ESPN NFL

So yeah, this is interesting. The agent for veteran defensive back Charles Woodson tells ESPN's Josina Anderson that the New York Giants have "put their toe in the water" regarding interest in Woodson. Now, of course, you never know with agents. This could be true or it could be a ploy to scare the Broncos or some other team into upping their offer and signing Woodson soon. But if we take the man at his word, it's worth examining the idea of Woodson to the Giants, which I think makes a lot of sense, as does my friend Ohm:

Woodson, 36, would be an intriguing piece for the Giants. He could potentially play as one of the team's three safeties utilized often by defensive coordinator Perry Fewell. He also would provide the team with another veteran able to play corner, if needed, as well.

The Giants currently have Antrel Rolle and Stevie Brown as their starting safeties. Will Hill, fifth-round pick Cooper Taylor, Ryan Mundy and Tyler Sash are also on the roster.

Woodson would provide the Giants with the kind of veteran leadership presence at safety that Deon Grant provided when he played the role of the team's third safety. He also could help fill the void left by Kenny Phillips' departure in free agency to Philadelphia.

Yes, Woodson could fill a depth role as well as a mentor role with the Giants, who are transitioning to a younger defensive backfield that would benefit from the experience and wisdom of a player as decorated as Woodson. Phillips always talked about the effect Grant had on his development, and young players such as Brown, Hill, Mundy, Taylor, Sash and Prince Amukamara could surely learn something from Woodson, who has experience playing safety as well as cornerback.

As a veteran-minimum deal, Woodson to the Giants makes a great deal of sense. The fact that it hasn't yet happened makes me think the interest isn't serious, since the Giants tend to move quickly when they find someone they want on the market. But as long as he's still unsigned, it's worth imagining it.

News overnight Wednesday included the official (and long-expected) signing of Osi Umenyiora with the Falcons and the signing of Chase Blackburn with the Panthers. Neither of these New York Giants Super Bowl heroes had been expected back in 2013, and it does not appear the Giants made any real effort to keep either one. That's the way the Giants roll when it comes to players -- they look forward and not back. But it's worth a moment to stop and consider the changes they've seen in a little over a year.

It's been less than 14 months since the Giants beat the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI, and 22 of the 45 players who played for them in that game are no longer on the roster. Another -- cornerback Aaron Ross -- left for a year and came back. This is the list of the 22:

1. DE Osi Umenyiora
2. LB Chase Blackburn
3. RB Ahmad Bradshaw
4. RB Brandon Jacobs
5. RB D.J. Ware
6. WR Mario Manningham
7. TE Jake Ballard
8. TE Travis Beckum
9. OT Kareem McKenzie
10. G Mitch Petrus
11. OT Tony Ugoh
12. WR Devin Thomas
13. K Lawrence Tynes
14. CB Will Blackmon
15. LB Michael Boley
16. S Kenny Phillips
17. S Deon Grant
18. DT Rocky Bernard (still a free agent, could return)
19. DT Chris Canty
20. DE Dave Tollefson
21. CB Derrick Martin
22. LB Greg Jones

Some fairly significant names in there, and while I don't think any of their departures represents a bad or ill-considered decision on the team's part, I just felt like it was worth looking back and assessing the turnover in light of the Umenyiora and Blackburn departures.

This is the way things work in the NFL. The Super Bowl champion Ravens have turned over basically their whole defense, and their title was less than two months ago. So the Giants haven't been gutted or pillaged or anything like that. They view their roster as an organic, constantly evolving entity, and they're not going to hold onto guys they shouldn't keep just because those guys helped win them a Super Bowl (or, in some cases, two). Some of these players will be missed, others will not, but if the Giants get back to the Super Bowl again in the next couple of years, the team is going to have a much different look at many positions than it did in the Super Bowl they won just last year.

Has a player ever won NFC Defensive Player of the Week and then been benched the following week? That could be exactly what happens to New York Giants safety Stevie Brown, who had two interceptions and a fumble recovery in Sunday's victory in Dallas, but could find himself having to step aside this week when starter Kenny Phillips, for whom Brown has been filling in so well over the past four games, returns from his knee injury.

"He did what he was supposed to do," Phillips told reporters after Giants practice Thursday. "He took advantage of an opportunity. It's rare that a guy loses his position to an injury, but it's possible with the way he's playing. I'm not worried about it. Whatever role they give me, I'll take it. If I have to back up my backup, I'll do it."

It's hard to see the Giants giving Phillips' starting job to Brown based on four games, no matter how well he played. Phillips has a substantial track record as one of the most effective safeties in the league, and he's right that teams don't generally like to take people's jobs away from them just because of injury.

