Theo Johnson gained unwanted notoriety Friday night when he was shown on the Jumbotron at Madison Square Garden sitting courtside at a Knicks game the day he was ruled out for the Giants’ final regular-season game with an illness.
Social media users dug into that appearance. How could Johnson be at a game when he was too sick to play in Week 17 and also Week 18?
“They made their medical designation, that was the team’s decision,” the second-year tight end said with some annoyance Monday as the Giants cleaned out their lockers. “I was dealing with something, I’m still dealing with something. I was not able to play this week.
“I don’t even know why I was discussed. I’m not playing, I don’t know why it’s a big deal that I went to a basketball game.”
The Giants explained that the second-year tight end was dealing with a non-contagious infection. That did not stop conspiracy theorists from accusing the Giants of tanking to lose for a higher pick in the NFL draft by not putting their starting tight end on the field.
“When there’s a narrative that people want to write, the first sign of things, they think that’s what it is,” Johnson said. “When in reality there’s a lot of things people don’t know about, the media don’t know about and people just spring on that narrative rather than saying ‘How about I see what’s really going on’ and I think that’s what happened.”
Johnson has been to the Garden before and he said he was excited that night to take his brother, celebrating his birthday, to his first Knicks game.
“That was really important for me, a cool moment for me to be able to do that for him,’’ Johnson said.
Johnson finished up with 45 receptions for 528 yards and a team-high five touchdown catches.
