Steve Smith Done for the Season; Giants Place Sintim on IR

Steve Smith Done for the Season: The Giants announced yesterday that WR Steve Smith will miss the remainder of the 2010 NFL season with a knee injury. After undergoing an MRI, it was learned that Smith sustained an articular cartilage injury to his knee. Smith will require season-ending surgery which has yet to be scheduled.

“Steve is injured and will not be able to play anymore (this season),” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “He will have surgery on the knee. I feel bad for Steve. He fights his way back, he gets back on the field, he gets a little bit acclimated to game conditions again and then is injured, so our thoughts and the entire thoughts of our team are for Steve at this time. I did not and I tried to encourage him after the game because the first news was that it may have been a hamstring or something like that or that type of injury there in the outside back part of the knee. Unfortunately it turned out to be more than that.”

“You can’t get used to missing somebody like Steve,” said HB Brandon Jacobs. “When Steve wasn’t around for the last four weeks we really missed him. And you can tell.”

“Our team just has to march on,” said Coughlin. “Someone else has got to step up there and do the job we would have asked Steve to do.”

Giants Place Sintim on IR; Sign DE Alex Hall: As expected, the Giants have placed LB Clint Sintim on Injured Reserve. Sintim tore an ACL in one of his knees against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday.

With the roster vacancy, the Giants signed DE Alex Hall. Hall spent the preseason with the Giants after the Eagles waived him and was on the Giants’ 53-man roster in November after the Cardinals waived him.

Injury Report: Aside from WR Steve Smith (knee/pectoral), who will likely be put on Injured Reserve shortly, not practicing yesterday were WR Mario Manningham (hip flexor) and RG Chris Snee (hip).

“(Manningham) does have an issue and hopefully he can progress a little bit each day,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “Hopefully he’ll make progress and hopefully he’ll be able to go (on Thursday).”

“I’ll be good for Sunday,” said Manningham. “I don’t know how my week is going to be, but I’m going to be alright.”

Practicing on a limited basis yesterday were OC Shaun O’Hara (foot), OL Shawn Andrews (back), and DE Osi Umenyiora (knee).

“Shawn (Andrews) is going to work this week,” said Coughlin before practice. “He’s going to be limited at first and we’ll see how far he can go.”

Practice Squad Moves: The Giants officially confirmed that LB Kenny Ingram has been signed to the Practice Squad, as we reported yesterday. To make room for Ingram, the Giants released DT Joe Joseph from the Practice Squad.