ESPN NFL

This is the kind of stuff you hold your breath and hope you don't hear about your team when it takes the field for offseason practices: New York Giants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks fractured the fifth metatarsal of his right foot Thursday morning while running a route during OTA practices, the team announced. Nicks is scheduled to undergo surgery Friday to have a screw inserted into his foot, and the Giants estimate that he'll need about 12 weeks to recover. Assuming no setbacks, that puts his return around the middle of August. But because you can't assume there won't be setbacks, Nicks' availability for the start of the regular season is at least in question.

Real rough break for the Giants, who lost No. 3 wide receiver Mario Manningham in free agency and likely can't afford to have their No. 1 wideout miss significant time. The good news, if there is any, is that it happened now as opposed to a month or two from now, and Nicks will have time to recover. Once he does return, there could be questions about how much he can handle and how soon without re-aggravating the injury, and it's possible he won't be his usual dazzling self right away. Nicks is one of the best wide receivers in the entire league, and he and Victor Cruz form the strength of the Giants' Eli Manning-led passing attack.

This will open up reps in the preseason for receivers such as Ramses Barden, Domenik Hixon, Jerrel Jernigan and rookie Rueben Randle, which could help the Giants better figure out which of those guys is the best bet to replace Manningham at that No. 3 receiver spot. That may be a side benefit of the unfortunate news, and last year's Giants obviously were able to succeed in spite of a rash of significant preseason injuries, so they surely believe they have coverage. But there's no one on the roster who brings everything Nicks brings to his position, and they'll surely hope his recovery will be on the short side and they'll have him on the field in plenty of time for their Sept. 5 regular-season opener.

And we're back. Another Tuesday on the NFC East blog, which means I need to stretch my chat muscles so I don't pull anything. Let's get right to the links.

Dallas Cowboys

I wrote Monday about Mike Jenkins staying away from OTAs and assumed he was doing that to make some sort of statement. I was right, as it came out later in the day that he wants to be traded. As Tim MacMahon says, good luck with that, Mike. This isn't like the Asante Samuel situation in Philadelphia, where the Eagles just wanted to dump Samuel's salary and took a seventh-round pick for him. The Cowboys can still use Jenkins, even if he is now the No. 3 corner behind Brandon Carr and Morris Claiborne. And given his health issues of the past year and where we are on the 2012 calendar (i.e., after the end of the draft), it's impossible to imagine any team offering them enough to make it worth their while to trade him.

In the ongoing quest to say sillier and sillier things about Tony Romo, the latest apparently is that the Cowboys don't go to the Super Bowl because Romo is not enough like Michael Young, which I guess means he needs to get on base more.

New York Giants

On the topic of Giants players "under pressure" in 2012 -- a topic we discussed here on the blog last week -- Ed Valentine picks wide receiver Ramses Barden, for whom opportunity looms large. Barden will have to hold off Domenik Hixon, Jerrel Jernigan and second-round pick Rueben Randle if he wants that No. 3 wide receiver spot created by the free-agent departure of Mario Manningham. The Giants drafted him thinking he had the tools to do it. The question now is whether he can stay healthy enough and play well enough to take advantage of his chance.

Tom Coughlin is still big in Jacksonville, where he coached the Jaguars before coaching the Giants and where he still holds his annual charity golf tournament. While in town for that, he once again answered questions about his possible retirement by saying it's not even something he's remotely considering.

Philadelphia Eagles

You can blame Juan Castillo and the defense all you like, but the Eagles' coaching staff thinks the biggest problem last year was their 38 turnovers (second most in the league), and they're determined to work with Michael Vick to cut that number down in 2012. Reading this, it sounds as though part of the problem is getting Vick to understand that there is one.

Eagles offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg talked about the fine line between leaning on the franchise running back to whom the Eagles just gave a five-year contract and overworking him. LeSean McCoy will only be 28 years old at the end of his new deal, and the Eagles surely can get five good years out of him even if they don't worry about limiting his touches. It will be interesting to see which way they lean.

Washington Redskins

You have to pay attention when you stand on an NFL sideline during practice, and Redskins coach Mike Shanahan unfortunately was looking at the wrong set of drills Monday when a couple of his players slammed into him and knocked him to the ground. "A little woozy" seemed to be the diagnosis, as Shanahan's "toughness" after his knockdown impressed some of his players. Sheesh. It's only the first day of OTAs and already the coach is down. Take it a little slower down there, fellas.

In spite of all he's done as a Redskin, Chris Cooley knows he's in a position this offseason of having to show something. Specifically, he needs to show he's healthy enough to play effectively in a two-tight end formation with Fred Davis. The reports after the first day of OTA practices were encouraging on Cooley.

All right, well, it was a bit of a quiet weekend in the NFC East. A guard here, a backup quarterback there, a wide receiver leaving the champs for the conference runner-up. That was about it, and each of our four teams will enter the second week of free agency with more work left to do. I will, of course, be here to chronicle and analyze it all for you, just as soon as I have my links.

