"No, not at all," he said. "I'll be there Monday night, 8:30. You'll see me. ... I'll never miss a game unless I'm on IR. I'll be there."

Pierce can't even remember specifically when he got injured.

"A lot of times when you get hurt, you were running," Pierce said. "We play a game where you've got to run a lot. It's football, man. If I didn't get hurt, ya'll would probably question what I was doing out there for 60 minutes. Things happen. I'm just excited to get out there come Monday with the boys."

Pierce also weighed in on the bulletin board material Browns defensive tackle Corey Williams provided by saying he's going to come out and "hit [Brandon Jacobs] in the mouth" and saying "there ain't nothing physical" about the Giants' O-Line.

"There's always going to somebody taking shots at somebody," Pierce said. "At least you know we're being looked at and they are taking notice of us. Hats off to them. What else would you do if you were 1-3? You've got to do something to fire up you're team. I don't knock the guys for doing what they are doing. It's no different than what I did last year and other guys on this team did when we were down. They are doing whatever they need to do to rally their troops and get their home stadium fired up for Monday Night Football. So it's going to be fun at the Dog Pound."

"It's the same thing that we hear from the media, so it's just like they are a part of the media as well," Pierce continued before dipping into his Charlie Brown vocabulary. "Just womp, womp, womp, womp, womp."

Just got back from checking out practice, and during the portion we were allowed to watch, McKenzie appeared to be limited and Pierce remained sidelined.

McKenzie participated in one hand-eye coordination drill in which he went up against another offensive lineman equipped with pads on both hands. When it came time to get down in a three-point stance with his fellow mates and square off against a pad-wielding lineman, he sat that one out.

Pierce rode the stationary bike and did some jogging back and forth in the end zone not far from the rest of the linebackers, who were going through their own various drills.

We'll get the actual practice report later today and I'll update you guys when I receive it. Before then, I'll pop back in with a quick locker room update. It opens up at 1:30.

As for Browns TE Kellen Winslow, looks like he's going to be a game-time decision. Browns coach Romeo Crennel said as much to reporters in Cleveland earlier today before the Browns even practiced. Apparently, Winslow's illness forced him to remain in the hospital overnight Thursday. He's scheduled to be released today, but his availability is up in the air.

"He's truly 50/50," Crennel said. "Hopefully he'll be there. We should know more in the next couple of days."

DL Shaun Smith (hand) and OL Kevin Shaffer (concussion) also missed practice.

"You'll never know," smirked center Shaun O'Hara, figuratively slamming the door to the inner sanctums of the Giants' facility. It was like trying to get Bruce Wayne to tell me where I can find the entrance to the Bat Cave.

A few others gave hints. I heard Justin Tuck mention last week that there is a bulletin board somewhere near the shower area, but he coyly said he pays no attention to it. Danny Clark said that the bulletin board material each week is actually put on the overhead projector and displayed at the front of the room during meetings. And Rich Seubert said that of course there are bulletin boards. Where else whould the team post its schedules and meeting times and other valuable information.

Regardless of whether there is an actual bulletin board (and I've got news for you, no one watches "film" anymore either but that's what everyone calls it), the Giants pretty much took the verbal assault from Corey Williams & Co. pretty cooly. It was almost as if someone in authority had already told them not to make anything more of it. That would never happen, would it?

“I can honestly say I've never won a football game because of bulletin board material and I’ve never lost one because of it," O'Hara said. "It makes for great TV and great newspaper and great drama during the week, for those not involved, but in the end it’s all just hype and when kickoff starts no one really thinks about that.”

WR Steve Smith said he's been called out the way Williams did to Brandon Jacobs and the offensive line. He said there were a few times people said things about him leading up to games he played at Southern Cal.

"You can’t play too much into that, it may take away from your game," he said. "If you get a 1-on-1 coverage, you’re still going to do what you normally do but you might give a little extra. That’s the only way I think it can play into it."

The team practiced on the stadium field today, which was interesting because it was already "decorated" for Sunday's Jets game here. The walls were all covered in their green baggies and the end zone was painted with the letters JETS. Interestingly, those letters were in the blue and mustard of the old Titans colors rather than the usual green and white. Superstitious? I would be. Between the ones from Tennessee and New York, "Titans" teams are 6-0 this season.

The conference call with Romeo went well. He said that the biggest issue facing the Browns passing game is the lack of timing between the QB and his receivers. He said that having so many of them miss time during the preseason and training camp (thanks, in part, to hits from the Giants) have hampered their efforts.

Not sure if Plaxico heard about that excuse. Didn't he miss the preseason too? Too bad he's been slowed down by it.

Asked Coughlin about the weakside LB position, which looked as if it was won by Gerris Wilkinson. Coughlin gave a hazy answer to that, saying that Wilk did get the majority of the snaps on Sunday while Bryan Kehl played mostly special teams, but he also said that "nothing is etched in stone" and Kehl could find himself back in the mix. He also said that because the Giants had to employ a lot of sub packages on Sunday against 3 and 4 WR sets, that limited the Giants' ability to rotate LBs. Danny Clark, he said, didn't get as many snaps as usual.

Crennel is on the conference call in a few minutes. Then we go out to practice to make doubley-sure that Pierce and McKenzie aren't practicing!!!