All of that said, however, Brown has likely played himself into something of a larger role than he had before Phillips' injury. It's possible he could allow them to ease Phillips back in, assuming Phillips can play this week against the Steelers as he said he would. Limiting Phillips' reps in his first game back from injury might be a wise move anyway, and knowing they have a more-than-acceptable fill-in option in Brown would help them do that. It's also possible that the Giants would use more three-safety looks going forward. They used a lot of those in the past two seasons when Deon Grant was on the team, but improved quality depth at linebacker this year has pushed them away from such looks. The emergence of Brown as a starting-quality player should offer defensive coordinator Perry Fewell improved flexibility in terms of what he's able to do from a scheme standpoint.

Regardless of what happens, there's no doubt Brown's play over the past month impressed Phillips.

"I was trying to figure out why they couldn't see him," Phillips said. "Half of the time he would be sitting in the middle of the field and they would just throw the ball and he's making them pay for it. He's done a great job for us, and he's made a whole lot of plays."

I promised you guys more from my time at New York Giants training camp, and I keep these kinds of promises. I'm going to keep going through my notes and rolling out posts that I think are interesting, based on the interviews I did while there. As long as Camp Confidential was, not everything fit in there. So while I'm at Redskins training camp today and Eagles tomorrow and the next day, you're still going to get some of my Giants reporting from late last week. Enjoy.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- If you read the Giants "Camp Confidential" that ran Sunday, you may have noticed this quote from Giants defensive end Justin Tuck about the team's bizarre 2011 season:

"I think last year was a tale of two teams. The first half was the tale of a team that didn't play well together, had egos, was injured, didn't have a full complement of players. And the second half was us coming together. 'All-in' became our slogan, and guys really checked their egos at the door and sacrificed whatever personal things we had to become that great team."

Tuck said that during a wide-ranging interview I had with him Saturday morning, and my follow-up question was about that word "egos." It jumped out at me, since ego is not something one usually ascribes to these Giants, and when I mentioned that, Tuck seemed to regret the word choice.

"What I mean by egos is, we didn't necessarily buy in wholeheartedly into the system," Tuck explained. "I don't know if it was egos or just not studying or what. But we made a lot of mistakes, especially on defense. We gave up 400 points in the regular season on defense. That's a lot of damn points. We didn't play well together. And that's what I mean by egos."

Tuck said the players had plenty of meetings, including film sessions on their own after those they went through with the coaches. He and Osi Umenyiora would lead the defensive linemen in those. Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant would take the safeties off to a different room and break it down. Chase Blackburn and Michael Boley with the linebackers. But looking back, he thinks they were going through the motions a bit.

"Guys weren't as focused. We kind of did it just to say we did it," Tuck said. "But you could just tell our attitude towards it definitely changed. Guys were frustrated with being injured. Guys were frustrated with things not going our way as far as the way we played. There was a lot of frustration going on. Obviously we felt we were a better team than 7-7, but it just wasn't happening for us. So I don't know if 'egos' is the right word, but something was missing. All I know is, after that Washington game, we kind of looked ourselves in the face and were embarrassed personally, embarrassed as a football team. And that kind of woke up some very prideful individuals, probably all of us, to play better and not make any excuses. Our practice improved. Our focus improved and we won football games."

So now, you don't have to be a trained interviewer to figure out that the next question was, "What's to keep that same thing from happening again?"

"Just the mental compass of this football team," Tuck said. "And that starts with Eli and myself, making sure that guys don't fall into the trap of being wooed by everybody telling us, 'You're defending champions, blah, blah, blah, you're the best, blah, blah, blah, blah.' I've got people on Twitter talking about a 19-0 season and stuff like that. You can't allow that to creep into your thought process. You've got to continue to grind. We've got to continue to say to ourselves that teams around us have gotten better so we've got to get better."

So if you're like me and that word "egos" sounded weird to you, there's your full explanation. Still much more to come from Giants camp. And Redskins camp. And eventually Eagles and Cowboys camps. Ain't it great to have stuff to write about again?

The news out of New York Giants training camp in Albany on Monday was not good. The team announced that cornerback Terrell Thomas, who is attempting to come back from a second tear of the ACL in his right knee, has suffered another injury to that ligament. They have not announced that it is torn again -- only that he'll have arthroscopic surgery to determine the extent of the injury. But should they go in there with the scope and find that it's torn again, Thomas will have to miss the 2012 season and possibly worry about the remainder of his career.

"Terrell re-injured his ACL," Giants senior vice president of medical services Ronnie Barnes said in a statement released by the team. "At this point, he will most likely undergo an arthroscopic procedure to determine the extent of the injury to the ACL. However, no decision has been made at this point. Terrell is going to consult with Dr. (Arthur) Ting, who performed an allograft reconstruction of the ACL in September."

The first and most important thing to note about this is that it would be awful news for Thomas personally. The main reason players generally don't come back from a second torn ACL is that most of them aren't able to get through the grueling, one-year rehab for a second time. Thomas did that and went to training camp determined to reclaim his status as a Giants starter and an emerging star cornerback. If he's torn it again, he'll be devastated, and the prospect of a third rehab just for a chance at a comeback will appear staggeringly difficult. No matter who your favorite team is, if you're human, you have to hurt for a guy in this situation. The game is just very cruel.