Dallas Cowboys

Calvin Watkins writes that the Cowboys have some interest in linebacker Erik Walden, a former Cowboys draft pick who had a nice year for the Packers but made the wrong kind of headlines last November. I guess I'll just leave his ugly alleged transgressions alone for now and say, yeah, he'd help the pass rush.

Clarence Hill has nothing but praise for the Cowboys' targeted approach so far in free agency. You know by now that I agree with him. Critique each individual signing if you must, but (a) we don't actually know how these guys are going to play and (b) picking out players you like because you believe they fit what you do is a lot better than just grabbing for the most recognizable names. Interesting nugget in Clarence's column: He seems pretty certain they'll go after guard David DeCastro in the first round of the draft.

New York Giants

Ohm runs down the Giants' options for a No. 3 wide receiver now that Mario Manningham is in San Francisco. These include waiting out the free-agent market and finding a bargain, drafting someone like Baylor's Kendall Wright with the No. 32 pick in the draft or just finding the solution internally, as the Giants like to do, from a group that includes Ramses Barden, Jerrel Jernigan and Domenik Hixon. My guess is they'll do at least one of the first two, but not in such a way as to rule out the internal solution as a possibility.

Prince Amukamara showed up on crutches at an autograph session over the weekend and a report got out that he'd had surgery on the foot he broke last year in training camp. Turns out it was a different kind of procedure -- an injection, like the ones Ahmad Bradshaw gets for his broken foot. So not surgery, but still, don't you have to wonder now if this is an issue that lingers as Bradshaw's has?

Philadelphia Eagles

I've consistently been amazed, since the Eagles' disappointing 8-8 season, at the extent to which quarterback Michael Vick has escaped blame. Not that it was all Vick's fault, of course, but his interceptions were a huge part of the problem, and that doesn't get harped on nearly as much as does Juan Castillo's defense or DeSean Jackson's pouting or Andy Reid's refusal to call enough plays for LeSean McCoy. But Sheil Kapadia's a sharp guy, and he writes, in the wake of the Evan Mathis re-signing, that it's going to be very hard for Vick to escape blame if it all goes wrong again.

Jeff McLane doesn't think the Eagles will be able to lure Stephen Tulloch away from Detroit or pay Curtis Lofton what he wants, so he runs down some other options for the Eagles at linebacker on the free-agent market. Yeah, London Fletcher's name is in there. And, yeah, it should be. Jeff points out that Fletcher will be 37 at the start of the season, which would generally be a turn-off. But anyone who's watched and been around Fletcher knows that he's an unusual case and still at the very top of his game. And what do the Eagles care about 37? Don't they have to win this year?

Washington Redskins

Rex Grossman is under no illusions about his role on the Redskins' 2012 roster after signing another one-year contract with the team. He knows they're planning to draft their new franchise quarterback, and that said quarterback is certain to be the starter. And he says he'll be happy to help.

LaRon Landry's drawing interest, The Washington Post reports, from the Jets, Patriots and Lions. But this is only a Redskins story in that Landry is a guy who once played for the Redskins. At this point, if he were to return in 2012, it would be a complete shock.

The catch, in traffic, 38 yards up the left sideline with his toes just in bounds in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, isn't going anywhere. That's part of New York Giants lore forever, and because of it Mario Manningham won't ever get booed by Giants fans unless he does something to beat their team. But before, during and after that catch, which was such a key part of the Super Bowl victory over the Patriots last month, the Giants and everyone else knew Manningham wasn't going to be on their team in 2012.

He found his new home late Saturday night, agreeing with the San Francisco 49ers on a two-year contract. He becomes the first to defect from the Giants' latest championship team. The cost of doing business in the NFL is that if someone does something to help you win a championship, other teams want him.

In the Giants' case, they knew they'd lose Manningham because they knew the free-agent market for wide receivers would deliver him offers that were higher than what they wanted to pay for their No. 3 wide receiver. They have superstar-caliber players at the position in Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz -- players who will be needing their own new contracts before long -- and with salary-cap concerns and other needs to fill, they've long been prepared to bid farewell to Manningham. The offense functioned very well when he came back healthy at the end of the season and gave Eli Manning another option, but it's not as though Manning had been incapable of functioning without him. He threw for 406 yards in New Orleans, 347 in the regular-season loss to the Packers, and Manningham didn't suit up for those games.

The Giants will find their No. 3 receiver somewhere, be it in the draft or from a holdover group that includes Ramses Barden, Jerrel Jernigan and Domenik Hixon. The Giants, as much as any other team, always believe the potential solution can be found on their roster. Manningham was a fine player for them, but once Cruz exploded onto the scene he became a luxury. Their offseason priorities at this point are linebacker, offensive line and running back.

