ESPN

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Stars ignite quickly in New York, and when new stars get hot they burn bright enough to obscure the ones that were there already. So it is with Victor Cruz, the New York Giants wide receiver who's salsa dancing on the morning talk shows and making tabloid headlines with the birth of his first child.

Cruz is so hot right now that people have nearly forgotten about Hakeem Nicks, who was the budding star No. 1 receiver around these parts not four months ago. But Nicks doesn't mind. Part of the reason this all works -- and a large part of the reason the Giants find themselves preparing for a divisional-round playoff game Sunday against the Packers in Green Bay -- is that neither of the Giants' star wide receivers is the kind of guy who acts like, well, a star wide receiver.

"We're great friends," Cruz said Wednesday. "We talk all the time. We text each other all the time. When I'm watching film, I'll text him and ask him about something. And because he has a little girl himself and I just had one, I ask him for advice all the time on that. So he's a guy that I definitely look at as a friend -- a guy who's behind me and supports my career 100 percent."

Yeah, these two guys are a real coach's nightmare. Nicks spends his spare time in the film room, as he has since high school, obsessing over the finer details of his craft, because he never wants to miss an opportunity to get better. Last summer, Cruz took it upon himself to attend every one of Eli Manning's player workouts during the lockout, buddying up to the Giants' quarterback just in case he was going to get an opportunity. Just in case the Giants didn't bring back Steve Smith or sign Plaxico Burress or give Domenik Hixon the preseason reps at slot receiver or any of the other things they planned to do before giving Cruz a shot.

The Giants' star wideouts are workaholics. They're humble. They're generous and engaging and easy to like. In short, they bear absolutely no resemblance to the cliched profile of the diva wide receiver.

"I think the main thing with both of those guys is that they want to be successful, and they want to be successful as a team," Giants safety Deon Grant said. "They don't consider themselves individuals. They know the best way for them to be successful is if we're all successful. And that's a special thing, to have guys that think that way. That's why this is a special group of guys we have in here."

There is a remarkable lack of ego about these Giants. The quarterback doesn't carry himself like a star. The coach doesn't hold himself out as the smartest guy in the league. Even the remarkable self-confidence the Giants have been expressing outwardly over the past few weeks has rung sincere -- a genuine outgrowth of their own improved play on the field. They believe in themselves and each other, and nowhere is that more evident than in the mutual admiration society that is their wide receiver corps.

"We are a dangerous corps," Nicks said. "I feel like we're all No. 1 receivers. With our offense, if you try to take one guy away, it opens it up for the other two guys. You try to take two guys away, it opens it up for the third receiver and the tight end as well."

The third receiver is Mario Manningham, a player of considerable skill in his own right who began this season apparently poised for his own stardom before Cruz raced past him as well. Manningham has struggled with knee injuries through the second half of the season, but he had a big game last Sunday in the victory against the Falcons, and says he doesn't mind if people would rather talk about Nicks and Cruz.

"I hope they forgot about me," Manningham said of the Packers. "I like not being under the microscope."

Microscope, spotlight, whatever. The Giants' receivers are perfectly suited to roll with any or all of it. In a town that pumps up its stars to unsustainable levels of fame and expectation, the men who are turning Manning's short passes into long touchdowns every week remain grounded. They remain humble. They remain good friends and good teammates who believe hard work and dedication are the paths to success. For goodness' sake, they are NFL receivers who don't mind if somebody else catches the ball.

"Our coaches are always preaching the mantra of taking the names off the backs of the jerseys," Giants tackle Kareem McKenzie said. "Those guys, because of their personalities, they're a great example of that."

They're exactly what the Giants need. And that's a huge part of the reason the Giants are still playing.

It's double grand.

For the first time in Giants history, the team has two receivers that have topped 1,000 yards in the same season. Victor Cruz had 1,150 yards on the year while Hakeem Nicks just crossed the plateau on Sunday night and now has 1,023. Cruz has set a career-high while Nicks is 30 yards from setting his new high mark.

"A lot of that credit goes to the o-Line, holding up for Eli (Manning) to deliver those passes to us and Eli doing a great job distributing the ball between different targets and we're just coming up and making plays for him," Nicks said.

