Injuries piling up on Giants

The Giants are hurting.

And it seems as if Kenny Phillips’ knee is the LEAST of their problems.

Ahmad Bradshaw’s ankle is giving him trouble. Shaun O’Hara had a setback. Adam Koets injured his MCL in the game against the Bears. Osi Umenyiora is not practicing today. And Mathias Kiwanuka has not made any progress with his bulging disc while the Giants begin to mull surgery as an option for him.

Where to start? How about with the NFC Offensive Player of the Week with a bum ankle.

“Bradshaw is sore,” Coughlin said. “He’s taped. He went through the jog-through here, seemed to feel a little bit better under that circumstance. We’ll see how much we can do with him today.”

Greg Logan is just back from watching practice and noted that while Bradshaw was on the field, he was not practicing with the team.

As they say in the waiting room: Next!

O’Hara, who was so optimistic when he spoke on Monday.

“We all were,” Coughlin said of being optimism. “He led all of us to be very optimistic by nature of, he’s a positive guy to start out with. He walked very well and looked as if he might be able to get up on his toes and run. I was not out there, but that was not the case.”

And his backup, Adam Koets?

“Koets feels better today but he does have an MCL issue,” Coughlin said. “He came out of the game and looked fine but the next day his knee was bothering him. He’s wearing a brace. Feels better today.”

But he will not practice. That means Rich Seubert moves from guard to center and for today, David Diehl moves from left tackle to left guard and Shawn Andrews, a Pro Bowl guard with the Eagles, steps in at left tackle.

So basically today the Giants have a Pro Bowl center who can’t play, a Pro Bowl guard playing tackle, and a Pro Bowl tackle playing guard. Coughlin said Diehl and Andrews might flip-flop later in the week.

Oh, and they have a practice squad tight end in Bear Pascoe playing fullback. With Madison Hedgecock on the shelf with a hamstring injury, Pascoe will step in and play fullback. He did a decent job on Sunday without having practiced the role, so imagine how good he’ll be when he gets to take a few snaps there during the week!

Keith Bulluck? He was stretching with the team at practice today but Coughlin said he would not participate. Neither will Osi Umenyiora, out for the day with a knee injury. He’s expected back tomorrow.

Which leaves us with Kiwanuka and Phillips.

Kiwanuka said he might be able to play this week, but that’s not going to happen. In fact, the Giants are starting to map out a plan with timelines for when he has to get better by to avoid season-ending surgery.

“All we’re doing is getting information from the doctors,” Coughlin said. “I think there will be a timeframe if it’s a wait deal, and then when the timeframe is met then a decision will have to be made.”

And Phillips? Well, he seems to be in the best shape of all of them. Although this is the first time he’s appearing on the injury report with the knee, he’s actually been dealing with his situation since last week.

“We started to do a little bit less with him on Wednesdays,” Coughlin said. “We started that last week. He calls it tired and sore. According to the training room it has nothing to do with the past surgery or anything of that nature. We’re just trying to maintain it.”