As for their own free agents, they've been told go out on the market and see what they can get. If Aaron Ross, Jonathan Goff and even Brandon Jacobs come back and want to sign for the low, low prices the Giants have budgeted for them, they'll be welcomed back. If not, they'll be replaced. But they knew all along that Manningham would find something better than what they had to offer him. They'll wish him well, and thank him for all he did, and then they'll move on without him, just as they'd planned to.

I am back, and as Mike and Mike like to say, better than ever. Yeah, of course I missed you guys. Won't ask if you missed me. Plenty of time over the coming weeks and months to invite that kind of abuse.

It was a lovely week off, spent relaxing and watching college basketball conference tournament games. I did keep half an eye on what was going on in the NFL, but the fact is, if you'd been reading this blog regularly, you knew way ahead of time that the Eagles were going to franchise DeSean Jackson and the Redskins were going to franchise Fred Davis. Will the Cowboys do the same with Anthony Spencer? We find out today.

We are eight days from free agency and 52 days from the NFL Draft, and the best way to embark upon an offseason odyssey like this is to fill up first with some links.

New York Giants

If Mario Manningham signs elsewhere as a free agent, the Giants are likely going to need someone from their current group of wide receivers to step forward and replace him. They don't necessarily need a repeat of what Victor Cruz did to replace Steve Smith last year, but they need someone productive. Domenik Hixon, re-signed in spite of having played just two games the past two years due to two tears of the same ACL, would like to be that guy.

Former Giant Mark Bavaro talked to the New York Post about his experience -- or what he believed was his experience -- with "bounty-hunting" defensive players during his time in the NFL. Not a new problem, but the Saints' story isn't going away anytime soon, either.

Philadelphia Eagles

Jeff McLane is wondering what the Eagles will do at safety, where they've spent high draft picks but have received little production over the past couple of years. McLane seems to think it's likely that they'll stick with Nate Allen and his fellow youngsters, maybe adding a "second or third-tier" veteran in free agency. But he lists some of the higher-end targets anyway in case they decide to go big-game hunting. The first guy on his list, Tennessee's Michael Griffin, is probably getting franchised, according to Adam Schefter.

I did hear that there was a fair amount of chatter in Philadelphia last week about the possibility of the Eagles trading up with the Rams and drafting Robert Griffin III at No. 2 overall in the draft. Bleeding Green Nation doesn't think this will happen, and neither do I. I totally understand that Andy Reid loves to be deep at quarterback, and I'm not about to rule out the possibility. But given the competition the Eagles will have from teams who need Griffin to start for them next year -- as opposed to sit behind Michael Vick -- I don't see how it becomes worth it for the Eagles to spend their resources that way.

Dallas Cowboys

Calvin Watkins reports that the Cowboys will franchise Spencer, which would guarantee him $8.8 million this year. I know Watkins has believed all along the team would get a deal done with Spencer, and of course they still might. That's what the original intent of the franchise designation was, after all -- to hold a guy in place while you worked on a long-term deal with him. But if the Cowboys don't get a deal done with Spencer, this still isn't a terrible idea. Other than Mario Williams, who's likely to break the bank, there just aren't very many pass-rushers on the market who would qualify as an upgrade over Spencer, disappointing though he may be. And yeah, they can draft a pass-rusher, but even if they did, that would create depth and give them options a year from now when Spencer was up again. So, sensible move, even if it doesn't smell quite right to Cowboys fans.

Oh, and since we did this with the Eagles, let's briefly revisit last week's flare-up over Jerry Jones saying he wouldn't trade Tony Romo to move up to draft Griffin or Andrew Luck. It's draft season, so things get crazy, but it's important to remember that Luck and Griffin are basically children who, while they seem likely to succeed in the NFL, aren't guaranteed to be anything at all. If either of them is ever half as good an NFL quarterback as Romo already is, they'll be overjoyed, and so will the teams that draft them. Jones is the voice of reason here, folks. Ain't that something?

Washington Redskins

Are the Redskins the favorites to land that coveted No. 2 pick in a trade with the Rams? Could such a deal be agreed upon this week? Jim Thomas of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch thinks so on both counts, reporting that the Browns don't want to give up both of this year's first-rounders just to move up two spots and get Griffin. Thomas also writes that the Redskins, while willing to deal this year's first-rounder and next year's, are balking at the idea of adding this year's second-rounder to the deal, and that that's a hangup for the Rams. I think the Redskins should move up to get Griffin if it's at all reasonable. If all else is equal, he's their best option. Peyton Manning is a good option if healthy and if they can't get Griffin, but Griffin is the ultimate offseason prize for Washington this year. I think that, if they can do it for two first-rounders, they should. I also think they're wise to not jump to meet St. Louis' asking price just yet, since other suitors may drop out and reduce that price. But as for this week ... yeah, it makes sense that something could get decided this week (even if it couldn't be announced until March 13), because if the Redskins can't get that No. 2 pick, they're going to need to figure out how to get a quarterback in free agency which, as I've already mentioned, starts in eight days.