The Giants are currently one of two teams in the NFL with two players that have topped 1,000 yards, as New England's pair of Rob Gronkowski and Wes Welker both have as well. The Giants, though, are the only team to have two receivers with those numbers, as Gronkowski is a tight end for New England.

In having two guys with 1,000 yards, Nicks believe the playmaking ability of the team on the outside is a key reason why. The Giants are one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL this year, with the most 40-plus yards passing plays in the league.

"Eli has been comfortable, the o-line has been holding up for him," Nicks said of the vertical offense. "Without the o-line, we wouldn't have time to get those deep balls off so definitely got to give a lot of credit for holding up and Eli having time to complete the deep ball."

Giants coach Tom Coughlin, who was not aware of his receivers' accomplishments, is pleased that Manning has been finding different receivers and spreading the ball around.

"Given where we are and how we played and the way in which we attained our production offensively, I'm glad for the distribution, I'm glad for the balance," Coughlin said. "I think as you look at the number of catches, that kind of adds up for us."

Manning, whose 4,105 passing yards are an obvious reason why the team has been able to accomplish this feat, credited the hard work of the offense. Manning has seen firsthand how hard this task is for receivers as even the talented duo of Amani Toomer and Plaxico Burress could not both top 1,000 in the same season.

"The offense, I think we've grown a lot and advanced our offense since those days when those two talented receivers were here," Manning said when it was mentioned that those receivers did not accomplish it. "I'm feeling comfortable and these guys are doing a great job of getting open, understanding our concepts, understanding our plays and going out there and making plays when those opportunities form."

Wide Receiver Mario Manningham, who is fourth on the team in receiving yards with 466 yards, seems to be motivated by his teammates accomplishments.

"Let's roll. Let's keep it going. Let's get more," Manningham said.

» NFC Final Word: East | West | North | South » AFC: East | West | North | South

Five nuggets of knowledge about Week 8:

Trouble getting started: According to the ESPN Stats & Information Group, a big part of the New York Giants' problems running the ball this year have had to do with what happens before their running backs ever get hit. SIG's "next level" stats show that the Giants, who are averaging 3.3 yards per carry this season after averaging 4.6 yards per carry over the previous three seasons, are only gaining 1.6 yards per rush before initial contact. The league average of yards per carry before contact is 2.4, and only the Cleveland Browns (1.3) have a lower number in this category than the Giants do in 2011. Makes you think that maybe Ahmad Bradshaw's complaints about the offensive line weren't far off.

When is home not really home?: The Buffalo Bills have a 3-0 record at home this season, but this week's game against the Washington Redskins is in Toronto. It's the fourth year in a row the Bills have played a home game in Toronto, and they're 0-3 in the games so far. This is good news for the Redskins, who have lost five straight to the Bills since beating them in Super Bowl XXVI and who haven't won in Buffalo since 1987.

Irresistible force, immovable object: The Philadelphia Eagles rank first in the NFL with 170 rush yards per game, which SIG says would be their highest total for a season since 1950. Star running back LeSean McCoy ranks seventh in the league with 569 rush yards, and quarterback Michael Vick ranks 21st with 372. However, the Dallas Cowboys rank first in the NFL at stopping the run. Dallas allows just 69.7 yards per game on the ground and just 3.3 yards per carry. So it will be interesting to see which side wins out -- and especially interesting to see whether the Eagles stay committed to the run if they're not having success with it early.

Keep it safe, Tony: Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo did not throw an interception last week against the Rams, breaking a streak of three straight games in which he'd thrown at least one. Since Romo became the Cowboys' starting quarterback, the team is 17-6 in games in which he does not throw an interception, and 25-19 when he throws at least one. The Eagles have intercepted seven passes in their first six games, but four of those seven came in their most recent game, two weeks ago against Rex Grossman and the Redskins.

Touchdown Shady: McCoy has scored a touchdown in each of the Eagles' first six games this season. He's the first Eagle ever to do that and the first player on any NFL team to do it since 2007, when both Plaxico Burress and T.J. Houshmandzadeh did it, according to ESPN Stats & Info. The only other running backs in the past 15 years to score touchdowns in each of their team's first six games of a season were LaDanian Tomlinson of the Chargers in 2005, Emmitt Smith of the Cowboys in 1999 and Robert Edwards of the Patriots in 1998. Smith did them all one better, scoring in each of the Cowboys' first seven games that season.

