POSTED: Wednesday January 7th 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
GIANTS NOTEBOOK, JANUARY 7, 2009
By Michael Eisen
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – The bye week did exactly what it was supposed to do for the Giants.
Rested, rejuvenated and ready to go, the Giants today held the first of their three full-scale practices for Sunday’s NFC Divisional Playoff Game against the Philadelphia Eagles. And for the first time in months, they had almost the entire roster healthy enough to work.
Only two players missed practice: defensive end Justin Tuck with a lower leg/knee injury and linebacker/long snapper Zak DeOssie with a sore back. No one else was even listed as limited.
With everyone working, the practice had a different feel than most of those in the final six weeks of the regular season, when 10 or more players sometimes missed practice because of injuries. The bye week gave everyone a chance to heal and recharge their batteries.
“It’s just fun,” defensive tackle Barry Cofield said. “You feel like you’re back at the OTA’s (the springtime organized team activities) and minicamp when everyone is young and there are no wrinkles on your face and everyone has fresh legs running around and having a good time. We had a chance to get away from it. Guys weren’t flying around the country hanging out, but at the same time just to be able to sit back and watch other teams and spend some time with your family and just be off the field for a couple of days helped everybody. It rejuvenates your legs, but it also refreshes you. Guys are more excited and hungry to get out there and play football again.”
The Giants were among the first six teams to have a bye in the regular season. They were off the final weekend of September, then played 13 weeks in a row. The last 10 of those were all against winning teams, the longest such streak in NFL history.
Facing that gauntlet was not just a professional challenge, but a physical and mental one as well. Given a chance to spend a week out of uniform, the Giants are as fit as they’ve been in weeks.
“I think a lot of guys are surprised with how good they feel having all that extra time off,” 13-year wide receiver Amani Toomer said. “I think the way the schedule was handled everybody was pretty happy with that. We are ready just to go in and see what we can do this weekend.”
“I don’t know if you heard us today, during the stretching, but it didn’t hurt to run,” guard Chris Snee said. “The knees felt better, my fingers don’t hurt. I’m sure by play three on Sunday it will be different, but it’s nice to go through practice without being completely sore.”
Another player who feels much better is running back Brandon Jacobs, whose health and production are widely viewed as keys to the game. Jacobs rushed for 1,089 yards this season, despite missing three games with a knee injury.
He re-injured the knee on his second carry in the third quarter – his 10th carry of the game – in the Giants’ 20-14 loss to the Eagles here a month ago today. Jacobs’ final run increased the team’s rushing total to 68 yards. Without his physical presence, the Giants gained just 20 more yards on the ground. Philly held a 10-7 lead when he left, but the Giants could never pull even.
Jacobs missed two of the last three games. But now he’s rested and feeling much better, which is good news for the Giants.
“The difference today is that I can go out and run full speed and I can make harder cuts,” Jacobs said. “I’m ready to go. I feel real good. I feel real good about our situation and where we are right now. I am just going to wait for the game to begin.”
The excited running back has apparently been ready to suit up for several days.
“You can hear him,” Snee said. “He’s very vocal and he’s enthusiastic. He came in Monday in here and he was rip-roaring and yelling. I said to Brandon, ‘We don’t play until Sunday at one,’ and he looked at me like I was crazy. He’s fired up and I love it.”
“He is pretty darn excited today,” Coach Tom Coughlin said. “I had to remind him the game is Sunday.”
Derrick Ward, who is one of Jacobs’ closest friends on the team, said his running mate is pumped up.
“He’s excited, man,” Ward said. “He hasn’t practiced in two, three weeks leaving me and Ahmad (Bradshaw) out there by ourselves, but it’s good to have him back energized and ready to go. In the meetings he can’t even sit still, he’s ready to go, so we had a nice practice today and we’ll continue to work on that for the rest of the week and be ready for the Eagles.”
Ward rushed for 1,025 yards on the season to join Jacobs as just the fourth set of running backs in NFL history to have at least 1,000 yards apiece in the same season. Ward averaged 5.6 yards a carry. But the consensus among the players and coaches is that the Giants are a better team with Jacobs carrying his share of the load.
“He is a physical presence,” Coughlin said. “He is a guy that we count on to set the physical edge. And we are looking forward to getting him back in the lineup, obviously.”
“Brandon does a great job of getting everybody fired up and just kind of bringing that intensity that we will run the ball,” quarterback Eli Manning said. “We will pound it at first and just set that physical standard that we have as an offense. So he does a good job of doing that and then we mix it up and throw the ball with Derrick Ward and Ahmad and throwing different looks. But he does a great job of getting the crowd up, getting them fired up and getting our offense into that physical mode.”
With everyone in good health, the Giants look forward to putting forth their best physical effort on Sunday.
*It’s safe to say few players relish the opportunity to participate in the postseason more than Ward. Although he’s been a Giant since 2004, Ward has never suited up for a playoff game. He ended each of the previous three seasons on injured reserve, with a groin injury in 2005, a foot problem in 2006 and a fractured fibula last year.
“This is the fourth time in my five years here we’ve been in the playoffs and it’s my first time playing,” Ward said. “I haven’t played in a playoff game since high school, so it’s going to be exciting for me. It’s pretty much a second season for us and it’ll be fun and a good experience for me.”
In 2007, Ward broke his leg on Dec. 2 in Chicago. When the Giants made their four-game championship run, he was reduced to the role of spectator.
“I was on my couch,” Ward said. “I was here for the Tampa game and the Dallas game and I was in California for the Green Bay game and also for the Super Bowl.
“I was excited for my teammates, but I was disappointed because of the broken leg and all. But it was a good thing that I went through it, because it taught me to be humble and anything can be taken away from you at any time. I was able to get through that and have a good season this year. I definitely appreciate it more.”
Ward is eager to see if everything he’s heard about postseason football is true.
“I always hear about how the speed of the game changes from regular season to postseason so I’m ready to make that change with the rest of the guys,” he said. “To be able to switch from regular season play to postseason play is something new for me, but I’ll go out there. I can handle it and get it going.”
*Four Eagles did not practice: running back Brian Westbrook (knee), tackle Jon Runyan (knee), cornerback Asante Samuel (hip) and fullback Dan Klecko (shoulder).
Four players were limited: Safety Brian Dawkins (back), linebacker Stewart Bradley (rib), defensive end Victor Abiamiri (foot) and guard Shawn Andrews (back). It was Andrews’ first practice since he suffered a herniated disk on Sept. 15 in Dallas. He had surgery on Oct. 21.
*Manning will start his seventh postseason game on Sunday, which is second among quarterbacks in Giants history. Phil Simms started 10 playoff games.
*The Giants are 4-5 in Divisional Playoff games, but have won their last two – over Philadelphia here in 2000 and at Dallas last season.
*Coughlin is one of six coaches nominated for the Motorola NFL Coach of the Year award. The others are Tennessee’s Jeff Fisher, Baltimore’s John Harbaugh, Atlanta’s Mike Smith, Miami’s Tony Sparano and Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin.
Fans can vote on NFL.com for the head coach of their choice. Voting will take place through 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 21 to determine the 2008 Motorola NFL Coach of the Year. The winner will be announced at a press conference in Tampa Bay during the week before Super Bowl XLIII.
*Due to the limited number of parking spaces near Giants Stadium, the Giants and the NJSEA are urging fans who attend Sunday’s game to carpool and use mass transit. Fans are reminded that only those ticket holders with pre-paid parking permits will be allowed on the sports complex grounds. Those fans without parking permits will be directed to satellite parking and take shuttle busses to Giants Stadium.
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