Antrel Rolle criticizes practice attendance

The Giants lost Sunday, but in Antrel Rolle's mind, they already were losing during their week of preparation for the Redskins.

Rolle, the Giants' outspoken safety, turned into the anti-Allen Iverson after the 23-10 loss to the Redskins. Yeah, he's talkin' 'bout practice.

"We need to have everyone on the field," Rolle said of the workouts leading up to games. "If you're injured, so be it, you're injured, we understand that. But nicks and bruises? Everyone needs to be on the field, man, everyone needs to be on the field, because we're not getting better like this. Everyone plays with nicks and bruises all year long, everyone does it. We have to get everyone out there, we have to get everyone on the same page, and we have to step our game up."

It's hard to not think Rolle is pointing a finger at defensive captain Justin Tuck, who sat out two of this week's three practices with a toe injury that can be very serious but has the unfortunate appearance of a minor ailment. Tuck was the only defensive player who missed practice time during the week but wound up playing against the Redskins. Running back Ahmad Bradshaw also missed two practices, but he is playing with a cracked bone in his right foot.

Rolle backtracked away from Tuck later in his interview.

"I'm just speaking in general," he said, noting that even though Tuck did not practice, he had "a pretty positive game.''

"I'm talking about the team as a whole," Rolle said, a hint that perhaps Bradshaw was his target. "I feel like if you can push through it, push through it, because you're going to have to push through it on Sunday. I'm not calling out any individual. I don't know who practices and who doesn't. I'm just saying everyone needs to be in sync, and that's the bottom line."

Tuck dismissed Rolle's comments. "No one knows your body better than you do," he said. "When I was younger, I used to look at some of the older guys when they would miss practice and kind of look at them like 'they probably could be out here.' Now that I've lived through and done that . . . I always say that it's easy to be tough when you're doing it in somebody else's body."

Tuck said he came out of the game fine even though he limped to the sideline early in the first quarter. He had seven tackles, including one for a loss, and said he expects to play Saturday against the Jets.

Rolle, meanwhile, was in the middle of some of the biggest plays for the Redskins. He missed a tackle on Donte' Stallworth that resulted in a 16-yard gain on third-and-17; Washington then converted on fourth down en route to a touchdown that made it 10-0. He was covering Santana Moss on an out route in which Moss made a 15-yard reception that converted a third-and-11. And Darrel Young trampled over him on his way to a 6-yard touchdown run.

"I can only control myself out there on the field," Rolle said. "I'm not going to always be perfect, there are going to be some plays I'm going to give up, but I'm going to win more than I lose, without a doubt. One thing I do know is I'm going to go out there and I'm going to play with fire, and I'm going to go out there and have that same intensity each and every game."