As for the impact on the team, the Giants are actually fairly well positioned to handle the loss of Thomas again. It's not ideal, certainly, and one of the main reasons they so easily parted company with free-agent Aaron Ross (who started in Thomas' place last season) was because of their belief that Thomas would come back healthy. But they always knew there was a chance he wouldn't, and 2011 first-round pick Prince Amukamara waits in the wings as the most likely replacement. The Giants also drafted cornerback Jayron Hosley in the third round of April's draft, and have depth on the roster in the form of guys like Michael Coe, Justin Tryon and Antwaun Molden.

There's also the chance that they could bring back veteran safety Deon Grant, who re-signed during training camp last season once injuries began to deplete the secondary. After Grant signed last year, they were able to use safety Antrel Rolle as their nickel cornerback with Grant and Kenny Phillips at safety. So keep an eye on that possibility.

As for money, the only guaranteed money in Thomas' new contract, per Mike Garafolo, is his $1 million signing bonus. The contract was structured in such a way as to protect the Giants financially in case Thomas got injured again.

Obviously, their preference would be for the news to come back better than expected so they could pay him the full amount of his contract to start and play for them. But right now, it doesn't sound good.

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The task for New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin, as he works this summer to keep his Super Bowl champions from getting complacent, is to remind them of all of the things about which they have no right to be complacent.

In a meeting on the first day of camp, Coughlin showed his team a few stats. Under the heading "Worst to Best," he reminded the Giants that they ranked last in the league in rushing offense in the 2011 regular season and 27th in total defense. He put up the number 400, which is the number of points the Giants allowed en route to a 9-7 regular-season record -- more than all but seven teams in the league, not one of which reached the playoffs.

"There's a lot of improvement to be made," Coughlin said after Saturday's practice. "And the challenge has been, 'Which team are we?' Are we the 7-7 team, or are we the Super Bowl champions?"

They are both, of course. They are the team that went 7-7 in its first 14 games, playing inconsistent defense, running the ball into the backs of its linemen and asking quarterback Eli Manning to bring it back from behind in the fourth quarter almost every week. But they are also the team that galvanized itself after its Week 15 loss to the Redskins and won six in a row, including the Super Bowl. Coughlin wants his charges to remember both parts and give them equal weight. The latter part, he says, gives the Giants the confidence to know they can fight through any challenge. The former reminds them of how much work they have to do.

"I think last year was a tale of two teams," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "The first half was the tale of a team that didn't play well together, had egos, was injured, didn't have a full complement of players. And the second half was us coming together. 'All-in' became our slogan, and guys really checked their egos at the door and sacrificed whatever personal things we had to become that great team."

The knowledge that they're capable of being the best team in the league is a helpful thing for the Giants to carry with them. But the tone here at Giants training camp is not one of cockiness or a Super Bowl hangover. The Giants are a serious, professional bunch whose hope is to maintain the intense focus of those final six games and apply it over the course of at least 16 this time around. Tuck said the Giants can trust in "the mental compass of this team" to make sure the issues that plagued them last year don't resurface, and as they go through their preparations for 2012, that is the priority.

"We've got to find a way to get our work done," Tuck said. "That's the only way you win championships."

THREE HOT ISSUES

1. Can Will Beatty play left tackle? The offensive line is the biggest question, and the key to the line is Beatty, who still has yet to establish himself as the reliable starter the Giants believe he can be at left tackle. He missed the final six games of the regular season with an eye injury and says the good thing about that is he didn't beat up his body as badly as the rest of his teammates did, but he did miss the reps and the experience he would have accrued had he been able to complete his first year as a starter. So he remains a question.

"That's definitely something that he's got to work at," right tackle David Diehl said. "When you miss that much time of football, you've got to get back at things, and he missed some time during minicamp due to a back injury, so he's got his work cut out for him to come into this season. But we all know he's physically capable."

2. Who replaces Brandon Jacobs and Mario Manningham? They weren't starters, but Jacobs had 167 touches last year and Manningham caught 39 passes. They will need to be replaced, and the candidates to do so are young and unproven. First-round pick David Wilson is competing with D.J. Ware and Da'Rel Scott to be the backup running back behind Ahmad Bradshaw. Second-round pick Rueben Randle is competing with Domenik Hixon, Jerrel Jernigan and Ramses Barden to be the No. 3 wide receiver. Training camp and the preseason will be a tryout camp for the guys at those positions. Starting wide receivers Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz are excellent, as is Bradshaw if he can keep his feet healthy all year. But this offense likes to spread it around, and some of the players in these competitions must step up as reliable options.

