New York Giants guard Shane Lemieux's season over after knee surgery

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. --New York Giants starting left guard Shane Lemieux underwent surgery Wednesday at Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan to repair the patella tendon in his left knee. He is expected to miss the rest of the season.

The state of the Giants' already questionable offensive line gets only more troubling with Lemieux out. They also lost Nick Gates to a fractured leg last week. Gates started the opener at center before moving to left guard Week 2 against Washington.

Recently acquired Ben Bredeson is now expected to be the Giants' third starting left guard in three weeks when they host the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday. Billy Price should get a second start at center after coming to New York in a late-summer trade.

Lemieux tried to play through the knee injury, which he suffered at the start of camp. He didn't last through the first half of the opener and eventually landed on injured reserve last week.

Lemiuex was a fifth-round pick last year out of Oregon. He started nine games as a rookie, and the Giants had high hopes for him this season. They even cut veteran guard Kevin Zeitler this offseason in part because of their confidence in Lemieux.