T-Rock's Take on the Giants

He's signed his six-year extension. And with that starters on the Giants' offensive line will be together until the year 5379 or thereabouts.

Next on line at the Jerry Reese Super Bowl Champion Bank of East Rutherford: Plaxico Burress.

Our man Neil Best went to the Michael Strahan press conference yesterday and came back to the basement with some pretty interesting items. You can read all about them here and here.

It's a big round world for Best, who covered Strahan during his playing days, probably thought he'd seen the last of him when he left the beat to watch TV, and now finds himself once again covering Strahan.

Quoth Best: Sigh.

It's almost a lock that he won't be. No, not according to him or the Giants or anyone else involved with the situation. But those are the chances posted by the folks at BetUS.com, which recently released their odds of NFL players either holding out or sitting out at the start of training camp for their teams. Shockey is getting 1-to-1 odds that he doesn't show.

Here are the players they are playing:

Titans DT Albert Haynesworth -- 3/1
Ravens OLB Terrell Suggs -- 2/1
Lions WR Roy Williams -- 10/1
Cardinals WR Anquan Boldin -- 5/1
Giants TE Jeremy Shockey -- 1/1
Dolphins DE Jason Taylor -- 2/1
Eagles CB Lito Sheppard -- 10/1
Rams RB Steven Jackson -- 15/1
Bears LB Brian Urlacher -- 15/1
Bucs QB Jeff Garcia -- 7/1

As he walked out of the stadium following the final workout of the minicamp last month, I asked David Carr is he was confident he'd be with the team in Albany. "Oh yeah, definitely," he said.

Despite not exactly tearing it up in the minicamp, Carr will in fact be among the Giants battling for roster sports in training camp. The Giants announced several roster moves today, including the release of Jared Lorenzen, the popular if not puffy third-string QB.

That means that four players -- Carr, Manning, Wright and Woodson -- will compete for three QB roster spots this summer.

The other players waived or released were WR Todd Lowber, long snapper Nick Leeson, DT Brian Soi and OL Jacobs Hobbs. Hobbs was going to be a feel-good story this summer, a former SUNY Albany player practicing with the big boys at Albany. Scratch that story off my list of things to cover during training camp.

The Giants have 81 players, including their six unsigned draft picks. They'll have to make at least one more move before camp to get to 80.

Oh, and click below for a transcript of my chat with Carr. I was going to write it for the paper, but, you know, stuff happens.

Thanks to Monkberry for pointing out this PFT report on Geoffrey Pope apparently being cleared of charges from smashing a dude in the head with a champagne bottle. Someone else did it.

The report says that the Giants will issue a statement on the matter, but they haven't yet. They are waiting to get something from Pope's attorney or the Detroit authorities before issuing the statement.

I tried to casually point out that no Giants landed in jail on Friday. While technically I was correct at the time of the post -- about 6:15 p.m.-- I was a little early with the proclamation.

Geoffrey Pope wound up spending some time behind bars this weekend and could be charged with felonious assault. He was released on Saturday.

Maybe Miguel Scott, the DB the Giants waived on Friday, hasn't gone too far yet.

Never a dull moment.

The Giants have added a WR, signed a draft pick, and waived a DB. But nobody went to jail, as far as I know, so it was a good day.

Ahmad Bradshaw is already spending 30 days in a Virginia jail for violating terms of his probation. It's that sorta thing that piques the interest of the NFL.

According to league spokesman Greg Aiello, Bradshaw's case is being reviewed to determine whether he is subject to discipline under the NFL's personal conduct policy. "Can't rule it out at this point," Aiello wrote in an email. So Bradshaw could be (stress COULD be) doing time on the sideline with a suspension after he's done with his time in Abingdon. According to just about everything we've learned in the last day regarding this sentencing, Bradshaw has done nothing illegal since being drafted by the Giants in April 2007. His lawyer issued a statement saying that the current incarceration stems from a juvenile offense in Bradshaw's hometown.

Aiello did say that the Giants will not be subject to fines in the matter.

ES asked for a translation of the statement by Charles A. Stacy, Ahmad Bradshaw's attorney. I'm sure he's not the only one confused, so here comes my understanding of the situation in plain English:

Bradshaw did something naughty when he was a kid (it's a sealed juvenile thing) and was sentenced to probation by Tazewell County which covers his hometown of Bluefield, Va. Then he went to college (at UVa) and pleaded guilty to the underage drinking thing in 2004. Then he went to another college (Marshall) and was tagged with the petty larceny in 2006. He was sentenced to probation in each of those instances, but apparently those arrests -- not sure if it's either one or the combination of the two -- violated the first probation agreement from when he was a juvenile in Bluefield.