The Washington Post spoke with former Redskins players and coaches about the way the "bounty" system was administered during Gregg Williams' time there. The league is looking into Williams' time with the Redskins, but it sounds as though the Saints are the team in real trouble here.

I link, therefore I am.

New York Giants

Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPNNewYork.com is breaking down his postseason Giants grades and expanding on them position-by-position. His first one is on quarterback, and as you may have guessed, Eli Manning gets an extremely good grade.

Big Blue View is also going position-by-position as it looks ahead to free agency. This edition of "strut 'em or cut 'em" is on wide receivers, specifically Mario Manningham, Domenik Hixon and Devin Thomas.

Philadelphia Eagles

Nick Fierro breaks down the DeSean Jackson situation and presses the point that the Eagles never pay anyone a dollar more than they believe him to be worth. This would seem to indicate that, even if they franchise Jackson, they would look to trade him or (less likely) do a new deal that would allow them to pay him less than the franchise number in 2012.

With the NFL scouting combine looming later this week, Jonathan Tamari writes that the Eagles rely much more on a player's college game film than anything they see at the combine. GM Howie Roseman says the most important information the team learns about players in Indy is medical information.

Dallas Cowboys

In light of Jason Hatcher's comments last week about the Cowboys lacking leadership, Calvin Watkins outlines some examples from the past year in which several players on the Cowboys' roster showed plenty of leadership, albeit in ways more quiet than those for which Hatcher's example, Ray Lewis, is known.

The Cowboys had some interest in cornerback Stanford Routt, but not as much as some other teams did, and Routt signed Monday with the Chiefs. What this means, however, is that the Chiefs are likely to let talented 25-year-old cornerback Brandon Carr leave via free agency, and that adds Carr to the mix of available cornerbacks for the Cowboys to target. Carr is better than Routt, but with star wide receiver Dwayne Bowe still to worry about, the Chiefs appear to have decided to go with a cheaper option.

Washington Redskins

Redskins GM Bruce Allen says the team has "a game plan" for what to do about quarterback this offseason, which is good to know. He doesn't say what that game plan is, which is no fun at all, but he clearly indicates that the team is pursuing several different options and is poised to change the plan depending on outside circumstances, what other teams do, etc. This is kind of the point I've been trying to make. For example, say their top choice is to trade up to the No. 2 pick for Robert Griffin III but someone else beats them to it. They need to be exploring options such as Peyton Manning, Kyle Orton, etc. just in case. I know we're all supposed to be dealing in absolutes in sports these days, but intelligent people who run their franchises intelligently can't afford to operate like that.

Mike Jones looks at the decision the Redskins face on whether to franchise tight end Fred Davis or safety LaRon Landry. I don't bet, but if I did, I'd bet heavy on Davis here. Landry's health questions have become too significant to allow the Redskins to invest guaranteed money in him -- even for one more year. The tight end number is low, and they have reason to believe Davis will be on his best behavior in the wake of his drug suspension.

Over at ESPNNewYork.com, they're running one of these interactive "Take 'em or Trash 'em" features, where you can go clicking through the New York Giants' roster and pick which players you'd keep and which players you wouldn't for next year's team. Ohm's keeping everyone but free-agent right tackle Kareem McKenzie, but it's probably not realistic to think the Giants can bring back their Super Bowl champion roster that unscathed.

The Giants appear to have 21 unrestricted free agents, one restricted free agent (cornerback Bruce Johnson) and two exclusive rights free agents (tight ends Bear Pascoe and Jake Ballard). I could run through the whole unrestricted list, or I could refer you instead to Brian McIntyre, who tracks this stuff, and you can look through the whole list there if you want. I'm picking out a couple of the unrestricteds of interest and addressing them here:

WR Mario Manningham. If the Super Bowl hero wants top wideout money, he'll likely have to get it elsewhere. My guess is someone's willing to pay him more than the Giants are willing to pay their No. 3 wide receiver.

WR Domenik Hixon. Can he come back from a second serious knee injury in two years? That's the question. If he can, he could compete with Ramses Barden and Jerrel Jernigan to be Manningham's replacement.

McKenzie. He'll be 33 in May. He looked slower this year. Great Giant, great champion, but they need to keep refreshing things on the offensive line. Last year's casualties were Shaun O'Hara and Rich Seubert. McKenzie is likely this year's.

LB Jonathan Goff. If healthy, he should reclaim his role as starting middle linebacker.

CB Terrell Thomas. If healthy, he should reclaim his role as a starting cornerback.

CB Aaron Ross. No doubt he has value, and he played very well this year after Thomas went down in preseason. But if Thomas is back and Prince Amukamara is ready to take the next step, is there room for Ross?

P Steve Weatherford. Reports out of New York this week indicate they're already at work on a new deal for Weatherford, as they should be.

S Deon Grant. They moved on from Grant last year, only to re-sign him late in the preseason. He's well-loved in the locker room and a valuable veteran leader on which the coaching staff can lean. But he only comes back if he'll come back cheap.

