T-Rock's Take on the Giants

I mentioned Brandon London earlier. When I met him, I told him I worked for Newsday.

"Oh yeah, Newsday," he said. "I heard you guys had a nice picture of me."

While I had nothing to do with that, I can direct you to our always updated photo album that includes some new shots from yesterday and will undoubtedly have shots up from today pretty soon. Enjoy.

Just finished the lone practice for today and I was surprised by how nice the weather was. I guess those NFL officials were correct. By the time we left the field, it was downright warm and sunny.

A pretty intense practice with a lot of 11-on-11 action. At one point they went 32 straight 11-on-11 plays. That means a lot of transcribing notes for me. The big hit of practice came from Zak DeOssie, who stepped up and clobbered Danny Ware *** with a blanketing thud on a run up the middle. It may have been the hit of camp so far. Phillips has put some licks on people, but this one was pretty good.

*** (UPDATE: After conferring with assorted others we 've come to the conclusion that it was Harris and not Ware who was on the receiving end of the DeOssie hit. I'll try to ask the parties involved about it tomorrow. In the meantime, I changed it from Ware to Harris in the 11-on-11 chart below.)

The most exciting play was a bomb down the right sideline to Steve Smith (a somewhat healthy Steve Smith), who went up and made the catch. Problem was, so did Corey Webster. The two fell to the ground and continued rasslin' for the ball. I wouldn't have known which way to call it. Lucky for me, NFL field judge Eddy Powers was right there and made the call: First down, offense.

Kenny Phillips got some reps with the starting team. It's not a permanent promotion, though, because on the next series Michael Johnson was back in. Phillips did make an immediate impact with the ones, though. The first play was a throw down the middle from Manning to Hixon that Phillips knocked away and into the hands of Butler for an INT.

Smith and Tuck practiced, as they said they would. Mario Manningham did not. Adam Koets returned to practice from his dizziness, but Shane Olivea kept that RT position with the second unit. Koets played some LT.

And as for Bradshaw, Tom Coughlin said he wasn't aware that the RB would need to serve another 30 days in jail following this football season, as was reported by a Virginia paper (see a few posts below). He did say that Bradshaw's attitude has been stellar in camp and he hasn't noticed anything resembling a distraction.

Finally, there were a few cascades of Boos at practice this evening. Why? Some fans decided to come to the workout dressed in enemy uniforms. One dude had an old, worn out Deion Sanders Cowboys jersey with the numbers and the star faded. Another had a Chad Pennington jersey. "Trade it in for a Favre jersey" someone yelled at him. I didn't think Carton was bringing his Get Brett rally up here today.

Who's Linky? That's what the players call Plaxico Burress. I'll stick to Plax.

Anyway, was talking with Brandon London this afternoon and he was gushing about Plax and his involvement with the team -- especially the receivers -- during this time when he's unable to practice. It turns out there are times when Plax practically runs the meetings. The coaches will give him the video clicker that lets him move the film back and forth and he'll break down the 1-on-1 drills and tell the receivers where they can improve their release or their route of their hand placement.

London also said he had the Giants staff burn him a DVD of Plaxico getting off the line against Al Harris in the NFC Championship Game so he could work on that aspect of his own game during the offseason. He said he spent many hours on the lawn in front of his apartment mimicking those moves against imaginary defensive backs. The neighbors probably thought he was nuts, London admitted, but it's paying off and he's having a very strong camp.

They both said they expect to go this afternoon. Steve Smith has missed the last few practices with a sore groin and Tuck sat out last night with some soreness in his foot.

Practice starts in a little while. It's raining, but one of the NFL officials here said it was supposed to stop around 2:30. That's fine by me.

That's the biggest change in the rules this year. We just met with NFL referee Walt Coleman and some members of his crew (including line judge Carl Johnson who worked Super Bowl XLII) and had a nice chat about the rules and the mindset of officials.

Among the rules changes:

No force out rule. A player must get both feet or another part of their body down in bounds to record a catch. You'd think that it's something that comes up often, but Johnson said that in eight years he's only had one force out call.