Thus, 30 days behind bars in Abingdon.

Essentially, he's paying for the crimes of his past but has committed no new crimes.

Hope that clears things up.

From Charles Stacy:

"Ahmad Bradshaw is currently serving a 30-day jail sentence in the Abingdon Regional Jail in Virginia on a probation violation charge out of the Tazewell County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.

"The underlying charge in this matter stems from an offense which occurred while Mr. Bradshaw was a juvenile.

"Mr. Bradshaw has not been charged with any offense since being drafted by the New York Giants and is eager to put this matter behind him and begin training for next season."

Ahmad Bradshaw has been in the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Abingdon, Va., since Sunday, serving time for violating terms of his probation according to the office of Stephen Clear, a deputy superintendent for the facility. The Giants running back, who is from Bluefield, Va., had some run-ins with the law before he was drafted by the Giants last spring. In 2006, while at Marshall University in West Virginia, he was arrested for petty larceny. In 2004 he was arrested in Virginia for underage alcohol possession and resisting arrest.

The Giants have issued a statement: “We are aware of the situation and have been in contact with Ahmad's legal representative. This situation is not the result of any recent incident. It stems from an issue that occurred prior to Ahmad being drafted by the Giants. Beyond that, we have no further comment.”

Bradshaw’s attorney, Charlie Stacey, is expected to issue a press statement sometime this afternoon. His agent, Craig Domann, was unavailable for comment.

What better way to plunge into the deep offseason (free agency, the draft, OTAs and minicamps can't truly be called an OFFseason, can they?) than to post the training camp schedule. The Giants announced it this morning, though a few reports of it trickled out last night. They'll be in Albany for three and a half weeks, a pretty short time. Coughlin has said that the majority of the work will come between the first and second preseason games. They'll have 11 practices in 10 days during that span.

You can click below for the schedule.

Last -- but not least -- I asked Jason Taylor about some very sketchy rumors that have him being traded to the Giants in exchange for Jeremy Shockey. More specifically, I asked him if he would welcome playing in New York, a town he has had a love-hate relationship with his entire career, especially when the Dolphins-Jets games roll around.

"New York is a great city, obviously the biggest city in our country," he said. "It’s a great city, great teams, and great people who get behind them. You never count anything out. You never know what’s going to happen."

Mario Manningham was at the event as well. The rookie WR looked a little overwhelmed. Welcome to the big city, Mario! He said it was his first red carpet. They don't have events like this in Ann Arbor.

Manningham said he spoke with both Amani Toomer and Plaxico Burress during the minicamp and tried to pick their brains about being a receiver in the NFL.

I asked him if he felt weird with all those guys walking around with Super Bowl rings on and he's a bare-knuckled rookie.

"I came a year too late, but it’s cool," he said. "We’ll try to get back there this year."

Strahan wasn't the only athlete at the Gala. Most of the others I spoke with said they weren't surprised that Strahan decided to hang 'em up. Jets safety Kerry Rhodes said he ran into Strahan at the Kentucky Derby and came away convinced that he would retire.

"He’s had a long, good career and he won a championship, so it didn’t surprise me," Dolphins DE Jason Taylor said. "I hate to see him go, but it didn’t surprise me."

Like Strahan, Taylor is getting on in years. I asked him when he started thinking about his football mortality and devising an exit strategy. "If I could do it the way Michael did it, that would be great, to win the whole thing and sail off into the sunset," he said. "But you never know what’s going to happen in this league. You never know what team is going to get hot and have a chance to win it. But I’m preparing for life after football. That’s why I did Dancing with the Stars this year and we’ll see what happens."

Another Dolphin -- Dan Marino -- also said he wasn't shocked.

"I think he could probably still play," Marino said. "It’s all about, in your mind, are you going to be able to go through the whole thing of getting ready to play again. That’s what it is. When you get later in your career, you have to be willing to make those sacrifices to be willing to play. And after you win a Super Bowl, he probably feels pretty good about it. He’s been a great player and I can understand why he’s doing that."

I asked Marino when he realized he wasn't going to play anymore, when the switch went off.