The list: 50 Greatest Giants   Rank 'Em: Your top 20 »

As the G-Men get ready to play the St. Louis Rams on the next edition of "Monday Night Football," ESPNNewYork.com is proud to announce its list of the 50 Greatest Giants.

Putting this list together was a tall order, considering Big Blue's long and storied history, which includes three Super Bowl wins.

There is plenty of room for debate -- in terms of who we selected, and in terms of what order we placed them in. And we welcome your feedback! Feel free to use the comment feature below.

We wanted to include a wide range, in terms of positions. And we certainly could have included at least a couple more current Giants -- in fact, two of them just missed the cut. But they've got some time left in their careers, and will likely make this list when it's all said and done.

Who are they? We'll, why don't you take a guess?

With that said, let 'er rip! Enjoy the photo gallery, and use our list ranker to assemble your very own top 20.

Here's your preview for Day 3:

OSI WATCH

Osi Umenyiora is expected to undergo his physical. He could talk to the media today which could be very entertaining.

PLAXI-NO

Plaxico Watch is over, the wideout signed with the Jets. Here's my early take on what it means for the Giants. We'll get player reaction later today.

BRADSHAW WATCH

The Giants are still trying to re-sign Ahmad Bradshaw. According to ProFootballTalk.com, the Redskins may be pursuing Bradshaw as well.

Plaxico Burress says his meeting with Tom Coughlin "went well" and believes it might have even improved his relationship with his old head coach.

In a phone interview with the Newark Star-Ledger, Burress described his meeting with Coughlin as "very positive." He also said he has not ruled any team out yet. Of course, it's in Burress' best interests to keep everybody in the hunt.

"Yeah, I think it went well," the 6-5 receiver told the paper about his meeting with Coughlin. "We ironed a couple of things out. I thought it was very positive."

Burress disputed a report by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, which said he will not re-sign with the Giants after visiting with the Steelers on Saturday.

"I haven't ruled out anybody,” Burress said. "I don’t know who's talking or whatever, but I haven't ruled anybody out."

Burress told ESPN's Stephen A. Smith in June that his relationship with Coughlin was "ambivalent."

"I believe so," Burress said when asked if Friday's meeting helped their relationship. "I don’t see why it wouldn't."

Burress also spoke fondly about his visit with the team that drafted him, the Steelers. He had breakfast with head coach Mike Tomlin and lunch with several players, including Ben Roethlisberger.

"I got a chance to see all my boys, all the fellas," Burress told the paper. "It brought back a lot of memories, that's for sure. Some great memories -- great memories."

Burress said he was trying to figure out the logistics of visiting two more teams -- the 49ers and Jets -- in the next 48 hours. He had nothing but positive things to say about Jets head coach Rex Ryan.

"I know they have a good team and everybody knows Rex," he said. "I think he’s great. He stands behind his players, I think his players have a lot of respect for him and they play hard for him. He's a great coach, great personality. He seems like he's always upbeat."

On Friday night, a source close to Burress said the receiver had his eyes on the Eagles. We could find out in a few days where Burress ends up.

Plaxico Burress, 34, sat down with the NFL Network and gave a revealing interview. With the candor of someone who is trying to restart successful NFL career, the former Giants wide receiver said he always thought he'd play again despite missing two seasons to serve time on a gun charge.

"You go out there on Sunday, where else would you rather be on NFL Sunday to come out of a tunnel, performing in front of millions of people?" Burress said. "At no time did I ever think my career was over. I was determined to get back."

Where he lands is anyone's guess, but once free agency starts, it will be interesting to see who takes a chance on an older, but potentially explosive, player.

Does Plaxico Burress think he can be the missing piece for a Super Bowl contender? Why, yes ... yes he does.

Tom Coughlin said he hasn’t paid any attention to Plaxico Burress’ take on their relationship.

Burress called his relationship with Coughlin “ambivalent” earlier this week.

