August 9, 2007 New York Giants Injury Report

August 9, 2007 New York Giants Injury Report: The following players missed practice yesterday and will not play against Carolina: WR Amani Toomer (knee), WR Plaxico Burress (ankle), DT Fred Robbins (calf), CB Aaron Ross (glute), CB E.J. Underwood (hip), S Michael Stone (hip), LB Gerris Wilkinson (knee), OC Todd Londot (ankle), and LS Ryan Kuehl (calf/Achilles).

TE Jeremy Shockey (leg), DE Osi Umenyiora (hip), and DE Justin Tuck (foot) practiced and will play.

The Star-Ledger is reporting that CB Travonti Johnson (unknown injury) did not practice and will not play.

Article on WR Steve Smith: Smith Grabs Attention by Ralph Vacchiano of The Daily News

Article on WR Michael Jennings: Giants’ Jennings: Souped-Up Cars for a Souped-Up Guy by John Branch of The New York Times

Notes and Quotes: Eli Manning will start at quarterback against the Panthers on Saturday, followed by Jared Lorenzen and then Anthony Wright. Tim Hasselbeck will likely play the following week in Baltimore.

DT Barry Cofield on the defense and himself: “I do expect to have a very good year. I think it’s going to be a big year for the defense in general. I feel like we’ve upgraded our whole defense. Having (Mathias) Kiwanuka (at strongside linebacker) out there is like having a fifth defensive lineman, another guy to rush the passer. Kawika (Mitchell) is doing great and Antonio Pierce is always the heart of the defense. There are so many great guys around me, (opposing offenses) definitely aren’t going to be focused on me. I think this will be my year to surprise a lot of people.”

Tight Ends Coach Mike Pope on who might replace TE Visanthe Shiancoe as a the team’s blocking tight end: “We’re going to look hard at Darcy Johnson, who has the size, but he again is not as compact as Shiancoe was. He’s two inches taller, his legs are a bit thinner. So that’s the person we’re going to look at probably early on to try to fill that bill and then to try to let Kevin Boss do a few more of the things that Shockey would do because they’re more similar in abilities and size and so forth.”

Linebackers Coach Bill Sheridan on the depth at linebacker: “We have got really good depth. We will have some tough decisions here at the end of camp because we have got a lot of good players. They are athletic, and they are really competitive guys. Like I said earlier, they are into their work and they take it very seriously. They also have a lot of pride. They are probably a little younger overall and I think that is what the management was looking for in the off season. We have young, healthy guys who can really run and are athletic.”

Sheridan on the new Steve Spagnuolo’s new defensive schemes: “(The linebackers) like it. It is a linebacker friendly defense. Especially how we play some of the coverages. It allows them to be more aggressive. A lot of times, linebackers can have what we refer to as a run-pass complex. They want to be really aggressive on the run, but they also have coverage responsibility up the field and so it can pull them both ways, and take something off their game. Steve has set it up, where it allows them to be very, very aggressive in the run and on the play action stuff, they kind of just fall into their coverage responsibility and being a downhill attacking mode. So, it is very linebacker friendly and they love it.”

WR David Tyree on the difference between former Special Teams Coordinator Mike Sweatman and current Special Teams Coordinator Tom Quinn: “Sweatman’s a just-line-up-and-play-football kind of guy. Quinn is a guy that is going to shake things up a bit. We have some new blood in there and it’s going to be good. I’m loving it. He’s doing a good job of preparation. You realize that special teams is reckless, so you can’t always prepare, you have to play. So he focuses on technique and getting guys to understand what we have to do to accomplish things once we get out there.”

WR Steve Smith on WR Sinorice Moss: “He has extreme quickness. He gets by defenders pretty easily off the line. He’s really just toying with defenders with his speed.”

Moss on Smith: “He is real polished when he runs his routes. He has great hands and he’s very, very consistent in catching the football.”

DT Jonas Seawright on losing 35 pounds in the offseason: “I feel like an anvil fell off of me.”