"I don’t think it went off until probably two years after I retired," he said. "It never leaves you. Even after I retired I still felt like I could play. It just was the circumstances were I didn’t want to go play somewhere else and I was hurt the year before. But as far as playing and the feeling that you want to play, I don’t think that leaves you until years and years later."

But Strahan, like Marino, will likely be headed to a TV screen near you. Doesn't that help fill the void?

"It can’t replace any game that you ever played," he said.

Naturally, I also asked Strahan about the tumultuous week just had by the Giants. It was far from the relaxing one he described for himself. Plaxico Burress refused to practice until he receives a new contract and threatened to hold out in July while Jeremy Shockey wouldn't emerge from the building while the rest of the team was on the field.

"To be honest, I don’t know enough about it to say anything about it," Strahan said. "Plus, why would I? It’s not my job to do that. I’m no longer there."

I pointed out that others in recent memory have retired and still found time to comment on the team.

"But who am I to say anything?" Strahan asked. "Those guys don’t have to listen to me anymore. That’s the beauty of where I’m at. I can say whatever I want to say or chose to say. But I just walked out the door, man. I’m not trying to get roped up in anything right now. I’m enjoying this. Give me a week! This is a week to the day that I called and told them I was going to retire. That’s their situation, everybody has their own situation to deal with."

I asked Strahan whether, in his experience, conflicts like these vanish once the pads go on in training camp and football comes back into focus.

"It depends on the situation," he said. "You have certain guys who, something has to give. For the most part, guys just don’t do things and say 'I’m not gonna do this or do that' and all of a sudden the season rolls around and it’s ‘You know, I changed my mind.’ It just doesn’t work that way. I believe there’s some truth in both sides of everything when it comes to this stuff. Hopefully everybody can be happy at the end. That’s the bottom line. Everybody needs to feel happy and appreciated in their career to go out and do their best."

Strahan also spoke about his next career, which will certainly have him in front of a television camera. He said he's still considering offers.

"Hopefully I’ll have that figured out soon," he said. "I expect to work this year. It’s too hard for me to just go sit at home and do nothing. I'm busier in the offseason than I am in the season, so, this actually will be fun. I look at it as the next step. Not the ending step, just the next step in my future.

"I never really thought about an exit strategy," he added. "At some point people said 'Oh, you can do TV' and 'He was building himself up,' but that’s not the case. I always did TV, I started doing it because it was fun to do. The next thing you know I’m doing this show and then that show and the Super Bowl here and the Best Damn Sports Show all the time, and then FOX and ESPN, I've done everybody. It was one of those situations where I just started doing it because it was fun, and now I look back and I’m like Wow, it kind of worked into something. I never really looked at it as an exit strategy, because when you’re playing football, you kind of feel indestructible, you feel like your career is going to last as long as you want it to last. And I was fortunate enough to be one of the guys who could do that. But for the most part that’s not the case. And I just have never been one of those guys, I just live like it comes, and it’s been coming pretty good lately."

Apologies to Neil Best if I crossed over any borders with those questions!

I went to the Samsung's Four Seasons of Hope Gala in Manhattan last night and ran into Michael Strahan. Of course my first question was whether or not he had changed his mind. He said the past week has been one of the best ever.

"It’s been great," he said of retirement. "I wake up and I don’t have any pressure, I’m relieved. I work out now because I want to work out. I’m not working out thinking that I’m working out because it’s leading to something. I’m not worried about my knees, my back, my shoulders, my hips, I’m not worrying about blowing something out. So it’s been a very relieving week, a very relaxing week."

I asked him about coming to the decision to retire.

"Even when I said I had made up my mind before, I was still back and forth about it because it’s still a hard call to make. It’s still difficult to say 'I’m finished.' It was a tough decision but I feel like it was the right decision, and to be honest with you after I said it I didn’t regret saying it. Once I decided to call John Mara and everybody else, I was like 'Good, I'm glad I got it out of the way' because it would have been a big distraction to those guys who went to minicamp. That would have been every question asked: Where’s Strahan? Why isn’t he here? Because there was no way in heck I was going to minicamp. So I might as well get it over with and let those guys move on and do what they need to do.

I noted that we managed to find a few other things to talk about at minicamp last week.

"Exactly," he said. "There were plenty of other things to talk about. Now imagine if I wouldn’t have been there. Oh my goodness. An even bigger distration."

I also asked him about his quote from last week's announcement that he had shocked himself by retiring.