No 5-yard facemasks. From now on, those inadvertant facemask plays will not be called. There is still a 15-yard penalty for grabbing and twisting the facemask.

Option to defer. When a team wins the coin toss at the start of the game, it will have the option to defer until the second half.

Also of note is the use of sideline-to-helmet radios on defense. Those helmets with the radios will have red dots, by the way (green for go on offense, red for stop on defense) and only one player is allowed on the field with the radio. What happens when that player comes off the field? The second designated player must report to the officials of face a 5-yard illegal substitution penalty. Normally, that second player will have a helmet without a radio. The second red-sticker helmet will be kept in a box on the sideline with NFL personnel guarding the box. Seriously.

By the way, the new rule also affects the offense. Now, when a backup QB comes into the game with a green sticker on his helmet, he must report to the referee. So imagine that, the starting QB gets hurt and the backup has to grab his helmet, run onto the field, settle the huddle, get the play called ... and report to the ref. Coleman said there won't be a problem with players forgetting that, though. Why? Because Coleman said he'll remember and before the snap will approach the backup QB and say "You're reporting to me, right?" He called that preventative officiating.

Coleman also said he's in favor of using instant replay in baseball. He said he doesn't understand why people would be averse to getting a call right.

The Bristol Herald Courier has a report on Ahmad Bradshaw in which it cites two sources as saying that the Giants running back received preferential treatment while spending a month of his summer vacation in jail. Big deal. But here's the line that got me to raise my eyebrows:

"Bradshaw left the Abingdon jail on July 13 after 28 days. The corrections officer source said Bradshaw is supposed to return after football season to serve a second 30-day sentence for the probation violation."

That's the first I'm hearing of it. Guess I'll have to make a few phone calls.

By the way, it's in Bristol, Virginia, not the more well-known Bristol, Connecticut, from which eminates many more breaking news stories.

Then newsday.com is the place for you!

OK, enough of sounding like a carnival barker. Let me just tell you about the live chats we have scheduled for football fans. First, today at 3 p.m., Glauber takes all of your questions on the NFL. Apparently there's this thing with this quarterback in Green Bay. I don't know all of the details. Maybe someone can ask Bob about it. Here's the link to his chat, which is being done from Eagles camp.

Then, on Tuesday, we'll have our suddenly regular chat on the Giants right here in this space at 2 p.m. I know there were a lot of questions that went unanswered last time. Here's a hint: get there early and post the questions as soon as you can so the moderator has a chance to read it and post it. We'll try to have the board set up a half hour ahead of time for you. That chat will be right here in this space.

But before we talk Giants, you can talk Jets. I seem to have some fuzzy memories of that team. Erik Boland is having a live chat on his blog at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday.

By the way, the preseason opener is a week from today. Let me say that again ... a week from today.

Still lots to talk about.

I mean, it's the officials. As in the refs and line judges and back judges and assorted others who will meet with the media this afternoon to enlighten us on new rules, areas of enforcement, and, more than likely, Tim Donaghy. They'll be here at 1 p.m. and there's even a TV set up in the press room for them to give us a video presentation.

I already posted the link to the David Carr story, so here's the link to the other story that ran in today's paper, a notebook on Craig "Don't Call Me Dave" Dahl. Enjoy.

Long shot Dahl again beats odds and makes Giants

Practice today is at 2:40 and Coughlin speaks after that, so I probably won't have a report up until, oh, dinner time or so. Unless, of course, Plaxico practices today. That I would tell you as soon as I found out.

My story for tomorrow's newspaper is already up today. Imagine if I was covering the Olympics in China, where today really is yesterday and tomorrow is today. I wonder if the Internet knows what I'll be writing for the Friday paper. I think I just crossed the International Date Line of sanity.

Anyway, click below to get a first glimpse:

After tough career, Carr aims to be Giants backup

A few things that got cut from the story for space were quotes from Derrick Ward, who was a teammate of Carr's at Fresno State in 1998. Ward said that Carr, who is listed at 216, played at around 230 in college and that he hardly recognized him when they first saw each other with the Giants.

