

The injury to Burns is the second massive bad break to befall the Giants in the last two weeks.

"It's a big challenge for us," the head coach said. "He's not just a great player, but in many ways the leader of the defense, I would say, just as a veteran leader and star player, also a worker, out-front kind of guy in everything he does -- just, you hate to see it, he was such a rock for us."

Burns had gotten off to a bit of a slow start this season but he served as that rock for the Giants defense last year, earning Second Team All-Pro honors after recording 67 tackles and a team-high 16.5 sacks.

With him sidelined, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Abdul Carter will need to step up and produce.

They're doing a lot of things to offset our pass rush, but they're having a little too much success right now," Harbaugh said. "So we've got to keep finding ways to get the quarterback on the ground, and those two guys obviously are going to be a massive, massive part of that going forward."