"It takes a lot to say I’m done, especially in a sport you know you could still play and everybody else thinks you can still play and still wants you to play. It’s different when you are at the end of your career and you’re kind of bouncing around and you don’t know if you’ll get picked up and some team says 'Well maybe we’ll pay you the minimum to come into camp.' Here I am getting offered more money to play and having everybody telling me I can play at the same level, and knowing I can do it. But it’s not enough."

The Bergen Record is reporting that Jeremy Shockey got into a shouting match with GM Jerry Reese at some point during this week's minicamp. You know all the backstory. Haven't confirmed it yet -- a Giants spokesman had no comment.

I don't think anyone would be surprised to find out it's true (and again, Newsday hasn't confirmed it). The question is, if it is true, what should the Giants do? Do they just accept that he's a passionate guy on the field and off? They have Manny being Manny up in Boston, is this just Jeremy being Jeremy? Or should they put him on the 8 p.m. JetBlue flight from JFK to New Orleans tonight?

You're the GM. What would you do?

Drew Rosenhau, who reps both Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Shockey, was in the parking lot here at Giants Stadium a little earlier. He had some words to say, but not much of a sentiment to express. He said he was just here to visit with some of his clients and not to talk with GM Jerry Reese about anything. Reese, who was also here (and why not, he works here), said he had not and didn;t have plans to meet with Rosenhaus.

Rosenhaus also told us he'd like to "dwell on the positives." Not sure what those are, exactly, as Shockey refuses to step on the field and Burress said he isn't practicing until he gets a new deal.

Here are a few snippets of the exchange between Rosenhaus and reporters:

That screeching you heard was the tires of the veteran players as they peeled out of the Giants Stadium parking lot this afternoon. Even Tom Coughlin seemed to be anxious to get vacation rolling, calling practice off about 25 minutes before it was scheduled to end.

A few notes from the field, even though, once again, the most intriguing stuff is happening off the field. More on that later.

Sinorice Moss had an up-and-down day. He dropped the first pass of 11-on-11s, then made two nice catches in 7-on-7s in the red zone. One was on a pass from Manning in the corner of the end zone in which he did a good job of dragging his feet to get them in bounds, the other a catch from Lorenzen on a hook pattern at the goal line. But then he reverted. There was a play where Manning clearly thought there should have been an opening, pumped the ball, pulled it back, and threw it high in the end zone to Moss who was covered tightly. As Moss returned to the line of scrimmage he was met by both Manning and O.C. Kevin Gilbride who did some explaining and pointing. It seemed pretty clear that Moss had run the wrong route.

D.C. Steve Spagnuolo said that yesterday’s play by Kenny Phillips (edited*), the one we ruled an incompletion, was in fact an interception upon further review. It was a remarkable grab, he said, especially considering how far Phillips had to run for it to make up ground. Spags joked that he was worried that after seeing that catch, they would take Phillips away from him and try to turn him into a receiver.

Phillips almost made another sizzler today. Wright threw a short pass intended for Boss on the right that was batted in the air by Renaldo Wynn. Phillips came up and dove to try to make the INT, but he only wound up tipping it in the air to … intended receiver Kevin Boss.

Sammy Knight made a nice interception on an end zone pass from Manning to Toomer, cutting underneath the receiver with really good position. He’s not very fast, but Knight has tremendous mechanics and smarts.

In the second series of 11-on-11s, the defense worked mostly on their sub packages. Ini their nickel they added Terrell Thomas to the DBs (Dockery and McQuarters were the starting CBs with Ross sidelined with an injury and M.Johnson and Butler were at the safeties). They also had Tuck rushing from the middle from an upright 2-point stance, Kiwanuka with a hand on the ground at an end, and Jay Alford in the middle.

Nothing new on the Shockey or Plaxico fronts regarding their participation in practice. Asked if there had been any progress with Shockey’s “mental state,” Coughlin was very candid. Or at least a little candid. “In my dealings with him there hasn’t been. I don’t sense it. There is an issue, but it is not something that would prevent him from working.”

I also made the mistake of asking Coughlin a question about whether he was comfortable with the amount of reps he’s seen from David Carr. He told he me he doesn’t like that word, “comfortable.” Later the guys told me that I shouldn’t ask him questions with that word. My bad. Rookie mistake. Maybe by the time training camp starts I’ll find a handbook or something that includes all acceptable words and phrases.

Click below for the 11-on-11 snaps. There weren't a lot of them today. In fact, the team was lined up for another series of them when Coughlin closed the practice.