3. Is Terrell Thomas back? The Giants' secondary was more good than bad last year, but it did have its bad moments. Thomas, who suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the preseason and missed all of 2011, believes he's healthy and ready to reclaim his position as an emerging star at cornerback. If he's not, the Giants will look to 2011 first-round pick Prince Amukamara to man the cornerback spot opposite Corey Webster. But Amukamara comes with plenty of his own questions, and the Giants need this camp to help them figure out exactly what they have on the back end of that defense. The pass rush remains excellent and the linebacking depth is improved, but if there's a spot at which the defense is a bump or a bruise away from being very wobbly, it's that secondary.

REASON FOR OPTIMISM

Where the Giants are strong, they are as strong as anyone in the league. The pass rush, led by defensive ends Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul and Osi Umenyiora, is fearsome when only two of that threesome are healthy. If all three can stay healthy this year, they should be devastating. "That's our strength, no question," Tuck said. "We know it. It's a lot of pressure on us, but we thrive on it, and hopefully we can build on last year and play 16 games together this year so we can see how scary that can be."

They're also obviously quite strong at quarterback, where Manning has established himself as the most clutch player in the league. He led seven fourth-quarter comebacks last year, including one in the NFC Championship Game and one in the Super Bowl. He never misses a game, works hard at making those around him better and has become the unquestioned leader of the team. In a quarterback-driven league, the Giants wouldn't trade their guy for anyone.

REASON FOR PESSIMISM

The one potential downside to that last thing, however, is that the Giants may have come to count on Manning too much. Manning himself said that, while knowing you can make a fourth-quarter comeback is nice, the Giants need to stop making them so necessary.

"It kind of means, when you're doing that a bunch, that you're not playing real well the first three quarters," Manning said. "So let's step it up and play with that kind of energy and enthusiasm and that 'Hey, we need to score here' kind of attitude in the first three quarters. Obviously I still want it at the end, and there's going to be some games where you need it. But let's not overuse it, because sometimes you're going to get a bad break. Sometimes the ball's going to get tipped. Sometimes a bad play is going to happen and then you're just out of time. So let's not always put ourselves in that situation."

The Giants didn't actively go out and get many solutions to the problems that put Manning in those situations so often last year. They're relying on the guys they have to play better and stay healthier. And if they don't ... well, you just can't count on seven fourth-quarter comebacks every year, no matter how good your quarterback is.

OBSERVATION DECK

• It looks as though Chase Blackburn will begin the season as the starting middle linebacker, though newcomer Keith Rivers could overtake him if he shows the ability to play the middle. The second-team middle linebacker right now is Mark Herzlich, who also could overtake Blackburn if healthy and leave Rivers in a utility linebacker role. This is suddenly a position of great depth for the Giants, who have four second-year linebackers they like as well as Rivers and starting outside linebackers Michael Boley and Mathias Kiwanuka.
• Don't assume rookie Wilson wins the backup running back job just because he was picked in the first round. The Giants love him, but they'll be perfectly willing to keep him in the background and develop him if he doesn't show enough in camp and someone such as Ware does. Wilson is getting a lot of practice reps, so they will be able to make a thorough judgment on him, but he's still behind Ware on the depth chart.
• Former Giants safety Deon Grant said last week that he expects to re-sign with the Giants at some point during camp, but I did not get that vibe from the Giants. They feel good about their linebacker and cornerback depth, and barring injury, I don't think they'll feel the need to bring back Grant and run all of those three-safety sets they ran the past couple of seasons.
• Beatty said he came to camp lighter this year (310 pounds) than last (319). He believes he can put the weight back on as muscle now that he's able to work out again. After he injured his back and developed a sciatic nerve problem during minicamp last year, he was unable to work out the way he usually does in the summer.
• While the Giants' pass rush is keyed around their defensive ends, they believe second-year defensive tackle Marvin Austin can help them generate more pressure up the middle on first and second downs. "He's a fast-twitch guy, especially for a 320-pounder," Tuck said of Austin, who missed his senior season at North Carolina in 2010 due to suspension and his rookie NFL season in 2011 due to injury.
• Should something happen to Beatty or Diehl, the Giants hope 2011 fourth-round pick James Brewer can be a reliable first option as backup at either tackle position. Their hope is that he develops into a reliable right tackle who can eventually replace Diehl, though they're not expecting that this season.
• Fullback Henry Hynoski caught passes out of the backfield early in camp. He's good at it, and especially given the Giants' questions at tight end, it's an option you should probably expect them to use in the passing game.

Our position-by-position assessment of each team in the NFC East takes a look at the New York Giants' linebacker situation.

Projected starters: OLB Michael Boley, OLB Mathias Kiwanuka, MLB Chase Blackburn

Reserves: Keith Rivers, Mark Herzlich, Greg Jones, Jacquian Williams, Clint Sintim, Spencer Paysinger, Adrian Tracy

Potential strength: Kiwanuka is a converted defensive end who still plays up front on passing downs, but seemed to take to his new role as a first- and second-down linebacker in 2011. He has the speed and athleticism to play all over the field, and as he got more comfortable in his hybrid position, he seemed to play better as the season went along. His second year in that role should see continued to development and allow the Giants to do even more with Kiwanuka, who still loves to get after the passer when that's his assignment, but seems to have enjoyed playing linebacker more than he might have expected to.

