Hakeem Nicks confident he can help Giants in final six games
Hakeem Nicks #88 of the New York Giants runs with the ball during a game against the Oakland Raiders at MetLife Stadium on Nov. 10, 2013 in East Rutherford, N.J. Credit: Getty Images / Al Bello
Hakeem Nicks isn't sure what he'll be asked to give the Giants when he gets on the field, possibly as soon as this weekend. But the receiver knows that his credentials as a Super Bowl-winning player for the organization certainly will help in one area.
"Confidence level," Nicks said when asked Monday what he can bring to a team with only six games to play. "I've seen this before, and we're right where we need to be in this division."
He's speaking, of course, about the 2011 season, when the Giants fluttered around .500 for most of the season and then finished with a run to a championship. With so much turnover and injury trouble, he is one of only two offensive players from that team currently on the Giants' active roster (Eli Manning being the other).
Nicks was a key piece of the offense that season. And now?
"I'm sure they'll sprinkle me in and get acclimated," he said in his first public comments since re-signing with the Giants last week. "Whatever the coaches need me to do, whatever they need me here to be, that's what I will be."
External expectations are not high, considering Nicks had an unimpressive 2014 season with the Colts, was cut by the Titans at the end of training camp and didn't have a job in the NFL until the Giants put Victor Cruz on injured reserve and needed a body at the position.
Tom Coughlin, however, thinks Nicks, 27, can regain the form that, for a few years, made him a very productive player for the Giants.
"I don't think there's any question about that part of it," Coughlin said. "He is a young man and he does miss it, and he has worked very hard to stay in shape. We knew that when he worked out here the first time. Yeah, I'm hoping that's exactly what it will be."
Nicks has caught more passes for more yards from Eli Manning than any other player, but this is a new offense. Monday was his first practice in the system. While the rest of the team was on a bye, Nicks said he stayed at the team facility to get a jump on the new playbook.
"He's energetic, he looked good," Coughlin said after Monday's workout. "Kidded around with him a little bit. He did fine for a guy that's just trying to study and pick up the signals and all of those things. He did OK."
"It feels good," Nicks said after wearing his familiar 88 jersey in the practice. "Feels good to be back in the building, definitely feels good to be back in the Giants' uniform. I just want to continue to make plays and be a great football player, and a great team player."
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