Ward also defended Carr's career, saying that it was an impossible situation he was put in when drafted by the Texans.

"It wasn’t really fair for everybody to downcast him," Ward said. "Anybody would be in that predicament unless you’re God."

Ward also said there are a lot of guys on the team with questions about Carr and his resume (Carr said he would have questions about someone like himself and he figured there would be a buzz about him). He also said it's no big thing that Carr is basically using the Giants to kick-start his stalled career.

"He's here, he knows his position," Ward said. "Hopefully he can learn from us. We just came off a Super Bowl win and have pretty much the whole offense back. He’ll take a seat and see how it’s done. If he gets his opportunity, I think he’ll do OK."

There are 27 practices scheduled for Albany. This evening we had practice number 9. We're zipping right along.

The big news was Justin Tuck, who missed the session with a sore foot, although he's expected to return to action tomorrow. Also sitting out were Danny Clark who is on a once-a-day program, along with Mario Manningham and Steve Smith. Jay Alford, who I'm told missed this morning's session, was playing tonight. And I didn't see Adam Koets.

Some fun stuff from the practice. You can click below for the 11-on-11s, but let's start with the 1-on-1s. Hixon started the drill with a great jumping catch on a fade pass from Manning, soaring over Aaron Ross. Dockery made a nice play to bat away a fade to Moss. Matthews made a nice catch on a fade over Sammy Knight. And then Hixon beat Ross again, this time diving in the corner of the end zone. I know he got in because there were officials at tonight's practice and the guy back there shot his hands up. On the last play of the drill, Kevin Boss made his first clunker of camp, dropping a pass from Woodson after he had a two step lead on Butler.

Speaking of the officials, one of them gave Webster some advice while he was covering Hixon. "Come on, 23, let go of that jersey!" warned field judge Eddy Powers. The ball wasn't even thrown in that direction, Hixon was just running a long pattern.

In 7-on-7s, Geoffrey Pope nearly had an interception after he stepped in front of D.J. Hall. Moss, who had some bad plays (we'll get to them), made a nice grab on a slant from Wright. Danny Ware, who had been showing good hands out of the backfield, dropped a short screen from Carr. And Carr hit Jennings on a crossing pattern, but Ross was there to strip the ball from Jennings for the fumble. Bryan Kehl ended the drill with an interception, stepping front of Thorpe to pick Woodson.

Now, finally, the 11s. And Moss. He was very open behind Pope on a long pattern down the right side and Wright threw him a bomb. Pope jumped in the air and tried to make a play, but the ball was just over his hands. He was close enough, though, to make Moss think he would hit it because the ball looked like it bounced right off of Moss' hands, as if he were anticipating a deflection or was distracted by the DB. Moss did come back with the nice catch in 7s, though, and in 11s caught a 55-yard bomb from Woodson over the shoulder with Pope trailing in coverage.

Brandon London had a really nice day, catching a lot of th eballs thrown his way. I guess he's not gun-shy after getting splattered by Kenny Phillips the other day. And just a note that Shaun O'Hara made a nice block on Osi Umenyiora. Big deal? How about that it was 30 yards down the field on a short screen pass from Manning to Bradshaw. Good hustle by both players.

Lawrence Tynes is no longer perfect. The kicker missed his first FG of camp, a 45-yard attempt that went wide left. He followed that with another miss wide left, this time from 31 yards (though the snap looked a little high). Finally he connected from 36 to end the drill. In camp he is 20-for-22 and hit 19 straight before the miss.

And Carr, for all we've moaned, looked pretty good this evening. If he starts to get healthy and get his feet under him, it will be an interesting battle between him and Wright.

No earthquakes.

Not every NFC East training camp can say as much.

Kind of makes me less grouchy when those passing showers move through the area.

By the way, I'll be looking forward to watching the earthquake on HBO's Hard Knocks, which premiers next Wednesday. It's my wife's favorite show. I think it's because it gives her a peek into my professional life and what it is I do all day. She also likes The Mole.

That's what they told David Carr he had. So he asked the doctors to tell him in English. Basically, he said, it was a strained arch. Why they didn't say that to begin with neither I nor Carr could understand.