Potential weakness: The middle, where they really still don't seem to have an established starter. There's been talk of playing Boley there, but they don't seem to want to do that. Blackburn played it fine in December and January, but the team isn't convinced he's a permanent solution. Herzlich and Jones were rookies last year who showed some ability, but likely aren't ready to take over the middle linebacker role full-time. It's certainly possible that one of those second-year guys supplants Blackburn, either before or soon after the start of the regular season. For now the job appears to be Blackburn's by default, and in part as a reward for the way he played in the latter part of 2011, the playoffs and, of course, the Super Bowl.

Keep an eye on: Variety. The Giants traded for Rivers in spite of not having an open spot for him. He's not really a middle linebacker, and they're set on the outside with Boley and Kiwanuka. So the plan appears to be to move a lot of people around to a lot of different spots depending on the situation. Williams, for example, was an asset in coverage last season and could get on the field in situations in which they need that. They still haven't re-signed veteran safety Deon Grant or anyone to replace him, so it's possible they could be planning to use fewer three-safety looks and go with more linebackers on the field in passing downs. My sense is that the key to finding playing time as a Giants linebacker this year will be versatility. If the Giants' defensive coaches see guys who can fill multiple roles, those guys are likely to find the field more. If Rivers can play some in the middle, for example, or if Williams shows more in run support. Otherwise you're going to see a lot of situation-specific substitutions at linebacker, and a lot of different arrangements of the position group within the course of games.

» AFC Free-Agency Primer: East | West | North | South » NFC: East | West | North | South

Free agency begins Tuesday at 4 p.m. ET

Dallas Cowboys

Key free agents: WR Laurent Robinson, S Abram Elam, LB Keith Brooking, LB Anthony Spencer (franchise)

Where they stand: Dallas needs serious help in the secondary and will have to decide whether it wants Elam back at safety while it pursues at least one cornerback. The Cowboys are expected to release Terence Newman, and they could look to add depth at that position and a new starter. Franchising Spencer indicates that while they would like to improve their pass rush, they won't be players in the Mario Williams market. Expect their free-agent focus to be on defensive backs and possibly some upgrades on the interior of the offensive line. They would like Robinson back as their No. 3 receiver, but if he's going to get No. 2 receiver-type offers, they'll likely let him walk.

What to expect: The top two cornerback targets are likely Kansas City's Brandon Carr and Tennessee's Cortland Finnegan. You can't rule out Dallas making a play for Saints guard Carl Nicks, who'd be a huge help to their offensive line. But someone like Baltimore's Ben Grubbs is likely to be more attainable financially. What the Cowboys really need on the line is a center, but it's not a great market for those unless they can get their hands on Houston's Chris Myers. The Cowboys likely will hunt for some second-tier safeties and inside linebackers to add depth, then target defensive back again early in the draft.

New York Giants

Key free agents: WR Mario Manningham, OT Kareem McKenzie, CB Aaron Ross, CB Terrell Thomas, LB Jonathan Goff, P Steve Weatherford (franchise).

Where they stand: The Super Bowl champs must get their own cap situation in order first, as they project to be about $7.25 million over the projected cap. That may mean tough cuts of people like Brandon Jacobs or David Diehl, or it may just mean some contract restructuring (like the big one they apparently just did with Eli Manning). Regardless, don't expect the Giants to spend big to keep Manningham or Ross. They're likely to bring back Thomas on a team-favorable deal as a result of the knee injury that cost him the entire 2011 season, and they'll probably let McKenzie walk and try to replace him internally (which favors Diehl's chances of sticking around).

What to expect: Just like last year, don't expect the Giants to be big-game hunters. They like to grow their own replacements. If Manningham leaves, they won't go after the top wide receivers but might try to find a bargain or two to supplement the young players from whom they're expecting more production next season. They could find a midlevel safety if they don't bring back Deon Grant, and if Jacobs leaves they'll probably bring in a veteran running back or two to compete in training camp with their youngsters. They liked Ronnie Brown last year as a possible Ahmad Bradshaw replacement when Bradshaw was a pending free agent, so there's a name to watch for if you want one.

Philadelphia Eagles

Key free agents: G Evan Mathis, DT Trevor Laws, DT Antonio Dixon (restricted), WR DeSean Jackson (franchise), QB Vince Young

Where they stand: Other than Mathis, whom they're working to try and re-sign before he his the market, the Eagles don't have many internal free-agent issues to worry about. They franchised Jackson because they're not ready to give him a long-term deal just yet. He's a candidate for a trade, but it would have to be a very nice offer. If they traded him, they'd hunt for a wide receiver, but they may do so anyway -- just at a lower level (think Plaxico Burress). The interior of the defensive line is in fairly good hands with Cullen Jenkins and Mike Patterson as starters, but they could stand to add depth to that rotation. And while they signed Trent Edwards a couple of weeks ago, they'll keep looking for a better veteran backup quarterback option with Young sure to be gone.

