O'Hara sidelined, Seubert shifts to center, JPP is doubtful and Bomar is in the driver's seat

As we usually do, just a few notes about who was and wasn’t practicing today and who was playing where.

The big news is that Shaun O’Hara is done, probably for the rest of the preseason. He had a cast put on his foot that goes almost up to his knee. Tom Coughlin said “it’s the ankle, it’s the Achilles, it’s the tendonitis, it’s the swelling that occurs, the soreness.” So lots going on. Judging by the cast, though, it’s a good guess that O’Hara is dealing with some Achilles tendonitis which can be very painful. They’re hoping that immobilizing it and giving him time off now will prevent it from flaring up during the regular season. We’ll have more on that in the stories on the website a little later.

As for center, the Giants moved Rich Seubert over there with the starters. Seubert has had his own cast issues, having one on his left hand to help heal a broken bone. But he’ll play about 25 snaps on Saturday, Tom Coughlin said, most likely with some kind of protection on the left hand and a football in his right. Seubert said it’s no big deal moving from guard to center.

That leaves an opening at left guard, of course. It looks like Guy Whimper will get the start there while David Diehl will be at left tackle. My guess if this O’Hara injury does in fact linger is that they’d try to ease Shawn Andrews into the left guard spot, keep Seubert at center and Diehl at left tackle.

Going across the ball to the defensive side, I already updated you on Jay Alford. Two other guys who play there and had been missing practices are Jason Pierre-Paul and Chris Canty. They were both on the field for about 45 minutes today taking part in individual drills, but then they came off and had to get iced up (planned, I should note, and not because of any setbacks). Pierre-Paul is unlikely to play on Saturday, I’m hearing, but he should be back to work on Monday when they return to practices.

Terrell Thomas was sidelined for a second straight day with a calf injury. Coughlin said right now Thomas is not playing, but he made it sound as if that could change.

Coughlin also noted – and verified Jim Sorgi’s worst fears based on his conversation with reporters on Wednesday – that Rhett Bomar is “in the driver’s seat” for the backup job behind Eli Manning.