Anyway, the former No. 1 overall pick who is now competing for a job as a backup with the Giants said the foot feels better. He suffered the injury about two weeks ago while training at home in California while wearing some older shoes. He returned to the field Monday night and practiced yesterday and this morning. he said this morning was the first time he'd worn cleats to practice, going with turf shoes up until then to protect the plantar fasciitis.

That is, until he tried to run a bootleg to the right on Tuesday and flopped.

"I fell down on the bootleg so I looked like an idiot," he said, "but I feel good now."

You'll read more about Carr in the next day or so, but here are some of the high points from the interviews he gave this afternoon:

He's not used to being a backup so getting only two or three reps in a row is taking some getting used to. He also said that he has to learn that he's not in a position to take chances anymore. in other words, he used to try to force a ball into traffic or make an athletic play and if it failed, well, he just went back and did it again. Now, if the play fails, it's someone else's turn to step in.

He understands his role on the Giants and that, if he wants to be a long-term starter in the league, it will probably happen somewhere else.

He signed with the Giants because they are the defending champions and he wanted to surround himself with a winning team.

He had a good sense of humor about his days getting mashed in Houston, saying that sometimes he went scrambling out of the pocket as a matter of life and death "I just wanted to see my kids again," he said.

Like I said, more on Carr soon. In the meantime, remember:

There's no I in team, but there are three of them in Fasciitis!

But because I used to cover this sport and I know so many Giants fans on Long Island and down the Jersey Shore who participate in it, I thought I'd post it here.

Man dies in freak fishing accident

Wow.

That does it. Between the drownings and the lightning strikes and now the fishing weights, I may never go to the beach again.

That'd be Jeremy Clark, the former Eagles practice squadder who was signed by the Giants last week to replace injured DT Nate Robinson. In a show of how interchangable the parts at the bottom of an 80-man NFL roster can be, they simply handed Clark Robinson's number, 73. Heck, they probably just ripped the Robinson off of it and handed him the same jersey. What they haven't done yet is put Clark's name on the back of it. He's the only guy out there without his name across his back. Even Craig Dahl, who was signed this morning and was on the field for his first work of the year (wearing 43) had his name on his back. And you can't even say that it was left over from last year because Dahl was 30 in 2007 and that's Terrell Thomas' number now.

I already updated you on the non-practicers. A quick update on Koets: He says he has some kind of vertigo and has to sleep sitting up. There's a chance he'll be back tonight for the 6:10 practice.

The team was practicing in shells today and will probably go full pads tonight.

A few notes:

Coughlin was unhappy with the pace of the offense at one point, yelling "Get back in the huddle! It's not a convention!"

The Giants used the flea-flicker twice including one with Eli Manning in which he found Hixon open for a decent gain. When the Giants use that play, it always seems that the deep pass is covered but the underneath is open.

In 7-on-7s, Aaron Ross did a nice job covering Hixon, batting a pass away, and then, on the next play, let Moss get under him for a grab. Brandon Lonson looked like he made a nice catch on a fade pass from Carr in the end zone, but one of the coaches yelled at him to drag his back foot so he might not have gotten both down.

The worst play by the defense was in the red zone 11-on-11s when Manning hit a wide-open Hixon in the corner. That left Corey Webster and Michael Johnson each standing at about the 10 yard line looking at each other. Not sure who should have been back there in coverage, but I'm pretty sure SOMEBODY should have been.

Click below to keep reading about those 11-on-11s.

Just a quick one because I have to run out for player interviews in a minute:

Toomer practiced, Smith didn't (Coughlin said it's a groin). Jonathan Palmer was cleared and practiced. Gerris Wilkinson will be re-evaluated sometime next week. Craig Dahl was on the field. Osi, DeOssie, Madison stood by for their one-a-day. And Adam Koets was held out again (dizziness) but could be back tonight.

Also, in response to the questions:

Jennings is an exciting player, but I haven't seen him really blow past people this camp. Speed was his greatest weapon.

And yes, I think we are planning on having the live chats once per week.

More in a little bit.

