Blackburn aims to help Giants' special teams improve

Chase Blackburn looked like a student hustling to finish a homework assignment before his teacher left for the day.

Hunched over at his locker, pen in hand, Blackburn - the Giants special-teams captain who has missed the last two games with a knee injury - was hurriedly finishing notes to distribute to his fellow special-teamers, who are on shaky ground with Tom Coughlin after an all-around poor Sunday.

The notes were all different, targeted to the young players who make up the coverage and blocking teams. "It's all correctable," Blackburn said. "Gotta get better."

Coughlin may not wait to see if the current group of special-teams players can get it together in time for Sunday night's visit from the Bears and Devin Hester, who embarrassed the Giants with a 108-yard missed field-goal return for a touchdown in a Sunday night game in 2006.

The coach hinted that he may put some regulars from defense onto the coverage unit, which allowed a 45-yard return by the Titans' Marc Mariani to open the third quarter.

"We may have to get a couple more people involved that haven't been involved," Coughlin said. Mathias Kiwanuka, who used to be a special-teamer in his earlier Giants years, said no player should be above working on special teams. "Yeah, bring it on," Kiwanuka said.

Only rookie Jason Pierre-Paul seems to strike fear into the hearts of opposing return blockers. Pierre-Paul was double-teamed on Mariani's return, and the faster outside coverage players - D.J. Johnson, Victor Cruz, Travis Beckum and Bruce Johnson among them - were simply too deep or too wide to make a play.

"It's not effort, it's more trying to do too much," Blackburn said. " . . . But it's about maintaining your lanes, taking the right routes to the ball and not trying to do more than you need to."

Matt Dodge didn't have a punt on Sunday, yet managed to return to Coughlin's doghouse with a delay-of-game penalty on a field goal try - Dodge is Lawrence Tynes' holder - and a low free kick after the safety that was returned to midfield.

Two veteran punters, Hunter Smith and Chris Hanson, are available; Smith's agent, Tom Mills, said Smith is working out for the Redskins Tuesday. So Dodge, a seventh-round pick in April, is still around.