* - Oops! In my haste I refered to Kenny Phillips as Kenny Harris. He works at the other place. Some habits are hard to break.

Shaun O’Hara clarified his remarks made yesterday which many of us in the media took as a swipe at Plaxico Burress and, in some ways, Jeremy Shockey. That whole “You’re either with us or against us” speech. Today he said his remarks were aimed more towards the outside influences (us) than his teammates.

So I went back to the transcript, and while there is some wiggle room for him, I think it’s pretty clear we’re talking about players on the team. Here are the questions and his answers, in the exact order they took place at the end of the interview:

Q: Tom did say it was the team-first concept that helped you guys win a championship. It can be a distraction, especially when you get to training camp, guys who put personal matters, business matters first. Do you think that this team is strong enough in that locker room to withstand those types of distractions?

A: Absolutely. I think we proved it last year, that the team-first concept overcomes everything and whether players like it or not this team is going to move forward. There certainly will be another center playing in my position when I’m done, and that goes for every position along the line. You’re either with us or against us, and I think the players are doing a good job of focusing on their daily tasks and their jobs. As long as we all continue to do that, this team will succeed.

Q: Does it surprise you that the Burress issue is a big thing?

A: I think it’s a disservice to the other guys who are out there doing their job and practicing. To focus on the negative is, you know, sometimes we expect that. But there’s a lot of guys out there doing good things every day. We have a lot of young guys who are getting good reps.

Q: Do you blame a guy for going out there trying to get as much as he’s worth?

A: I think there’s a right way to do things. I’ve always felt that as a player you go out there and you put your best foot forward and as long as you’re giving 100 percent effort every time, you’ll be taken care of.

So while Burress wasn’t mentioned by name in that final question, it was a follow-up to the Burress question and, I thought, pretty clear what was being discussed. Like I said, there is room for deniability, but it’s slim and O’Hara is certainly using it. He said today that he didn’t speak with Plaxico today and didn’t feel the need to because everyone in the locker room knows he wouldn’t say anything like that about a teammate.

Gotta run. Drew Rosenhaus is in the building and Jerry Reese is walking the tunnels with a cellphone pinned to his ear.

But I doubt any of the veterans are feeling unlucky today. Or at least they won't this afternoon when the Giants' mandatory minicamp closes and they are on their own for six weeks. Not all of them will be back with the Giants in Albany -- there are 80 spots and 86 active players on the roster including a few malcontents -- but it's still nice to be on vacation.

Except for the rookies. They have to go to summer school. They continue training here until June 24. Sorry guys.

Anyway, we have one more practice and that means one more chart of the 11-on-11 snaps. We speak with the coordinators this afternoon, so that'll be fun. And after that, it's back to baseball season for a month and a half.

Just wanted to point this out, a deft analysis of Strahan's positive and negative attributes.

Well, let's just say the Giants had a better afternoon than Billy Wagner and the Mets.

Osi and Tuck returned to their active roles and were stationed at the ends of the defensive line. Pierce was still sidelined with his back (although he performed in a few drills) and that meant the LBs were Blackburn flanked by Kiwanuka and Kehl. Corey Webster also participated.

Oh, and just to get it out of the way: Plaxico was on the field and did not practice and Shockey was not on the field.

The focus of the practice seemed to be on press coverage -- how to apply it and how to avoid it. There were a number of drills in which defenders were locked up on receivers. In fact, one of the more entertaining drills to watch was one where LBs and safeties had to cover RBs out of the backfield one-on-one. On the first play of the drill, Brandon Jacobs ran a go route past James Butler and Anthony Wright put the ball right over the safety and into his hands. Ahmad Bradshaw made Jonathan Goff look slow on a go route, but Wright overthrew him by a smidge. Later in the drill Kiwanuka covered Jacobs on a crossing route and did a nice job of knocking the ball away. Would it have been holding? It looked like maybe, but Jacobs shouted "Nice coverage!"

Darcy Johnson made a sweet catch in 7-on-7s, splitting the seam and hauling in a pass in double coverage. In the same 7-on-7s, Manningham dropped a pass from David Carr in the back of the end zone that would have been a really tough grab -- but one that probably should have been made.

Carr looked a little more comfortable this afternoon, but if it were my call to decide who goes to Albany based on what I've seen so far, it would be Manning, Wright, Lorenzen and Woodson.