There won't be a "Get Brett" rally here today. At least not one that I'm aware of. But we still have some news before heading out to practice.

The Giants put Terrance Stringer (hamstring) on waived/injury and signed Craig Dahl. Also, OL Jonathan Palmer (quad) passed his physical and has been taken off the PUP list. No word yet on whether Toomer and Smith will be practicing. And Plaxico? Well, technically, it is mid-week today. That's when Coughlin said he had hoped to have Burress back. We'll see in a few minutes.

Anyway, here's the story I wrote on Danny Clark for today's newspaper. And I'll be back early this afternoon with the usual spring of practice notes for you.

Our man Pokress is on the scene in Albany, and he brought his camera. Click here to see a slideshow of some of the action he's captured in the last day or so.

Did I say some? He's got like 55 shots up there and it's growing!

Ladies and gentlemen, the starting wide receivers were: Domenik Hixon and Sinorice Moss.

No joking.

Well, with essentially the top three WRs all on the sideline (Plaxico with his ankle, Toomer with some swelling in his left leg and Steve Smith with some overall soreness), someone had to run the routes. At least Mario Manningham was back on the field.

Hixon looked fine, as he has all week as the starter. But Moss didn't exactly take advantage of his big chance. He dropped one pass in one-on-one drills and later, in 11s, he tried to make a one-handed catch on a ball slightly behind him and dropped it rather than turning his whole body and making the secure catch with two hands. The one-handed grab would probably have looked great, and we probably would have blogged about what an athletic catch it was, but instead ...

You can click below for the 11-on-11s. Also know that once again Gerris Wilkinson had his right knee heavily bandaged while standing off to the side. Again, I'm not sure what that means.

The defensive backs did a drill today that Kenny Phillips muct have loved, a full-contact tackling drill in which a defender flung himself into a ball-carrier and they flopped onto a big thick pad. Phillips has become known as a bit of a head-hunter in this camp.

Shane Olivea was taking reps with the second AND third strings today. Technically that's because Adam Koets woke up with some dizziness this morning and was held out, but it's also because he's pretty good and the Giants want to get him as many reps as possible to get him comfortable with the program. My guess is that even when Koets comes back, Olivea will be with the second unit. Coughlin also said Olivea can play some guard if he had to, but they want him to get his feet under him at tackle before they start adding projects on his to-do list.

Terrance Stringer missed practice with a hamstring. That's not good news for him. He could be the next waived/injury player, especially with Craig Dahl warming up in the wings.

The players went one-on-one in the red zone today, and while there weren't a lot of head-turning plays (besides the Moss drop mentioned above), Phillips did a nice job of knocking the ball away from Michael Matthews and Darrenn Barnett had an interception on a pass from Carr to Hixon that was thrown a little too hard for someone so close. Coughlin was less than enthusiastic when asked about Carr.

You can read all of the 11-on-11 plays below. The team ended the day with a goal-line situation and both times the offense got in. First it was Brandon Jacobs running over the DBs on third down, then Derrick Ward's turn.

Speaking of RBs, Madison Hedgecock had a carry today and it caught everyone by surprise, including himself. The fullback, who didn't have a carry all last year, actually made it through the line and into the open field. Then he tried to make a cut upfield and stumbled over his own feet. So he gets credit for a carry AND a tackle.

That's it from Albany today. Thanks for your help on the live chat. Maybe next time we can get to those questions about cellos.

Hello everyone. The Giants live chat with Tom Rock will begin at 2 p.m. today. Please have your questions ready.

Here's a story from the San Diego Union-Tribune in which some of Shane Olivea's former teammates wish him well, but feel that he let them and the Chargers down.

Olivea getting second chance

That's a little inside joke for my old friends over on the Jets beat, but it works today as well since we'll be having a live chat today at 2 p.m. In the meantime, you can see the stories that ran in the paper today:

Giants' Olivea kicks addiction and starts over

Burress injured, not out because of contract

Giants' Knight brushes up on his teammates

The interesting (for some) not from that final story that I didn't blog about yesterday was that the NFL's decision on whether to discipline Ahmad Bradshaw for his jail time this summer after violating his probation is still pending, but could be completed soon. Bradshaw has yet to address the media this camp. Well, he does have the right to remain silent.