What to expect: Do not -- I repeat, do not -- expect the Eagles to be the same kind of player they were in free agency a year ago. Andy Reid made it very clear several times during the 2011 offseason and season that last year was unique, and the Eagles don't like to do business that way in general. They do need linebackers, and they have the cap room to play on guys like Stephen Tulloch or Curtis Lofton or even, if they wanted to get really nutty, London Fletcher. But while you can expect them to add a veteran or two at the position, don't be surprised if they sit out the higher-priced auctions this time around.

Washington Redskins

Key free agents: S LaRon Landry, LB London Fletcher, DE Adam Carriker, TE Fred Davis (franchise), QB Rex Grossman

Where they stand: Mike Shanahan said in December that Fletcher was a priority, but he remains unsigned with less than a week to go before free agency. Presumably, they'd still like to lock him up before he hits the market. If they can't, they'll have to replace a major on-field and off-field presence. Carriker is likely to be back, but the Fletcher situation has to be settled first. Landry likely is gone unless he wants to take a low-base, high-incentive deal to stay. The Redskins are sick of not knowing whether he'll be able to take the field from week to week. Grossman could return, but only as a backup to whatever quarterback upgrade they find.

What to expect: The Redskins could have more than $40 million in cap room with which to maneuver in free agency, and they're going to need it. They need a quarterback, of course, and if they can't make the trade with the Rams to move up to No. 2 in the draft and pick Robert Griffin III, they'll look at Peyton Manning and Kyle Orton and possibly Matt Flynn, though he doesn't appear to be high on their list. What Shanahan really wants is a true playmaking No. 1 wide receiver, which is why the Redskins have their eyes on Vincent Jackson and Marques Colston, who are at the very top end of that market. They'll be able to outbid almost anyone for those guys if they want to, but they may have to get quarterback figured out first if they want to persuade one of them to take their offer over similar ones. They'll also hunt for help on the offensive line and in the secondary, as they need depth in both places.

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.

Good afternoon. NFC West blog headquarters will be relocating from the Northwest to Indianapolis for Super Bowl week.

The plane I'm riding in, a Boeing 757, is traveling 565 mph at 35,637 feet, according to tracking software. I'll be connecting through Atlanta, so this will be a full travel day.

Once situated in Indy, I'll be helping with our Super Bowl coverage, with an eye toward this division. Josh McDaniels, David Baas, Bear Pascoe, David Carr, Rocky Bernard, Jimmy Kennedy, Deon Grant, Antrel Rolle, Isaiah Stanback, Deion Branch, Niko Koutouvides, Tracy White and Andre Carter are among the NFC West alumni currently with the Super Bowl participants.

Quite a few current NFC West players will be filtering through Indianapolis for various events during the week. I'll be catching up with some of them.

The week will conclude with Hall of Fame voting, followed by the Super Bowl itself. I don't have a strong feeling as to which team will win the game. Both should like their chances. I did pick New England to win it all before the season -- one of the few predictions that remains on track -- so I'll likely stick with the Patriots when ESPN solicits staffers' predictions later in the week.

Here's hoping this Sunday treats you well.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- It's tough playing cornerback for the New York Giants, where the defensive line gets all the love and the best cornerback in the league plays for the other New York team. And for much of this season, the Giants' secondary was the team's Achilles' heel -- a near-laughingstock that was famously ridiculed on national TV by Cris Collinsworth and obviously targeted by opposing offenses.

But anyone who's played defensive back in the NFL will tell you how important it is to have a short memory and a ton of confidence, no matter how much attention anyone's paying to you. As the Giants prepare to play the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI, their secondary remains unbowed and as confident as ever.

"If you keep doing your job, the attention will come," Giants cornerback Corey Webster said Friday. "Me, I think I'm great. I think I'm the best thing out there. I'm sure Aaron Ross feels the same way, and our whole secondary feels the same way. That's how you're supposed to feel when you take that field."

There were certainly times this year when the men in the Giants' secondary could have justifiably felt otherwise. Only three teams gave up more passing yards than the 4,082 the Giants allowed. And while those three -- Green Bay, New Orleans and New England -- were among the very best teams in the league, a number like that still isn't good for your personal or professional pride. After a four-game losing streak in which they allowed an average of 304 passing yards per game, a victory over Dallas in which they allowed 305 more and a loss to the Redskins in which Rex Grossman was 7-for-10 on third downs, the Giants' secondary looked like such an easy target that Mark Sanchez and the Jets threw 59 passes against them in the Christmas Eve game.