In 11-on-11s, Kenny Phillips made a dazzling play on a deep ball from Manning to Moss. It was unclear whether or not Phillips made the interception or if the ball popped out as he rolled on the ground. I'll put a star next to the play below when I chart the snaps and call it an incompletion, but if you want we can throw the red flag on it (credit MG for the flag line).

They finished practice with a 2:00 drill that went basically nowhere with the second stringers and Wright at QB.

Okay, click below for the play-by-play. Next practice is tomorrow morning's finale, then it's time for summer vacation!

Let's bring you up to speed on what's been happening here on Day Two of the three-day minicamp. This morning's practice is in the books (three down, two to go). Jeremy Shockey was not on the field. Plaxico Burress was, but did not participate. You can look at the post below for Shaun O'Hara's take on the situation.

Coughlin seemed more ruffled at being asked numerous questions about Plax and Shockey than he was angry at the players, but he still had some strong words for them. "Of course not," he said when asked if if Shockey staying inside was OK with him. He also said there have been "many discussions" with the unhappy players.

"Naturally I want everybody on the field," he said. "We anticipated the camp being the camp. We want everybody out here. The quarterback wants everybody out here. The quarterback wants to throw to people, he wants to work with people. That is what a minicamp is for. That is why there is one mandatory minicamp."

Coughlin also said he was unaware of Plaxico's stance when he spoke yesterday morning and said that the receiver was being held out with a knee injury. "I said what I knew," he said. "I wasn't aware of (his position)."

Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Antonio Pierce were also inactive (though in uniform and standing off to the side as they did last night). Coughlin said Pierce is having back troubles, Tuck has soreness in his foot, and Osi is, well, a little more complicated. "In camp sometimes we were able to go just one day once with him, that is what we are doing here," Coughlin said. Osi did say he would be on the field this afternoon for the second practice. We'll see in about an hour.

As for the practice, the defense spent most of the early part working on blitz timing and fits. Renaldo Wynn and Dave Tollefson were the starting ends with Osi and Tuck spectating, and Chase Blackburn, who had been playing weakside LB with the starters, moved to the middle to replace Pierce. That left Bryan Kehl to play the weakside with the starters.

I'll post all of the 11-on-11 plays from this morning's practice below once again, but make a few quick observations here:

The quarterbacks were throwing into a lot of traffic today, much more than they were yesterday. In some cases it worked out -- TE Darcy Johnson made a nice catch on a pass from Jared Lorenzen -- and sometimes it didn't -- Sammy Knight picked a pass by Andre Woodson that was thrown off-balance and intended for Kevin Boss, though from our angle it was hard to tell if Knight came down inbounds.

The tight ends are looking good. Well, the ones on the field are. Darcy Johnson called the system a "tight-end friendly offense," which elicited some muffled chuckles from some reporters. We'll have to ask Shockey exactly how friendly it is if/when we get him to speak. It's looking more and more like that won't happen this minicamp. But apparently Shockey is being pretty vocal in the position meetings. Both Johnson and Kevin Boss said he is teaching them in those gatherings, helping them work on technique and understanding coverages and such. "He's like an extra coach for us," Boss said.

Click below for the 11-on-11 snaps.You'll notice that the guys who are vying for the QB spots in Albany aren't exactly getting a ton of reps. Of all of them so far, I'd have to say that Wright looks the best. And I'm still a little unsure of Carr. How someone can look frazzled in the pocket during 7-on-7 drills is a bit alarming, but maybe he still has some flinches to get out of his system from his tough time in Houston.

No, not with his contract. But certainly with the distracions that have descended upon this minicamp.

"I think we proved it last year, that the team-first concept overcomes everything and whether players like it or not this team is going to move forward," he said. "You’re either with us or against us, and I think the players are doing a good job of focusing on their daily tasks and their jobs. As long as well all continue to do that, we’ll succeed."

As for Plaxico refusing to practice in specific, O'Hara said: "I think there’s a right way to do things. I've always felt that as a player you go out there and you put your best forward and as long as you’re giving 100 percent effort every time, you’ll be taken care of."

Only he's not going the Plaxico Burress route.

"I'm not gonna hold out," he said. "My situation is a little different. When the time comes for me, when the time comes for anything positive to happen, I mean, I'm not broke by any means. I'm not in a hurry or a rush to do anything, but when the time comes it’ll be solved."

As for what Plaxico said this afternoon:

"Plaxico said what he said for a reason and the Giants front office, they have their stance for a reason. Whatever happens happens, but I have to worry about how we’re going to get back and defend our Super Bowl title. That’s the standard company line, by the way."