Not me, though. Remember, 2 p.m., right here. Lots to talk about after six training camp practices.

Not forgot, but forgot to mention. The live chat!

Tuesday at 2 p.m., right here. Plenty of questions, maybe even some answers!

See you then.

Right. And I'm the first one to use that headline. Sure.

Okay, let's take a look at the evening practice, the first one in full pads. Yes, David Carr was removed from the PUP list and participated. Yes, he looked like a guy who, just hours earlier, was physically unable to perform. He's working through some mechanics problems, so we'll cut him some slack. He and Anthony Wright are in a competition for the No. 2 job (Woodson should -- should -- get the No. 3 position).

It rained pretty heavily at one point in practice, and I feared that the drops would hamper my ability to jot each of the 11-on-11 snaps down in my notebook. Fortunately, it rained mostly during 7-on-7s and I was able to come through unscathed. Click below for the full chart. They ended up with a 2:00 drill that lasted only three plays and got to about the 15 before Coughlin whistled the practice over. I guess they only needed a field goal.

Speaking of which, Lawrence Tynes was a perfect 8-for-8 on his FG attempts for the second straight day (and as a kicker, straight days are what you want!). This time he hit two from 26, a39 and a 40. It was fun to watch the fans behind the end zone crush each other for the chance to catch a real NFL football -- and then have to give it back.

The most interesting defensive nugget is that in one of the sub packages the team worked on tonight, Kiwanuka was down in a three-point stance as a lineman while Tuck was up and rushing from a two-point linebacker's stance. They put some pretty good pressure on the QBs that way, too.

A few other quick notes:

Gerris Wilkinson was on the field but not in full pads. He was wearing a heavy wrap with what looked like ice on his right knee. He didn't look like someone who will be coming off PUP anytime soon.

Danny Clark sat out his one-a-day. Osi, Sam Madison and DeOssie were in.

In 1-on-1 drills with WRs and DBs, Hixon beat Aaron Ross on a deep pass from Manning. Carr was plagued by three straight dropped passes before connecting with Boss and then Thorpe. D.Johnson made a sweet double move that got him behind Kenny Phillips. And Boss made a nice sprawling catch on a low pass from Manning.

The defense got its revenge in 7-on-7s, Manning threw a long ball for Jennings but Madison made a nice play to tip it away. Carr tried to hit Moss on a long out, but Butler did a nice job of coming around the receiver to knock it away. Then Brandon London earned one for the offense when he closed the drill with an athletic catch, fully extending his body, on a post pattern and pass from Woodson.

I mentioned Carr's struggles earlier. Not only did he have that rash of drops (not his fault; well, not entirely I suppose) but in 11s he was flushed from the pocket after he couldn;t find an open man and a play later botched the exchange with the center.

That's all for now. Have some newspaper work to do so I can't play with y'all all night. Wish I could. Enjoy the evening. We'll be back tomorrow with the first one-a-day practice.

Click below for the transcript of the Burress meeting. It sounds like that midweek timetable isn't exactly his idea.

"From a personal standpoint, I am going to go out there when I feel good," he said (just to distinguish, according to his opening answer, right now he feels "okay" and "pretty good," so "good" should be the next level). "I have stressed that and I have told them that. I am not going to go out and limp around and fight through it and do what I did last year. My goal is to be healthy so I can go out and be great."

That's it for now. I have to do some newspaper writing and other things, plus be out there for the 6:10 practice. I'll be back this evening with that report.

In the meantime, enjoy Plax:

I have a Giants media guide, even though guys like Dave Dahl and Kenny Harris may not know that I use it.

Turns out Sammy Knight is learning right along with me.

The veteran safety was toting one of them with him at lunch today, using it to help him get to know his new teammates. He said it also comes in handy for razzing players about their high school accomplishments and other assorted biographical oddities.