That turned out to be a huge mistake, however, as the Giants' secondary was in the process of turning a corner. They blanketed the Jets' receivers, won that game and haven't lost since. And while the defense still lives and dies with the performance of its pass-rushing linemen, the performance of the secondary has been a big part of the five-game win streak that has landed the Giants in the Super Bowl.

"Our play speaks for itself," said Giants safety Antrel Rolle, who does more than his own fair share of speaking. "There are a lot of reasons we've played better. We're more focused. We're on the same page with our defensive coordinator. And we're on the same page with each other, and that's the biggest improvement."

The enduring images of the Giants' secondary from last Sunday's NFC Championship victory over the 49ers are the two times San Francisco tight end Vernon Davis got behind them for long touchdowns. But true to the defensive back's code, the Giants' DBs were pointing out this week that Davis only caught one other pass, that the 49ers only caught 12 total and that six of those were caught by the running back. Safety Deon Grant said the first Davis touchdown wasn't the result of Rolle getting beat, but rather the result of zone coverage that wasn't executed correctly, and that the Giants' safeties and cornerbacks relish the challenge of slowing down the Patriots' great tight ends the way they did the Packers' Jermichael Finley two weeks ago in Green Bay.

"Those tight ends are more like tight end/wide receiver combinations, so it falls right into what we do," Grant said. "We have safeties who can cover, corners who can cover. When we're matched up against these best tight ends out there, we don't want to play zone. We want to play man-to-man and show off our skills."

You can't play defensive back in the NFL without that level of confidence, whether justified or not. And the Giants' defensive backs are a case study in forgetting the bad stuff quickly. If cornerback Aaron Ross had wallowed in early-season struggles that got him benched in Week 2, the Giants would have been floundering even more than they already were on pass defense through November and early December. But Ross shook it off and helped fill the gap created by preseason injuries to Terrell Thomas and first-round draft pick Prince Amukamara.

"Aaron was a guy they drafted in the first round," Grant said. "He was a guy who was here when they won the Super Bowl the last time. And now you're seeing that same first-round guy and that same guy who helped win that Super Bowl. He's back. He's healthy. And he's the old Aaron Ross again."

Plenty of swagger and no desire to look back. That's the way these Giants' defensive backs are built. When practice ended Friday, Rolle shared a friendly handshake with Collinsworth, who'd called the Giants' coverage "amateurish" and said Rolle had been "barbecued" by Dez Bryant in the first game against the Cowboys. In the days following that game, Rolle was critical of such analysis and explained in detail what had really happened on the play in question. But on Friday, when Collinsworth showed up for practice as part of NBC's preparations for the Super Bowl, all was forgotten.

"We're cool," Rolle said. "There's no hard feelings in this league. Collinsworth and I, we've always gotten along."

The defensive back's code: What happened in the past stays in the past. And none of it matters to the Giants now.

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Deep in the bowels of Lambeau Field on Sunday night, America's youngest 65-year-old practically bounced up to the podium, a grin creasing his famously red face as he broke down his latest huge coaching achievement.

When you push yourself as hard as Tom Coughlin pushes himself, you have to revel in nights like this. The New York Giants had just crushed the 15-1 Green Bay Packers, 37-20, to move into the NFC Championship Game, and Coughlin finds himself in the middle of a postseason run every bit as delightfully surprising as the one on which he took the Giants four years ago.

"Just very happy," Coughlin said, and who can blame him? This is a remarkable coaching achievement he's pulled off. His team looked dead in the water just four weeks ago, sitting at 7-7 and in second place after a miserable home loss to the Redskins. The story in New York was about whether he would be fired if the Giants didn't make the playoffs, and the consensus seemed to be that the Giants would have little choice.

Four games and four victories later, such talk has turned preposterous. Coughlin, whose contract runs through 2012, has put himself in line for a multi-year extension. This run with this team is establishing him -- if he hadn't already done so -- as one of the elite head coaches in the game. If he wins his next two games, he becomes a two-time Super Bowl champion and, quite frankly, people are going to start to ask whether he belongs in the Hall of Fame.

"There's nobody outside of this room who believed we could get where we are right now," Giants left tackle David Diehl said. "You go back a month, and it was all, 'Should Coughlin be fired?' But he knew what we had here, and we knew what we had here, and we used all of that for motivation."

The mark of a great coach is his ability to identify the kind of team and the kind of players he has and coach accordingly. Bum Phillips famously said that what made Don Shula great was that "he could take his'n and beat your'n, or he could take your'n and beat his'n." Coughlin is of that school. At a time when so many coaches seem to be slaves to their own system, or seek to have control over roster construction, Coughlin sees his role more simply. His is not to mope and complain that the team didn't do more in free agency, or that defensive starters dropped like flies in the preseason. His is to figure out how to win with what he has. And as he did four years ago, when he tore through Dallas and Green Bay before taking out the undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl, he has figured out how to push exactly the right buttons with a roster that didn't look playoff-caliber for most of this season.

