Smith, Thomas, Carroll excited to face each other

Steve Smith and Terrell Thomas won a lot of games when Pete Carroll was their coach. Now, they're trying to win a game when he's coaching the other team.

"I'm excited to go against him and show him why he recruited me," Smith said Wednesday of playing against his former coach at Southern Cal.

Carroll sounded excited, as well. "After all the years we were together and the tremendous amount of fun times and success we had, we'll always have a connection," Carroll said. "Those guys were really centerpiece guys in our program on both sides of the ball. They both had big impacts. Those were good guys to deal with, they were fun to coach and to compete with."

Carroll misses the Ws

After nine years at USC, Carroll is back in the NFL. But is there anything he misses about the college game? "Yeah, I miss a lot of things," he said. "I miss winning every week. That was really fun."

Grant going back

Deon Grant played safety for the Seahawks for three years before signing with the Giants this offseason. He said he's looking forward to returning to the Emerald City.

"I'm going to be hyped playing against my old guys," he said. "A lot of them on the team are like brothers. I still talk to them like every day. So they know the type of talent I have. They know I'm coming 110 percent, full speed. But it's going to be fun."

Giant steps

C Shaun O'Hara (foot) said he still is working toward playing on Sunday and would be able to go even without practicing, and Tom Coughlin called him "day to day" . . . Seahawks QB Matt Hasselbeck (concussion) did not practice Wednesday, but Carroll said he is "bright-eyed" and expects him to work Thursday . . . Eli Manning confirmed that he and wife Abby are expecting their first child. "Very excited about it," Manning said. "Very happy, and looking forward to the new addition."