Osi was then asked about the coaches (Coughlin and Spagnuolo) getting raises. "A lot of people were taken care of," he said. "I feel like the coaches deserve what they got and whatever happens with the players remains to be seen. It does seem like ..."

And he threw the brakes on his thought. Prompted by reporters to continue, Osi smiled.

"No, no, I'm done," he grinned.

Osi signed a 6-year, $41 million contract extension in December 2005. It was believed he might want to renegotiate with the Giants, but in April he put those rumors to bed. Still, it's clear he is not happy with his current deal, which has him locked up through 2012.

Not sure what to make of it, but Osi did not participate in the afternoon practice today. At one point he was on an exercise bike next to Burress, but he spent most of the workout standing off to the side with fellow spectator Justin Tuck. Tuck was taken care of this offseason, but still.

Hmmmm. Maybe saying Osi is not going the Plaxico route is a little premature.

Well, yeah, since someone has to. Most of the action has taken place off the field today, this first day of minicamp, but there were two workouts for the team. I'll give you a few words on them here:

We touched on it earlier, but here is the injury report complete with injuries -- Danny Clark (sports hernia, post op), Zak DeOssie (back), D.J. Hall (back), Sam Madison (sports hernia, post op), Michael Matthews (shoulder), Jeremy Shockey (ankle), David Tyree (knee and wrist), Corey Webster (quad), Gerris Wilkinson (knee).

The starting defense in the morning had Tuck, Robbins, Cofield and Umenyiora across the front, Kiwanuka, Pierce and Blackburn at LBs, Ross and McQuarters (with a heavy dose of Dockery) at the corners and Butler and Johnson at safeties. In the afternoon, however, Tuck, Umenyiora and Pierce hardly participated.

Kiwanuka continued to work with the linebackers, but his position will be somewhat fluid with the retirement of Michael Strahan. "As we have done all along, when it gets to a certain down and distance then Kiwi is going to rush the passer as well. That's the way it is right now."

Alex Morrow had his helmet ripped off during a punt coverage drill in the morning. Didn;t catch who forced the tip of the hat, but it was one of the few "physical" moments during this non-contact event.

DE Dave Tollefson did a nice job of sniffing out an end around to Steve Smith in 11-on-11s.

David Carr isn't looking very comfortable. You'll be able to see below that he's fourth or fifth on the depth chart, assuming that the team takes snaps in order of their standing. He's overthrowing a lot of receivers, looks uncertain in the pocket, and hasn;t thrown a nice tight sprial that I've seen yet.

Manningham is looking pretty good at WR. He made a couple of nice grabs this afternoon but had one broken up from behind by McQuarters. He'll have to learn to use his body a little more to keep those CBs boxed out.

Sinorice Moss dropped a bread-basket pass from Manning in the afternoon practice during an 11-on-11 drill. It looked like he tried to jump for a ball that he didn't really have to get into the air for. Not good for a guy who might be playing for his job this summer.

OK, click below for a chart of all of the 11-on-11 plays that the Giants ran in both practices today. I took the time to write them all out, the least you can do is read 'em!

Click below to see a story I just filed on the Plaxico Burress bombshell. There are more quotes and observations in it than I had earlier. It'll be posted online soon, and I'll put the link up too if I can. (Here it is)

I'll be back later this evening with some reports from the actual practice (imagine that!). Afternoon practice starts in a few minutes. Can't wait to see what fireworks emerge from that one!

Just had a conference call with agent Drew Rosenhaus, who represents both storylines, er, players here at Giants minicamp -- Jeremy Shockey and Plaxico Burress.

"I don't like commenting on negotiations that are ongoing with a given team as a general rule, but we are in discussions with the Giants as it relates to a contract extension with Plaxico and we are hopeful of getting something worked out here in the near future."

He also said he had nothing new to add on Shockey

"He's not practicing right now because he's still rehabilitating his ankle. He still has some work to do. He's not in a posoition to practice at this time."

Asked if his not attending practice this morning had anything to do with potential contract negotiations or trade demands, Rosenhaus said "No, that had nothing to do with it. Jeremy has stated his position that any discussions with his relationship with the team is something he would like to keep between us and the club and I'm going to respect and honor that."

Then Rosenhaus said goodbye.

"Stay in touch," he said.

Plaxico Burress said it was a business decision that kept him on the