Injuries happen in football. It is inevitable. However, the New York Giants have seen way more than their fair share of injuries the last two seasons. In fact, the Giants have led the league, by far, in average games lost to injury the last two seasons. It is not even close.

Last season, the Giants led the NFL with 22 players who ended up on IR. That is almost half of a 53-man roster. In 2013, the Giants lost an average of 141.3 games to injury according to Football Outsiders’ metric. In 2014 they lost 137.1. That is the worst in football by a long shot. Already, they have lost left tackle Will Beatty for an extended period due to a pectoral tear. Defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul injured himself in a fireworks incident and had a finger removed and could be out for up to six weeks, assuming he comes to terms with the team.

Training camp hasn’t even started and there are already two injuries. The injuries might not have changed the outcomes of the last two seasons but it surely hasn’t helped, except to maybe get longer looks at depth guys on the bench and see what they can contribute, which does have its benefits over the long-term but is a short-term nightmare and football is a short-term affair. There are no farm systems for teams to draw on like MLB or the NHL. The Giants grabbed off scrap heaps in order to fill out their roster and the result wasn’t pretty at times but when you consider everything, the results could have been a lot worse.

There is no easy answer. There is no concrete reason to blame. Every injury comes with its own story and reason. It could be the player or it could be the play or it could be the strength and conditioning. There are different reasons for each knee injury, each concussion, each shoulder or chest injury. Call it bad luck. Call it bad preparation. Call it nothing more than a fluke or a curse. You wouldn’t be wrong and you wouldn’t necessarily be right.

The Giants absolutely need the 2015 season to be healthier than the last two years. If they can even get to league average in terms of average games lost that could mean the difference between playoffs or another lost year. There is nothing they can do to prevent it aside from enveloping players up in bubble wrap and having them stay off their feet until game day. The Giants, like all other teams, will have to roll the dice in hopes that the injuries don’t plague them. The jobs of Tom Coughlin and Jerry Reese could depend on that health.