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.

Yep, just another boring, predictable NFL Sunday. Tom Brady throws four interceptions and blows a three-touchdown lead. The Giants come back and beat the Eagles with big plays by Victor Cruz. The Lions, Bills, Packers and Redskins (pending Monday night's result) are the only undefeated teams in the league. Just like everybody predicted.

It continues to astound me that people go out, work hard and earn money only to turn around and bet it on NFL football games. It should be clear by now that the only thing you can count on are the links.

Dallas Cowboys

Tony Romo says he's "good to go" against the Redskins on "Monday Night Football" on ESPN. Romo says he'll be dealing with the pain from his broken ribs for the next month, but that he'll be able to play Monday. Also good news for the Cowboys in there on Felix Jones and Dez Bryant, as it appears they'll play in the big division game against the Redskins as well.

The Cowboys' defense has been better in its first two games than many of us expected it to be right out of the gate under new coordinator Rob Ryan. In this story, I learned that they plan to pressure Rex Grossman Monday, that Ryan calls his outside pass rushers, DeMarcus Ware and Anthony Spencer, "the lizards" and that Ryan likes to say "hell" a lot.

New York Giants

Steve Politi writes, it was hard to like Victor Cruz's chances against Nnamdi Asomugha on the touchdown that put the Giants in the lead Sunday against the Eagles. Cruz is the unlikely hero who took advantage of a big opportunity Sunday with Mario Manningham and Domenik Hixon out, and he's a neat story. Ian O'Connor has more on Cruz here.

Mike Mazzeo writes that Michael Boley made the biggest play of the game for the Giants' defense. In a year that has seen the Giants lose key piece after key piece on defense to injury, Boley has been doing nothing but making big plays. You know that cliche where they say, "Somebody just has to step up?" Well, Boley is that cliche come to life. He's having a great season so far.

Philadelphia Eagles

Jimmy Kempski has a video breakdown that shows the Giants have now beaten the Eagles on the exact same play two years in a row -- the pass to Brandon Jacobs up the sideline. Nice work by Kempski, and as he points out, bad job by the Eagles' defensive coaches not making poor Casey Matthews aware of the fact that the Giants had that play in their bag of tricks.

Andy Reid was terse and grumpy in his postgame news conference, which struck me as a little unfair. I mean, we weren't the ones who missed the tackles on Cruz. Anyway, Bob Ford has some fun with Reid, and thinks the Eagles' head coach has to take some blame for what happened at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday.

Washington Redskins

Anthony Armstrong is hoping for a big encore to the big game he had for the Redskins last year in Dallas. We haven't heard much so far this year from Armstrong, who seems to be no better than the fourth option in the passing game behind Fred Davis, Santana Moss and Jabar Gaffney, but Grossman completed passes to eight different guys last week, so you really never know.

Deron Snyder expresses a sentiment many people on both sides of Monday night's game are feeling: It's nice that a Cowboys-Redskins game feels like it means something again after what feels like a long time for this historically-bitter rivalry.

Folks, I'm flying Monday morning from Philadelphia to Dallas, so you won't see much of anything from me until maybe this afternoon when I'm settled into my press box seat at Cowboys Stadium. Meantime, scroll back and see what I had on the Giants-Eagles game from Sunday and the Redskins column I posted Sunday morning, if you haven't checked it out already. Check in with you from Big D.

The New York Giants have announced that wide receiver Domenik Hixon has a torn ACL in his right knee for the second time in two years. Hixon will undergo surgery and miss the remainder of the 2011 season.

It's yet another blow to the already injury-ravaged Giants, who lost slot receiver Steve Smith and tight end Kevin Boss in free agency and have been struggling to find reliable targets in the passing game. Top wideout Hakeem Nicks played Monday night against the Rams in spite of a knee injury he suffered in practice last week, so he should be okay for Sunday's game against the Eagles in Philadelphia, but No. 2 receiver Mario Manningham continues to undergo concussion testing, and his status for the game is in doubt. If Manningham can't play, the Giants' top three receivers for the game would be Nicks, Victor Cruz and Brandon Stokley. The Eagles, in case you hadn't heard, are fairly strong at cornerback.

Hixon injured his knee making a touchdown catch at the end of the first half of the "Monday Night Football" game. He returned to the sidelines briefly but was unable to return to the game. Manningham suffered his concussion making a catch earlier in the same, apparently quite costly drive.

The Giants already have lost starting cornerback Terrell Thomas and starting middle linebacker Jonathan Goff, among other players on defense, for the season with ACL tears. That has hurt their depth on the defensive side of the ball, and this Hixon injury hurts them in a couple of places, as he'd been returning punts for them. Aaron Ross is now the most likely punt returner, though the Giants worry about using him there because the Thomas injury has already pressed him into duty as a starting cornerback.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- There was a chance, even with everything else they had going on, that the New York Giants could have overlooked Monday night's game against the St. Louis Rams. The fact that they played such a sloppy game but overcame all of the mistakes and injuries to post a 28-16 victory was a point of pride in the locker room after the game.

