The New York Giants’ win over Tennessee on a miserable September afternoon came with a familiar and unwelcome twist.

The Giants improved to 2-1 with a 12-7 victory, but they may have paid for it with another significant injury to a cornerstone player.

Star edge rusher Brian Burns left the game with a knee injury and is scheduled for an MRI that will tell the organization whether this is a short-term scare or something far more damaging.

Burns had already been a question mark heading into the matchup. He was dealing with an ankle injury and was widely expected to sit out against the Titans.

Instead he suited up, lasted deep into a sloppy, low-scoring contest, and then went down after colliding with a Tennessee lineman while rushing the passer. He stayed on the turf in visible pain, pounded the ground in frustration, and eventually walked off under his own power before heading to the locker room.

Head coach John Harbaugh said afterward that imaging would determine the extent of the damage and that there is “some hope” the team avoided a severe outcome.

That phrasing was deliberately careful, and the caution makes sense.

Only a week earlier, general manager Joe Schoen had sounded far more optimistic after quarterback Jaxson Dart hurt his knee, telling ESPN that Dart would be all right. Dart’s injury proved season-ending.

The contrast is hard to miss. After watching their starting quarterback disappear from the 2026 picture, the Giants cannot afford a similarly grim diagnosis for the edge rusher who has been the most consistent threat in their pass rush.

Burns had not missed a game since New York acquired him and produced a career-high sack total last season. A long absence would leave an already thin rush even thinner.

The victory itself was ugly but useful. Playing without Dart and in miserable weather, New York leaned on the run, settled for field goals, and survived.

Burns’ contribution before the injury was limited, a reminder that he was already compromised by the ankle sprain from Monday night in Los Angeles.

Playing through that problem and then leaving with a new one is the kind of sequence that can define a season if the MRI is unkind.

For now the Giants are left waiting on pictures and hoping Harbaugh’s measured optimism holds up better than last week’s. A 2-1 record after a grind-it-out win is something to build on.

Losing Burns for any extended stretch would turn that modest start into a much harder climb. The scan will decide which version of the story this becomes.