"His whole thing is, if you let him come out and get a seven- or eight-yard run, get his confidence level up high, then he can be effective," defensive lineman Corey Williams said of Jacobs to the Cleveland Plain Dealer. "But if we can come out and hit him in the mouth from the jump, he tends to slow down and do some tip-toeing. You've got to swarm him, swarm to the ball."

Mr. Williams also reportedly had some things to say about toughness not really being in the Giants' offensive arsenal.

"It's a zone-blocking scheme that lets him run and pick a hole. There ain't nothing physical about them," he said. The former Packer also recalled last year's NFC Championship Game experience against the Giants.

"We came real close to beating the Giants in the NFC title game. We were hitting (Jacobs), and he was slowing it down. He left the game. They let the Bradshaw kid come in. He's really the one who killed us."

Hmmm. I hope none of the Giants notice those remarks.

Strange league.

Essentially the Giants are saying that if there WAS practice on Wednesday, Pierce and McKenzie would have sat out and Hixon and McDougle would have done a few things.

The Browns did practice, but Kellen Winslow missed it because of an illness.

I know I was away from the blog for a while today (I'm almost as embarrassed as McNabb), so let me catch you up:

The Giants don't care what you or anyone else thinks about them.

They have welcomed Plaxico back with open arms.

Eli Manning disputed rumors that the Giants have contacted him regarding a new long-term contract (he's signed through 2009).

And nobody's perfect.

You can click below for the transcript of the conference calls we had with Pierce and Manning today. Be warned: They aren't nearly as entertaining as the conference call we had on Monday.

In the meantime, here's a quote from the Cleveland Plain Dealer about how this year's Aug. 18 preseason game is influencing the upcoming game:

"We were embarrassed, especially it being on national television," receiver Joshua Cribbs said. "We want the win most of all, but we have that chip on our shoulder and we're looking for some payback."

I assume he's talking about those hideous brown pants they wore that night. Those were embarrassing.

Yes, the Giants dominated one game the way the Patriots did last year, blowing the feathers off the Seahawks, 44-6, on Sunday. But just two weeks ago they needed overtime – two possessions in overtime – to beat a winless Bengals team. And the week before that they were in a one-possession game in the fourth quarter with the Rams.

Last year’s Patriots were never so vulnerable. In their first four games they outscored their opponents by 100 points, 148-48. This year’s Giants are ahead of their foes by a combined score of 127-49. That’s a differential of 78 points.

Is it impressive? Hell yeah. Do I think they are the best team in the NFL right now? Probably. Are they the equivalent of the 2007 Patriots (regular-season version)? Not yet.

But a convincing win over the Browns on Sunday may draw them closer.

Your thoughts? Am I being too cynical or is Mariucci being too hyperbolic?

Burress made some comments that don't quite jive with the whole team-first concept that Tom Coughlin has instilled in the team. Like when he said he doesn't really care what his teammates think about him, when he called football the "best temporary job I'm ever going to have in my life," and, of course, this assesment of today's meeting with Coughlin:

"As far as the same page, I know what he expects. As far as being on the same page, we hit and miss sometimes on things like that. We had a conversation today and we talked and I listened and didn’t really have too much to say. We just move on from there and we just go on to Monday night."

You can click below to read the whole transcript and judge for yourself (be forewarned that there is a nasty word below, one which I dashed out in my reference above). I'd love to hear what fans have to say about this. Because as someone who covers the team, it's a little out of whack with the vibe that usually comes from the locker room.

My take was that he was being cool and a bit defensive when he spoke with us. The part about him enjoying his time away and relaxing doesn't add up with the Plaxico who played hurt all of last year. Will he change? For a while, I'm guessing.

So, is this Plax being Plax? And is it worth it?

Comment away!

Essentially he said he would do it again (though he might give the Giants a call next time), he doesn't care what his teammates think about him, he enjoyed relaxing during his "week off," he watched only the first half of yesterday's game, and he hasn't lost any sleep over the situation.

"Things like that happen," he said. "I was fine with (the suspension). I took it with a grain of salt."

How's that for contrite?

He did say he's looking forward to playing on Monday night.

"It all appears that he's ready to go," Coughlin said in the conference call just moments ago. Burress was at the Stadium this morning, lifted weights and ran with teammates.

Coughlin seemed surprised at the level of interest in Plaxico's return. He said he hadn't really thought about whether Plaxico would have his starting job when he did come back. "I should have anticipated it," he said. "I would say right now, yes (he will start)."

After a few Plaxico questions, Coughlin ended discussion of the topic with these remarks:

"I have no idea what you guys are doing and where you're going. This is an issue that we've talked about for two weeks, or we haven't talked about for two weeks. He's back. He was told to be back this morning, that he would report for work on the sixth. He did. He exercised with his teammates, he ran, and he did the things that he was supposed to do."

Plaxico, by the way, will be on a conference call at 1:30.

*

On the concussions suffered by Domenik Hixon and Kareem McKenzie, Coughlin said they were a little bit improved today and hopefully with the extra day before the Monday game they'll both be cleared to play.

Coughlin also said he was concerned about the kickoffs from John Carney, especially the one that went out of bounds and helped the Seahawks drive for a field goal at the end of the half.