August 17, 2010 New York Giants Injury Report

August 17, 2010 New York Giants Injury Report: QB Eli Manning (head laceration) underwent more tests yesterday. His availability for Saturday’s preseason game against the Steelers is in question.

“Any time you have any injury that is a head injury they’re going to do all kinds of tests so they’re in the process of doing that right now,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “I’m not guessing on (if he will play against the Steelers). We’ll wait and hear what the doctors have to say once all their examinations are completed.”

“I was a little worried (Monday) night but no headache, no concussion of any sort,” said Manning. “My body, my mind, my head all feels really good. All day (Tuesday) I’ve been getting tests done and just making sure there is no further damage to my brain or to my skull and everything looks fine. That’s all good news.”

“Initially, with Eli being the kind of guy he is, the idea for me going forward was, gee how are we going to make it so that he can practice and play with the stitches?” said Coughlin. “I think that there is naturally concern there from the doctor’s standpoint as well because just the nature of where the helmet sits according to where the stitches are could create a problem in terms of healing and so I’m sure that that was brought up (Monday) night. Dr. Warren brought that up as well. Again, I’m just waiting to hear all of this information.”

“They haven’t given me an exact time frame when I’ll be back,” Manning said. “I have a feeling I might be out this upcoming week just trying to get these stitches healed up. I don’t know when I’ll be able to put the helmet on. Hopefully I’ll be able to rig something up. I might have to bring out an old leather helmet to get some practice in this week. I don’t want to be sitting around doing nothing. I feel I can play. The helmet might be the only restriction right now.”

LB Chase Blackburn injured his knee against the Jets. “Chase Blackburn  is an MCL,” said Coughlin. “There is not an ACL involvement there. I would not put a number on how long he would be out, but obviously he’s going to have to work himself back into being able to practice and play and it will take some time…There’s no surgery here. He’ll be a couple of weeks probably – I don’t know how long – but there won’t be any surgery.”

Coughlin also indicated there is an issue with WR Ramses Barden. “Ramses Barden has been experiencing some lower back issues and they are trying to determine the extent of that, whether it’s muscular or whether there are other things involved as well,” said Coughlin.

Article on WR Victor Cruz: This Jersey Jint Has ‘Big’ Dream by Kevin Kernan of The New York Post

Notes: There is one practice today, in the afternoon. For details, check out the camp schedule in the Training Camp section of the website.