"For me, I like to know a little bit about my players ... my team, my coaches, so when I interact with them, we can talk," he said. "I think knowing people personally is definitely a big thing. It goes a long way. If I'm going out there and I'm breaking my neck for somebody, I want to know a little something about them at least."

There have been a lot of hand-signals used to get plays into the defensive huddle this camp -- the Buffalo call in which players roam around the field with their fingers in the air like antlers is a particularly amusing one -- even though I thought those days were over. As you know, the NFL is allowing sideline-to-helmet radio receivers to be used on defense this season.

The Giants aren't using it. Not yeat, anyway.

Pierce said he doesn't like hearing the voice in his helmet, and he probably won't start using the system until later in camp. He said it can distract him from communicating with the players on the field. The way he sees it, he's been doing OK out there making adjustments by himself the last few years.

Quarterbacks, he said, are used to hearing the play from the sideline. As for using the radio in games, he said there may be times he ignores it. Or worse.

"If you see me reach into my helmet and yank something out of it and throw it on the ground, you'll know what that's about," he said.

Actually, it was pretty long ago and so many things have happened since, that this morning's workout is a bit of a blur. Good thing I write these things down.

As always, click below for the 11-on-11 snaps. There was some good action in there.

Osi and Sam Madison took the morning off along with Zak DeOssie, but they're all on a one-a-day schedule and should be out there tonight. Danny Clark is a one-a-day guy too, but he practiced in the morning. Plaxico, of course, did not practice.

No changes to the starting defense, other than Tollefson replacing Osi at DE.

If it were up to Kenny Phillips, the Giants wouldn't have any healthy receivers left. This kid is all over the field making plays -- and hits -- even though the guys aren't wearing pads until tonight. He decked Droughns on a run up the middle, sending the RB sprawling in 11-on-11s, and in 7-on-7s he put a big hit on Brandon London on a pass down the sideline, up-ending the receiver. Kudos to London for hanging onto the ball, by the way. Later, when they were winding up practice, Woodson threw a ball over the middle to Kevin Boss. Phillips must have been told to stop whacking guys because he was making a bee-line for the TE and probably would have made a ball-jarring hit or at least an aggressive play on the ball. Instead, he stopped about a yard short of Boss and put his hands up in "I didn't do it" fashion. Then he came off the field and was talking to teammates about how, in a real game, he would have tried to flatten the receiver in that situation.

Phillips wasn't the only defensive standout. Mathias Kiwanuka was all over the place. in fact, he had a string of three plays during 7-on-7s where he showed exactly why he'll be a capable outside linebacker in the league. First he had Eric Butler covered on a long post route and managed to swat away a pass. "You saw him 35 yards down the field knocking a ball down," Coughlin said. "That's pretty good." On the next play he again had Butler blanketed, this time knocking down a shorter underneath pass. On the next play he read a screen pass to Danny Ware and attacked the ball-carrier. There were no blockers, of course, so it's hard to say it was a great play, but it was a smart read. Kiwi also came off the end and beat Kareem McKenzie to blow up a pitch to the left in 11-on-11s and would have had Derrick Ward for a loss had he been looking to make tackles.

Other notes from practice:

I reported earlier that Manningham hurt his quad and it looks like David Carr will come off the PUP list and be PAP (Physically Able to Play) this evening. He's been moving around quite a bit on the sideline, apparently itching to get back in. It'll be interesting to see how the QB reps are divided up now. Up to this point it's been pretty even with Manning taking the first unit, Wright the second and rookie Woodson the third. Now, with a fourth QB in the mix, things might get toght at the bottom for Woodson -- and maybe even Wright.

No update on Manningham; we may know more this evening.

The big non-Phillips collision of the practice came on a punt return drill when Kay-Jay Harris was dinged up after he was clobbered by a combination of James Butler and Corey Webster. Harris was a little slow getting up -- it looked like he might have hurt his leg -- but he was in for 11-on-11s later. Just a guess here, but he might have had a little bit of a cloudy head from the meeting, too, because he seemed to take a handoff going the wrong direction later in the drills and didn't seem to go the right way on another play in 11-on-11s. Just something to keep an eye on.