“I don’t pay any attention to it. It is what it is,” Couglin said on Wednesday at Yankee Stadium. “Maybe he’s sending me a long a badge of honor, how do I know.”

While Coughlin’s comment was vague, Burress left little to the imagination in his description of his relationship with Coughlin.

"My situation in New York, me and my coach had an ambivalent relationship to say the least," Burress said. "Some things that I didn't agree with, with the way he went about things. And the only way to show my way was to just rebel. Is that who I am? No."

"That was one of the biggest problems when I left Pittsburgh when I came here," Burress continued. "I had a relationship with Bill Cowher inside of football and outside of football. He always had an open-door policy to where you could come talk to him or tell him what was on your mind. When that was taken away from me, I kind of felt it was like: I'm the coach, you are the player. It doesn't matter what you have to say. You just do what I tell you to do."

"This is not college," he added. "This is professional sports. If you can't sit down and go talk to a man that you are busting your tail for, not even have the respect for anything that you have to say, like I said, the only thing I knew then was to rebel."

Coughlin reiterated that he hoped Burress could regain a sense of normalcy after his release from prison.

Said Coughlin: “I hope he gets some normalcy in his life and has a chance to spend some time with his family and that he gets to know his kids once again and his wife whose done a tremendous job of holding that family together for the last two years – she deserves some help.”

TC ON LOCKOUT: Coughlin is ‘optimistic’ that there will be an end to the lockout in the near future.

“I’m real optimistic,” Coughlin said. “I knew that going into this week that they had had a good couple of days the week before. From what I understand there may have been a little tension mounted a little bit today but I’m hoping that it has nothing to do with the optimism and the good feelings that have been created.”

He admitted that the lockout – and the lack of offseason workouts that come along with it – will affect the Giants training camp, whenever that starts.

“You’re going to have to gauge the level of conditioning, of course. No one’s had any contact work in the spring,” said Coughlin, who said he saw value in the Giants’ voluntary workouts. “…. But you trust the fact that they’ve lifted and they’ve conditioned. But you’re going to have to be in position where your gauging the level of conditioning before you start the real intense physical work.”

ALBANY OR N.J.? Coughlin said that if the lockout delays training camp past a certain date – he did not specify the date – that the Giants would be forced to move training camp from the campus of the University of Albany to their team training facility in East Rutherford, N.J.

With the release of Plaxico Burress from jail Monday, making him a free agent, we thought it would be a good time to check out some Giants statistics with and without Plax.

All stats including Burress are through Dec. 2, 2008, which was the day of his suspension, which marked a total of 60 regular season games and six playoff games with Big Blue. Even the games in which Burress did not play, in which the Giants were 3-0 in his time, are included. The Giants have played 36 regular season games and one postseason game without Burress.

Record
Giants with Burress: 40-20 (4-2 postseason)
Giants without Burress: 19-17 (0-1 postseason)

Points
Giants with Burress in regular season: 25.03 points per game
Giants without Burress in regular season: 24. 19 points per game
Giants with Burress in playoffs: 17.5 points per game
Giants without Burress in playoffs: 11 points per game

Against playoff teams
Giants with Burress: 9-13 (4-2 postseason)
Giants without Burress: 5-12 (0-1 postseason)

Divisional games
Giants vs. Eagles with Burress: 6-1 (0-1 postseason)
Giants vs. Eagles without Burress: 0-5 (0-1 postseason)
Giants vs. Cowboys with Burress: 3-4 (1-0 postseason)
Giants vs. Cowboys without Burress: 3-2
Giants vs. Redskins with Burress: 6-2
Giants vs. Redskins without Burress: 4-0
Giants vs. NFC East with Burress: 15-7 (1-1 postseason)
Giants vs. NFC East without Burress: 7-7 (0-1 postseason)

The AFC
Giants vs. AFC with Burress: 10-6 (1-0 postseason)
Giants vs. AFC without Burress: 4-4

Eli 300-yard games
With Plaxico: 7 in 60 regular season games
Without Plaxico: 7 in 36 regular season games

Eli TD and INT
With Plaxico: 90 TD, 63 INT (10 TD, 5 INT postseason)
Without Plaxico: 60 TD, 41 INT (0 TD, 2 INT postseason)

Eli 100+ passer rating
With Plaxico: 12 in 60 regular season games (2 in 6 postseason games)
Without Plaxico: 13 in 36 regular season games (0 in 1 postseason games)

Do these stats prove the Giants need Plax or should they pass? Are you surprised by these numbers? Let us know in the comments below.