Because the game the Giants really want is the one they're playing Sunday against the Eagles in Philadelphia. And even though the issues they're facing in the present are serious enough to threaten this season, the memory of the way they lost the last game they played against the Eagles has not faded one bit.

"Last year will linger with me until I die," Giants defensive end Justin Tuck said.

He could not have been more serious, and he's not the only Giant who feels that way. The Giants played the Eagles here in Week 15 of last year and had a 31-10 fourth-quarter lead in a game that would have given them control of the NFC East. But they lost that game, giving away that 21-point lead to Michael Vick and losing on that fateful final-seconds punt return by DeSean Jackson. It was their sixth straight loss to the Eagles, and it cost them a spot in the playoffs. And it still stings.

"Everybody in that locker room feels like we owe the Eagles a little something," Tuck said.

And so this was big, this survive-and-advance "Monday Night Football" victory over the Rams. The Giants have too many well-documented injuries, depth and inexperience problems right now, and they didn't need to be dealing with an 0-2 start on top of it all. That they were able to hold the Rams to field goals at the end of long first-half drives, convert a slew of St. Louis miscues into points, and even out what began as a very uneven performance by Eli Manning and the offense was vital for reasons that have nothing to do with bad memories or division rivalries.

"Obviously, there's much that can be improved upon, but that's okay. We accept that," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "But to be 1-1, to have Dallas 1-1, to have Philadelphia at 1-1 and to have Washington leading the division at 2-0, it was important for us to keep the pace."

The Giants are not yet whole. They are not yet as healthy as they will eventually be. The rookies and young players they're using at key spots like middle linebacker and left tackle and defensive end are not as reliable and seasoned as they will be later this year, or next season, or the season after that. "We haven't jelled yet," is the way Tuck put it, and because of that, a win at this point in a season like this is welcome relief. They get one in the bank when they don't yet have their team, and that's precious.

"It may not have been pretty, but we got the win," said linebacker Michael Boley, whose alert fumble recovery and return for a touchdown gave the Giants a 14-6 lead early in the second quarter. "That's the most important thing, and the small details and everything else can be worked out in the week leading up to the next game."

The next game, though, is the big one, and everybody connected with the Giants knows it. They want the Eagles, and they want them bad. They want LeSean McCoy and the summertime Twitter trash-talk he fired off at Osi Umenyiora. They want Steve Smith, the former Giant and symbol of an offseason in which the Eagles kicked their tails at every turn. They even want Vick to be recovered from his concussion and healthy enough to play and start at quarterback, because the Giants want revenge.

"That guy's a tremendous athlete, and as he goes so goes their offense, but you always want to beat teams at their best," Tuck said. "I think he brings out the best of us, too. Maybe we go down there and he doesn't play and we start thinking, 'We've got this.' We want their best, and we want to beat them."

The short week means the Giants have to wait one less day to try and take their revenge. It also means they have one less day to address the concerns they carried into Monday's game -- struggles in the secondary, inability to get the run game going -- and the new ones that cropped up -- injuries to Mario Manningham and Domenik Hixon, and whatever the issue was with Aaron Ross that got him benched. But the win they got Monday means they get to do all of that coming off a victory, however ugly and unimpressive it may have been. Their record says 1-1, which is the same record Sunday's opponent has, by the way.

"It's going to be a pretty intense game, especially after the way we lost to them the last time," Boley said. "It's going to be heated. I'm looking forward to it."

Aren't we all.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- A few thoughts on the New York Giants' eventful 28-16 victory over the St. Louis Rams on "Monday Night Football":

What it means: It's a win, plain and simple, and it's one the Giants needed to get. Were there issues with Eli Manning's accuracy and the secondary and more injuries at the receiver position? Oh, yeah, you betcha there were. But the Giants made enough big plays when it counted that they were able to take full advantage of a Rams team that couldn't get out of its own way. What it means is that the Giants are 1-1, and not 0-2, headed into next week's division showdown with the Eagles in Philadelphia.

Heart and soul: The Giants welcomed their best player and defensive leader, Justin Tuck, back after he missed the Week 1 game with a neck injury. The difference he made was clear. The Giants' defensive line may have played fine without him last week, but with all of the weaknesses they have right now in the secondary and at linebacker, they missed his difference-making plays up front.

Receiver shortage: Hakeem Nicks recovered from his midweek knee injury enough to make an early difference with a brilliant touchdown catch in the first quarter. But the Rams were able to contain him the rest of the way, and the final drive of the first half was costly to the Giants' receiving corps. Mario Manningham suffered a concussion making a key catch on a deep ball, and Domenik Hixon injured his knee catching the touchdown. Neither returned to the game. The good news is that Steve Smith will be active for Sunday's game. The bad news is that he'll be wearing an Eagles uniform.

