Here's one of my favorite lines from the locker room today. It was from Corey Webster when asked about trying to be physical with the Cardinals receivers who are among the biggest and strongest players at their positions.
“Everybody’s got weight rooms,” he said. “We lift a little too.”
Really? We all but told him it was coming during a week of articles hyping Brandon Jacobs and the running game. But here's an exchange from Showtime's "Inside the NFL" that airs tonight in which Warren Sapp recounts the conversation he had with Ray Lewis after the Giants' 207-yard rushing performance in the 30-10 win (Phil Simms gives the punchline):
SAPP: "I had to call a friend of mine, Mr. Ray Lewis, and he said, 'I hate to tell you this, but we were playing pass. We were playing pass first,' and I dropped the phone."
SIMMS: "When you are playing the Giants, on defense, you better put those big boy pants on because they are going to bring it. Hearing that story, here’s the first thing that came to my mind. If you’re playing the New England Patriots last year with their high flying offense, it’s like saying, 'Let’s be ready, Tom Brady might run the option.'"
It's nice that they were playing pass first. But after the first series, maybe they should have caught on, no?
Click below for some more from Sapp and Simms on the overtime hulabaloo in Philly ...
Kurt Warner had a great career with the Rams. Then he came to the Giants for a few weeks (a whole season, actually, before rookie Eli Manning took over). Now he's resurrecting his career with the Cardinals and is once again in conversations about being an MVP and prompting some serious discussions about Hall of Fame worthiness.
So what happened when he was off the radar?
"I think I'm the same guy I have always been," he said. "I just think people forgot that for a minute."
Good line.
"I think when you get cut by a team that you have won two MVPs with and gone to two Super Bowls with, there is automatically something there that people question. 'Well, obviously, what is wrong with him? Why would that happen? It doesn’t happen.' And then going to New York and getting the feeling like I played pretty good football for those nine games but then getting replaced by a young guy. People again are saying, 'Well, okay, what is wrong with this guy? He put up the numbers that he did when he won the MVP and now you get benched for a young guy. Okay, obviously this guy isn’t the same guy that we expected before.'
"I don’t think anything has happened other than an opportunity has arisen here with the pieces in place for me to play football the way I play football. And to have the ball in my hands and to throw the football around and to be able to make decisions and to be able to win games throwing the football. And with that has come the success that I have had the last couple of years."
I saw where Danny Clark admitted that he didn't know the overtime rules and said he had trouble finding teammates who knew that an NFL game could end in a tie. And Ben Roethlisberger said something along the lines of estimating that 50 percent of the players didn't know that. Donovan McNabb certainly was unaware of how the extra period works.
Tom Coughlin was asked if everyone on his team knows that there is no second overtime during the regular season.
"I think that has been gone over a few times," he said with a grin.
The other interesting note about Jacobs at today's practice is that while he was lined up for those pass catching drills, GM Jerry Reese approached him, said something to him, and shook his hand.
Perhaps that had something to do with this quote:
We mentioned earlier that Aaron Ross was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week. The Giants get those awards from time to time -- Osi had two of them last year and Strahan had a bunch. But here's the question:
Who was the last defensive back to get that honor?
The hint is you have to go back 10 years.
Click below for the answer.
Brandon Jacobs started the portion of practice that we watch riding an exercise bike, but by the time we left the bubble he was doing some straight-line jogging and catching passes during a drill. He wasn't sprinting and he wasn't cutting, but he was running, so that seems to be a good sign.
There's some debate about whether or not it would be wise to play Jacobs on Sunday, assuming he is a) healthy enough to play but b) somewhere shy of 100 percent. With the capable backups of Ward and Bradshaw, are the Giants better off giving Jacobs the day off? There are three big division games following this one, remember. I suppose only Tom Coughlin knows the answer to that question.
The one drill Jacobs didn't take part in was the fumbling drill where the running backs run with a football that is attached to a big elastic band and anchored by a fellow running back. During that drill Madison Hedgecock was pulling on the football when it slipped from his grip and shot back at Reuben Droughns. It looked like it hit him in the Droughns, but I think Reuben got his guard up in time and deflected it. Close call.
Wilkinson was running and not on the bike. Ross was doing some sideline running but not working with his position. Kehl was with the starters at weakside linebacker and Terrell Thomas was in Ross' starting spot at cornerback.
But Coughlin says the plan (hope) is to have them all back working tomorrow.
On Jacobs, Coughlin said the running back "feels good" but will be given another day.
Will he play on Sunday? "We'll see. It's Wednesday. We'll see."
And Gerris Wilkinson will do individual drills and perhaps segue into actual practice.
Aaron Ross was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for his two interception, six-tackle game against the Ravens.
He's also atop the pre-practice injury report the Giants just handed out.
Here's the entire list:
Aaron Ross - hamstring
Chase Blackburn - neck
Kevin Dockery - back
Jonathan Goff - concussion
Brandon Jacobs - knee
Gerris Wilkinson - knee
(Full disclosure: The Giants release their injury reports in alphabetical order, so Ross wasn't really at the top of the list. But through the miracle of cut and paste I was able to put him there. It should be noted that had they listed the players alphabetically by FIRST name, though, that maneuver wouldn't have been necessary to satisfy my line about him being "atop" the list. I know, way too much thought.)
Hate to add to the confusion over Brandon Jacobs and his availability this week – he’s been giving a few mildly different answers to different outlets throughout the day – but I caught up with him tonight and here’s what he told me:
“There’s not any doubt in my mind at all, I feel like I can go,” he said. “I don’t know how coach is going to take it. It’s his call, basically. However they put it, I just have to listen to them and take it how they give it to me. But I feel like I’m good to go.”
Jacobs was at an apartment in Manhattan for the launch of a partnership between Xbox 360 and Netflix that lets users download movies through their game console and watch them on TV. He and his wife Kim visited with some contest winners and watched “Ratatouille.”
On the subject of how he was injured, Jacobs said it happened on the first touchdown run when Ed Reed came in and hit his knee while his foot was still planted on the turf. “He put a little ding in it,” he said. “No bog deal, just a little swelling.”
There’ll be more on Jacobs in the paper tomorrow, including his take on his impending free agency. Here’s a hint: he’s more worried about the blue than the green.
And he also said he feels like he’s an underrated player, that no one puts his name out there when discussing the top backs in the league like Peterson, Portis and Turner. Maybe that’s something he makes himself think to play angry. I asked him if making the Pro Bowl would do anything to change the perception he has on how others see him.
“I would be surprised if coach got us together as a team and called my name for the Pro Bowl,” he said. “Very surprised, just due to the respect from the public.”
Tom Rock answers your Giants questions today in a live chat at 2 p.m.
The Giants RB has a very busy schedule today hitting several media outlets. His message, so far as I can tell, has been the same: I'm OK.
Since the people at SIRIUS NFL Radio were nice enough to send me Jacobs' quote from this morning's "Opening Drive" show with Bob Papa and Randy Cross, I'll post it here.
"I feel pretty good. I feel way better than I felt Sunday after the game. I did the same thing I did against Dallas last year but it's nowhere near as bad as it was then. I'll be fine. It's my call and we'll be alright."