Tom Coughlin said there really hasn't been a lot of talk within the Giants organization about a Plaxico Burress reunion.

But outside management, there's plenty of discussion as Burress' prison release date of June 6 nears. There are several Giants who have said that they want Burress back. But does he want to come back?

Left tackle David Diehl says if he were the wide receiver, he might want a fresh start elsewhere.

"I would like to say yes [about a return]," Diehl said on NFL Network on Friday. "He's had a lot of success for us as a player. But, if I were Plaxico, I would say no. With everything that happened, Plaxico has taken a lot of heat, not only through the media. I think about Michael Vick's situation. He went into a new situation, a new city, where he could almost start fresh with new teammates and go back to basics."

Numerous Giants ranging from Brandon Jacobs to Osi Umenyiora have stated that they want Burress back in blue.

Diehl said players would welcome back Burress, whom he described as a "good teammate" who "never wronged anybody."

But Diehl recognizes the distractions Burress will face if he comes backs.

"If I were Plaxico, I don't think I would want to," Diehl said of returning. "It's reality. It happened. It's easy for someone on the outside looking in to judge. But it's a whole different experience when you're the person it happened to. From this point on, he's going to live with this for the rest of his life. He can change, and I'm sure he's changed, since it happened. And I'm sure when he comes out, he'll be a better husband and father. He's going to want to prove all the naysayers wrong. That's enough to fuel anyone.

“More importantly, if I were in that position, in order to move on and start fresh, you have to get back to square one,” Diehl continued. “That's getting back to playing football. That's getting back to yourself, and not only enjoying your family, but enjoying your life and being happy again. For him, I think that's somewhere else."

When Amani Toomer visited former teammate Plaxico Burress earlier this year at the Oneida Correctional Facility in Rome, N.Y., Burress expressed a strong desire to return to football once he gets out of jail next year.

But Toomer thinks Burress shouldn’t have to wait that long to be released.

“It’s a shame he’s still in there,” Toomer said on Thursday afternoon. “If he wasn’t Plaxico Burress, he’d be out on work release.”

Burress, who played with Toomer on the Giants from 2005-2008, was denied a bid for work release by the state Department of Correctional Services on Aug. 31. It was the second time Burress had applied for work release since he began serving his two-year sentence for carrying an unlicensed handgun last September.

“Because he is who is he is, they’re keeping him in (prison),” Toomer said. “When they politicize something like this and play with a person’s career and life it’s unfortunate.”

Burress can appeal the decision but otherwise will have to wait until June 6, 2011, before he can apply for another work release. At that time he will be eligible for full release if he gets time off for good behavior.

A New York state prison system spokeswoman told ESPN.com last month that it’s rare for the Department of Correctional Services to grant work-release requests. Less than 2 percent of the nearly 27,000 applications received last year were granted.

Burress began serving a two-year sentence last September after pleading guilty to attempted criminal possession of a weapon. Burress carried an unlicensed weapon into a Manhattan night club in November 2008. The gun slipped down Burresss’ leg and fired, injuring his right thigh.

Toomer also said Burress told him that it was difficult to be away from his family during their visit. Toomer believes Burress, one of the heroes of Super Bowl XLII, won’t have any trouble landing a job in football when he is released – despite the fact that he hasn’t played in more than two years.

“He looked like he was in great shape. He’s definitely planning on coming back,” Toomer said.

Toomer, who was cut by the Chiefs in the 2009 preseason, isn’t planning a comeback of his own, but he is still competing.

Toomer will run in the ING New York City Marathon on November 7. He is training with Timex training technology, including a wrist device that allows him to track his heart rate and distance. Timex will donate one dollar for every runner he passes en route to the finish line to the New York Road Runners Youth Programs. Toomer says he is the first former pro football player to run the race since Lynn Swann ran it in 1993. He said he wants to beat Swann’s time of four hours and twenty-six minutes.