Secondary depth: Aaron Ross has struggled since becoming a starting cornerback in place of the injured Terrell Thomas, and his struggles continued again Monday, to the point where he was benched for a time in the second half in favor of Michael Coe. The good news for Ross is that Coe was even worse, and he was back in the game soon thereafter -- even returning punts! The problem for the Giants in the secondary right now is a lack of depth. Ross is better suited to a backup role and finds himself overexposed as a starter. And with nothing behind him, the Giants have no one who can sub in for him or Corey Webster when they're struggling or need a break. They need to use Antrel Rolle as a nickel corner and mix and match with extra safeties. They need Prince Amukamara to hurry back, and hope.

What of the QB?: Manning was shaky early on, underthrowing Manningham on some deep balls and missing shorter-range throws. But he got into a rhythm and looked better late. I still think the Giants need to commit to the run game, but they didn't seem to want to do that fully, even though the Rams weren't stopping them. So we'll see what kind of offensive game plan they come up with against the Eagles. The passing game doesn't feel trustworthy right now.

Weak sisters: It appears as though playing the NFC West teams will be a benefit to teams in the NFC East this year. The division that failed to produce a .500 team in 2010 is off to a rough start once again, and is a combined 2-6 overall and 0-4 against the NFC East after two weeks. The Rams, a preseason pick by many to be a surprise team, have looked awful twice. Monday night they effectively handed the Giants two touchdowns while clearly outplaying them in the first half -- one with a muffed punt and one when Cadillac Williams failed to recognize that the lateral he'd dropped was a live ball and Michael Boley scooped it up and ran in for a touchdown. The Giants made some plays, but the Rams helped them win this game. It won't always be so easy.

What's next: The Giants travel to Philadelphia for a Sunday afternoon game against the Eagles, who have beaten them each of the last six times they've played. The Eagles have yet to announce who will start at quarterback, since starter Michael Vick left Sunday night's game with a concussion and backup Vince Young has yet to play since injuring his hamstring in the preseason. Mike Kafka could be the starter for the Eagles against the Giants' pass rush.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Not completely sure what I've just watched, I will attempt to offer my review of the first half that somehow finds the New York Giants leading the St. Louis Rams 21-6.

Mike Sando of the NFC West blog just pointed out on our live chat that the Giants have had some players make unbelievable plays -- the touchdown catches by Hakeem Nicks and Domenik Hixon and the alert fumble recovery touchdown by Michael Boley chief among them -- and that the Rams have not. And I guess that's as good an explanation as any for how a team could look as bad as the Giants looked in that half and still be up by 15 points.

Eli Manning threw the ball considerably better on that last touchdown drive than he had at any point earlier in the game. He had been underthrowing deep passes to Mario Manningham and throwing tentatively on shorter routes, as if he has no trust in his receiving corps. But he let it loose as he got into that two-minute-drill rhythm, and the result was a third touchdown that seems to have put the Giants in control of the game.

The Rams have helped, to be sure. Rookie Greg Salas fumbled a punt that set the Giants up for their first score. And an insane third-down play call on which Rams quarterback Sam Bradford threw a backwards pass that Cadillac Williams failed to (a) catch or (b) realize was still a live ball led to the Boley touchdown. Mistakes doomed the Rams last week against the Eagles, and they've done so thus far to the Giants' benefit.

It's clear that the return of Justin Tuck helps the defense, as he's made several big tackles to prevent big gains by Rams running backs. And it's too obvious to even mention how important it is that Nicks recovered from his knee injury in time to play this game. He's a superstar in the making, and on the first touchdown drive he showcased once again his incredible ability to locate the ball before the defender does and catch it -- even one-handed, if that's what it takes. The Rams have done a better job of covering him since, which makes it more important that Manning trust Manningham and that the injury with which Hixon limped off just before halftime isn't too serious.

Regardless, the Giants should be running the ball anyway, as they've had success doing so and now have the big lead. If you don't see a lot of Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs in the second half, the Giants will be playing with fire.

Everybody's been asking about New York Giants' receiver Hakeem Nicks. His injury is apparently a bone bruise. It kept him out of practice today, and his status for Monday's game is uncertain, though he doesn't seem to agree.

Quarterback Eli Manning, when asked what Nicks' absence would mean to him and the passing game, continued the Giants' impression of Monty Python's armless, legless black knight screaming "It's only a flesh wound!"

"It's not going to affect me," Manning said. "We have guys that can step up and play. That's the good thing about having some veteran guys in [Mario] Manningham, in [Domenik] Hixon. They've each played the X-position. They've each played the Z-position. Whoever's there, they both know what's going on. If Hakeem hopefully comes back, then we can get back to our original formations and alignments shouldn't be a problem."

As Barry Bonds once said to a federal prosecutor, "Whatever, dude."

