Giants being "very, very cautious" with Beatty's back

Will Beatty’s back injury has all the telltale signs of improvement. The test results have been positive. He says he is feeling better. Everyone is generally pleased with his progress. He’s been coming and going to the team cafeteria, seemingly walking past the media without much in the way of discomfort.

So why isn’t he practicing?

The starting left tackle missed a third straight workout today.

“To be honest with you, the news that I got from down below is good,” Tom Coughlin said of the medical reports, particularly the tests Beatty had on Friday. “But he does have some sciatic nerve issues and they’re trying to eliminate that. If they do eliminate that they think the guy can go and if he goes they don’t think he’ll have any repercussions. At this point in time they’re being very, very cautious. They’re trying to get that completely out of the equation.”

Coughlin added that he had a similar sciatic issue that "took forever" to go away. He said Beatty is on medications to help improve the injury.

Coughlin clearly hopes they’ll hurry to kick in. Sean Locklear has been playing left tackle in place of Beatty the last few practices. Asked how Locklear has looked, Coughlin gave a lukewarm appraisal.

“He’s a guy who has been in the league for a while,” Coughlin said. “I’m hoping he can pick it up and go from there. Some good, some bad, to be honest with you. Hopefully as we go forward he’ll be more good than bad.”