Monday, November 5, 2007

Giants back to work after the bye

Head coach Tom Coughlin gave his players off the entire bye week with the exception of a few team meetings. This morning the Giants finally resumed practice, but it was only a light jog-through. The team will again have off tommorrow before returning to full contact practices on Wednesday.

Almost the entire team participated in the jog-through today. Only WR Plaxico Burress did not participate at all. RB Derrick Ward and SS James Butler took limited reps. Burress has not been practicing since week 1 of the season because of a sprained ankle. His routine has been to lay off his ankle all week in order to be ready for the games on Sundays. After week 8 against the Dolphins, it was believed that Plaxico would resume practicing after the week 9 bye. However, it now appears that he will continue to be held out of practice. I think this will be the trend for the remainder of the season. Its not like its hurting his performance anyway- Burress is in the midst of a career year.

Burress, Ward, and Butler are all expected to be listed as questionable for week 10 against the Cowboys when the first injury report comes out on Wednesday. As I said, Burress will almost certainly play, and the other two will likely be limited in practice all week long and will be gametime decisions on Sunday. The Ward and Butler injuries are pretty insignificant anyway. Ward being out just means more carries for Brandon Jacobs, and Butler's replacement (rookie safety Michael Johnson) has outperformed him the past few weeks anyway.

Overall, this is the healthiest a New York Giants team has been this deep into the season in a long long time. KNOCK ON WOOD.

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