I'm not saying Nicks will miss the game. I'm saying, if he does, the Giants are going to suffer for it. Thought the same thing last week about Justin Tuck and I was right. The Giants don't have the kind of roster right now that can support one-week or two-week injuries to their star players. They don't have enough support behind their front-line guys. Their margin for error is razor-thin, and if Nicks doesn't play, they're going to be that much easier for the Rams to game-plan for and play defense against.

In past years, when the receiving corps was deep and reliable, they could have weathered an injury to Nicks. Now, they have to seriously wonder whether it'd be better to put him on the field at less than 100 percent than it would be to sit him out. And those aren't the kinds of decisions you want to find yourself making. Especially not in Week 2.

OK, there are a number of reasons this took all day and you don't want to hear any of them. It suffices to say I am ecstatic to be done watching preseason football for another year and more ready than ever for the real thing.

As for our New York Giants, who finished their preseason by scoring 15 points in the fourth quarter for a meaningless 18-17 victory over the Patriots in New England ... I don't know. I'm trying to be open-minded about what I see, but what I see with the Giants is almost all disheartening. They just do a lot of things wrong. And yes, it was all backups Thursday night, and if David Carr ends up playing significant minutes at quarterback they're cooked anyway. But there were a couple of things that could matter if they leak into the regular season, and I'm 100 percent certain the Giants' coaching staff feels the same way.

For example, when one of your biggest areas of concern is special teams and you get banged for an illegal wedge penalty on the return of the opening kickoff, that's not a good thing. When you're trying to find a No. 3 receiver and one of the candidates (Domenik Hixon, in this case) fumbles on the first play from scrimmage, that's not a good thing. When you're trying to use a rookie punt returner and the kid can't catch the ball, that's not a good thing.

The Giants had holding penalties and illegal-hands-to-the-face penalties that stopped offensive momentum. They had another significant injury, this one a season-ending ACL tear for linebacker Clint Sintim. They fumbled at the Patriots' 1-yard line. They're effectively playing without a useful tight end. Tom Coughlin's challenges aren't even working.

Now, I continue to believe preseason doesn't mean anything -- that it has no predictive value at all in terms of what will happen once the real season starts. The Giants could snap awake nine days from now and start playing well enough to make everyone forget how inept in so many facets of the game they looked in the preseason. But what we have right now to evaluate is what they've done over the past month, and not even the most myopically optimistic Giants fan can credibly say the preseason went well for them.

Some specifics on what I saw in the Giants' (mercifully) final preseason game of this year:

1. Give Jerrel Jernigan credit for toughing it out. And give the Giants credit for sticking with the rookie even as he continues to struggle with the most critical part of punt returns -- actually catching the ball. He ripped off a 42-yard return on his first chance of the night, which showed why they're giving him all of these chances. But then he muffed two in a row, and there's all kinds of footage of Coughlin and Aaron Ross and everybody you can think of working with Jernigan on the correct form to use when catching a punt. I guess I wonder how hard it is to learn something like this and why they believed he'd be a good punt returner if he didn't already know it. But once the ball is in his hands, it's clear Jernigan can do some things with it. So it appears as though they'll keep giving him chances, even if it could cost them early on. The night had a happy ending for Jernigan, as he made a tremendous catch on the two-point conversion pass that sealed the victory. You had to feel good for the guy, after the month he's had.

2. Tyler Sash looks like an athlete. The rookie safety looked quick and nimble and decisive as he came up with two sacks (one of which forced a fumble) and moved well all over the field. There were a couple of times where Tom Brady and the Patriots' offense ran some tricky looks that caught Sash out of position, but that's bound to happen and there are worse things than getting schooled by Brady in a preseason game. You still get the lesson, and it doesn't count against your record.

3. I like Da'Rel Scott better than Andre Brown. It's not personal. I don't even know Andre Brown. I'm just talking about what they look like when they run. Brown looks fine when he has room to run, but he doesn't blow you away as anything special and he doesn't look as though he does much to make it difficult to tackle him. Scott seems to have more speed, keeps his feet moving better and runs with more determination. He earned those 65 yards he got on that fake-punt touchdown, and with cuts looming tomorrow, that's the kind of play that makes it hard for a coaching staff to keep a guy off the roster.

4. I like Devin Thomas, too. Specifically, I like what he does after he catches the ball. He seems to know where his feet are and what he needs to do to find the sideline or the extra yard or two he needs. He seems like he knows how to keep his body between the ball and the defender and protect it while making those moves. He's got the skills in the return game, and the speed, but I was surprised how much I liked him Thursday night as a receiver.

5. The Sintim injury hurts. But there are rookies to take his spot, and it might help someone like Mark Herzlich or Spencer Paysinger make the roster and/or claim more playing time. The Giants liked the way Sintim had been playing, and he was their clear first option off the bench in the case of an injury to one of their starting linebackers. Now it's not as cut-and-dried, and they'll hope somebody from the rookie group can step in when they need to spell a starter.