R.W. McQuarters gave a nice pop to Robert Douglas on a sideline pass during the 7-on-7s, and I don't think Douglas appreciated it. Afterward, running back to the line of scrimmage, it looked like McQuarters tried to give him a high-five but Douglas had none of it.

The defense played some nickle packages today, which meant Kiwi had his hand on the ground and Dockery was in. It was also the first time (that I noticed anyway) that the first-team defense went against the third-team offense.

After practice, Coughlin was presented with a statue of a Great Dane by Uinversity at Albany president George M. Phlip. Calling it a statue may be an overstatement. It was more of a paperweight. I'm sure it will be on display this evening, right alongside the Lombardi Trophy that will be making an appearance for Fan Night.

Here are the 11-on-11 plays:

Burress just came out and addressed the media. I'll transcribe with quotes in a little bit, but for starters:

The ankle injury is new, as Coughlin said earlier, and it happened while running routes in between the minicamp and training camp.

He's optimistic he'll be back on the field soon but wouldn't give a timeline.

He wants to wait until he is 100 percent healthy so he doesn't go through a season like last year when he missed almost every practice with the ligament injury in his ankle.

He said that if his inactivity had anything to do with his contract, he would be home in Florida and not standing on the sideline in Albany.

He said that he doesn't think that this new injury will be a long-term ailment, that the staff is tinkering with orthotics for his cleats (he's never worn them before), and as long as he's comfortable wearing them he will.

More to come.

Had a nice talk with third-string RT Shane Olivea today. Why? Well, because he's from Long Island, he was a starter with the Chargers, and he has in interesting story. You can read more about it in the paper tomorrow -- or online sometime tonight probably -- but for now, here are a few drops to saturate your never-ending Olivea thirst:

He was addicted to pain-killers and in April his family flew to his house in San Diego for an intervention. "Just like on A&E," he said.

He checked himself into the Betty Ford clinic after that intervention. During his stay there he missed an NFL drug test (he didn't get the notice), but because the league and the league's drug policy enforcers opperate independently, he was handed a four-game suspension. That suspension was overturned.

He asked to be released by the Chargers because he didn't think he could handle his personal issues while thinking about football at the same time.

He denied reports -- angrily in fact -- that he partied his way out of San Diego's starting lineup, said alcohol was never his issue. Still, he satys away from the stuff now. Even when he goes out with teammates, he's the designated driver.

Practice report coming up.

We've been working under the assumption that the Plaxico Burress injury is one that has lingered since last season. Just a few minutes ago, Tom Coughlin said otherwise.

"Same ankle," Coughlin said, "but not the same injury."

Coughlin reiterated his thoughts shared over the weekend on TV, saying that he thinks Burress could be back on the field soon. "He's had some soreness," Coughlin said. "Hopefully by midweek."

Coughlin said Burress has a "structural" problem with his ankle that can be addressed by wearing orthotics. That should allow for the swelling to go down, he said, and let the receiver get back on the field. It doesn't sound like it's something that will necessarily heal, though. "It's something he's going to have to deal with," Coughlin said.

Burress has not addressed the media since the start of training camp, nor has he participated in any practices. It has been speculated that his inactivity stemmed as much from his desire to renegotiate a contract as his ankle injury. Of course, we all speculated that it was the same ankle injury that kept him off the practice field for most of the 2007 season, so ...

Also, rookie WR Mario Manningham missed most of practice with quad soreness and QB David Carr (foot) looks like he'll be the first PUPpy to be unleashed. Coughlin said he'll probably practice this evening.

Back in a bit with a more detailed practice report. For now, know this:

Kenny Phillips is leading the team in tackles, even though he's not supposed to be tackling anybody. And Mathias Kiwanuka was all over the place today, stuffing runs and dropping back to knock down passes 35 yards downfield.

The Giants aren't the only ones going live soon.

Just a reminder that tomorrow at 2 p.m. I'll be here for a live chat. It'll last about half an hour (it'll have to since practice is scheduled for 2:40). You can usually show up a little early and start loading up with questions. I'm sure you have lots.

Like: How's Dave Dahl looking?

Stop it.