"The way the leadership part works is, it starts with the coach," Giants safety Deon Grant said. "And what we have here is a coach who knows his team. He knows how to talk to the veterans in this locker room, when to challenge people, when to lighten up. You want a leader who believes in you, and in order to believe in you, he's got to know you."

Coughlin knows his team. He knew, after that Redskins loss, that the way to approach the following week was to build his players up rather than tear into them. They have responded, and are playing with a champion's level of confidence at exactly the right time of year. No fewer than four players in their locker room said Sunday night, "I knew we were going to win this game," and every single one of them was convincing and sincere.

"We've got a lot of confidence right now," running back Ahmad Bradshaw said. "We've been here before, a lot of us, and we've been here together. And I think that helps us a lot."

This really is starting to feel like four years ago all over again, and the reason why is the seasoned, even-keel performance of the leaders who keyed that playoff run. Eli Manning is playing quarterback at an incredibly high level, and Coughlin is delivering the right message during the week and projecting cool, experienced certainty during the games.

"Our coach is always consistent with his message," defensive lineman Chris Canty said. "That's a big deal, because it makes it easy to buy in. Confidence comes from demonstrated performance, and we have people in our building who have some pretty good records."

Sunday was Coughlin's sixth career playoff road win, one short of the all-time record held by a guy you may have heard of named Tom Landry. That's heady company, and it says a lot about the advantage Coughlin gives the Giants at this time of year. To have a coach who's not going to be surprised or thrown off by any situation, who has shown a sincere belief in you and earned your reciprocal belief in him -- that's the kind of stuff that allows a team to keep its head in intense playoff games.

"Success breeds confidence," Coughlin said. "And right now they're a pretty confident group."

That starts at the top, and while he would scoff at the notion, the fact that the Giants are one of the final four NFL teams left standing is a direct result of one of the finest coaching jobs of Coughlin's fine coaching career.

A quick look at the second-to-last injury report of the week:

New York Giants: Two players were added to the report: Cornerback Corey Webster (hamstring) and safety Deon Grant (quadriceps). Both were limited Thursday in practice. Running back D.J. Ware (concussion) returned to practice. Running back Ahmad Bradshaw (foot/back) and linebacker Mark Herzlich (ankle) both sat out for a second consecutive day.

Green Bay Packers: All but two players were full participants in a practice held indoors because of snow and wind. Receiver/kick returner Randall Cobb (groin) and linebacker Robert Francois (hamstring) were limited.

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.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — They gave up 360 passing yards the last time they played the Green Bay Packers, and that wasn't even the worst day of the season for the New York Giants' secondary. It is not the strength of their team, and the main reason it's looked better lately is the effective aggressiveness of the defensive line as it pressures quarterbacks. But while he's clearly not ready to proclaim that all is well on the back end, Giants coach Tom Coughlin believes his secondary will be better in Sunday's playoff rematch in Green Bay than it was in the 38-35 Week 13 loss at the Meadowlands.

"We're definitely going to be tested in the secondary, obviously," Coughlin said before Wednesday's practice. "There has been improvement — a plastering effect, if you will. Much better than it was a few short weeks ago. I think that's the growth of the confidence that comes from the pass rush, to the ability to stop the run and then to be able to execute on the back end — knowing full well that naturally there's yardage to be gained but nevertheless that we stay away from the big play."

Against the Packers, with their dynamic and myriad receiving threats and quarterback Aaron Rodgers' pinpoint accuracy, that's the best for which you can hope. The Giants must trust their pass rushers to harass Rodgers and then make sure their cornerbacks and safeties don't get burned for anything too deep. Rodgers can beat them by throwing short all the way down the field, but at least if you force him to play that way you're giving yourself more chances to make a play to stop him or get a turnover.

"We have to do our job in the secondary and make sure we take away their wide receivers," safety Antrel Rolle said. "I understand they're an awesome opponent, but then again so are we. I wouldn't put any opponent on a pedestal."

One thing the Giants have going in their favor is that they're much healthier on defense than they were in the first Green Bay game. That day, linebacker Michael Boley was still coming back from a hamstring injury. Chase Blackburn had just been signed off the street. Osi Umenyiora was out with an ankle injury. Safety Kenny Phillips hurt his knee in the second quarter and had to come out of the game. Safety Deon Grant said Wednesday he remembers the all-hands-on-deck feeling from a game in which he had to spend some time at middle linebacker.

"A lot of guys were just out there guessing," Grant said. "So I think the biggest thing this time will be the ability to play full-speed and just being concise on everything with everybody in the right place and knowing what they're supposed to do."

Will it be enough to slow down Rodgers & Co.? We'll find out Sunday. But the Giants definitely go into this game feeling better equipped to do so than they did six weeks ago.