Will Giants use spy to try and stick Vick?

To spy or not to spy? That seems to be the question facing the Giants' defense this week.

They won't go all Belichick on the Eagles and break out the telephoto lenses. No, this is more a matter of how they plan to contain Michael Vick. Will they have one player who is assigned to stand in front of Vick, mirroring his moves, trying to make sure he doesn't break free?

It's certainly one of the options they have when they face the Eagles Sunday night in a prime-time battle for the NFC East lead. And they even have someone who has done it before. Deon Grant, when he was with the Panthers earlier in his career, often was called upon to be the spy against Vick and the Falcons.

Vick said he likes when defenses have a spy on him because it means there is less coverage down the field. But the Giants would seem better equipped for that kind of a game plan because they have Grant and two other starting safeties in Antrel Rolle and Kenny Phillips to keep an eye on the back end.

Few teams are as deep as the Giants at the position, so by having a safety in the middle of the field up close to the line of scrimmage, they wouldn't be losing as much in terms of their coverage as other teams might.

"There are different things you can do to spy him and you can play coverage also," Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said. "There are some things you can do. It depends on how many people you want to rush at him when you do that, though. That's the Catch-22 when you're trying to play a guy like this."

Grant said he's had success as the spy. The most important aspect of it, he noted, is not letting Vick know he's being watched.

"You just have to mix it up and let him try to figure out if it's a spy," he said. "By the time he realizes it, it's too late. That's the key."

After that, it's just a matter of sticking with Vick.

"Can the spy catch him?" Fewell asked. "I've seen people spy the guy and they haven't been able to touch him. But I think sometimes [a spy] is necessary, sure."

Fewell said it will be important for the Giants to be focused on Vick, but they also must remember that he has many other weapons on the field. He even compared Vick to a basketball player in that he makes the players around him better than they are.

"You can get enamored with watching him because he's so dynamic," Fewell said, "but the pieces around him are very good, too."

"We know every guy on their offense runs a sub-4.4," Giants cornerback Aaron Ross said of the Eagles' speed. "That's something we're prepared for. DeSean [Jackson], [Jeremy] Maclin, they're great route-runners as far as getting open down the field. We're going to have our hands full."

The fastest of them all might be Vick, who Rolle said has "a bazooka for an arm and he runs faster than three-quarters of the receivers in this league."

Fewell said Vick's greatest asset is that he shreds not just defenses but the game plans themselves.

"He's a guy that no matter what you do structurally, defensively, he can break down that structure," Fewell said. "That's the most exciting thing about him and that's why everybody likes to see him play."

And it's all the more reason to have someone on the Giants keeping a very close eye on him.

Notes & quotes: The Giants waived defensive back D.J. Johnson Saturday and replaced him on the roster with TE Jake Ballard from their practice squad.