Toomer says he will work as a commentator for My9’s Giants post-game show and as an analyst for the Big Ten Network.

The Giants’ all-time leader in receptions thinks the key to Big Blue’s success in 2010 will be an effective ground game, something that the Giants sorely lacked down the stretch of their 2009 campaign.

In particular, Toomer believes the Giants need to find a way to help Brandon Jacobs regain the form he showed in 2007 and 2008.

“I think they’re trying to find any way to get him (back) to running the same way he ran in (2008) before he got the new contract,” Toomer said. I don’t know if they’ve (had) the same Brandon Jacobs that they got before he signed that contract.”

Jacobs complained about his reduced role to ESPNNewYork.com after the Giants preseason finale against the Patriots last week. He will likely see his role reduced this year as Ahmad Bradshaw receives the bulk of workload.

Toomer also has paid close attention to the Super Bowl predictions and preseason bravado of Rex Ryan’s Jets. He sees them as a “nervous” team that has painted a large bulls-eye on its back.

“I think they’re a nervous group, like they’re whistling in a graveyard,” Toomer said. “With all the talking they’re doing, they are making their own road a lot more difficult.”

You can track Toomer’s training progress for the New York City marathon on the Timex Sports Facebook page.

The evening practice was animated and there was a lot of jawing going on toward the end between the offense and defense. Here are some highlights from the Day 9 night session:

The defense unleashed more of its four defensive end front and we may have a name for it –- "NASCAR." Guess that is because of the speed they have up front with DE Justin Tuck, DE Jason Pierre-Paul, DE Mathias Kiwanuka and DE Osi Umenyiora.

Now they showed some multiple looks this evening, with Umenyiora back at linebacker and a couple of the defensive ends dropping back into coverage from the front while the linebackers blitzed in.

S Antrel Rolle will move up and the defensive ends and linebackers are all standing up and moving around to create some confusion on the offensive end.

For the record, we like this wrinkle a lot.

• • •

The "Big Base" package got a lot of action as well. You remember this, the one with Kiwanuka standing up at strongside linebacker with a front of Tuck, DT Barry Cofield, DT Rocky Bernard and DT Chris Canty. Canty plays right defensive end and Kiwanuka rushes in a package built to stop the run.

• • •

For those keeping score at home, RB Brandon Jacobs took the first carry tonight in the night session. No word on whether his "Free Plaxico" movement is gaining strength yet. Being that the author of this blog went to Michigan State, I support the movement.

RB Ahmad Bradshaw continued to show good burst on runs. Jacobs looks fast and lean.

• • •

WR Ramses Barden had one of his best practices of camp. He turned in his finest catch of camp when he leaped for a one-handed grab over CB Aaron Ross and then held onto the ball while falling over Ross near the left sideline. DE Dave Tollefson likely would have had a sack on the play though.

Later on he had a nice catch over the middle in stride and one in the red zone drills in the end zone.

• • •

Ross would redeem himself when he had a nice interception on the sideline. Ross bobbled the ball before securing it and tip-toeing the sideline to get both feet in bound.

• • •

WR Nyan Boateng flattened CB Courtney Brown on a blindside block toward the end of a non-contact play. Brown took exception and had to be separated.

The defense and offense standing on the sideline began jawing and Jacobs and S Deon Grant began shouting at one another. Umenyiora quickly stood in front of Grant and calmed him down.

Umenyiora, by the way, had a nice bull rush on T William Beatty.

• • •

CB Corey Webster didn’t finish the practice as he was seen gingerly walking off the field to the sideline for the last few plays. Webster seemed to be OK and stretched out afterward.

• • •

P Matt Dodge boomed some over 50-yard punts and had a good practice. K Lawrence Tynes went 6-for-8 but his two misses came back to back from 30 and 33 yards out.

• • •

WR Steve Smith (groin), WR Sinorice Moss (groin), TE Travis Beckum (hamstring), TE Kevin Boss (hamstring/ankle), G Rich Seubert (hand), G Kevin Boothe (pectoral), S Kenny Phillips (knee) all did not practice in the night session.