The best thing about having a bye week this late in the season is that it allows some players who have been banged up to get healthy, and hopefully minimize the risk of further injuries during the stretch run. We saw how the Giants ran out of gas last season after having an early bye. Hopefully this year will prove the opposite.
- On that note, Ralph Vachianno reports that Aaron Ross is practicing and looks to be ready to return when the Giants play the Falcons next Sunday.
Still, Ross said, "I wasn't nervous at all" yesterday. "I felt really good to tell you the truth. I've got to get a little bit of the rust and cobwebs off, but a couple of more days of practice and I'll be all right."
- Tom Rock writes that the return of Danny Ware might give the Giants the missing link they've been missing on offense this season. According to running backs coach Jerald Ingram:
"You've got your banger, your third-down back and your speed changeup guy, and away we go," Ingram said of Jacobs, Ware and Bradshaw, respectively. "We put it on our shoulders and we try to motivate the offense as well as the defense and get everybody happy."
- Tom Coughlin has stated that the Giants will be working on both their red zone defense and "green zone" offense (I still hate calling it that, especially with the way the Giants have looked down there). This has been an issue for way too long now, and it's almost embarrassing that the Giants have been so bad inside the 20s.
- The NFL has fined Ahmad Bradshaw (chop block), Kevin Dockery (unnecessary roughness on a fair catch), and Clint Sintim (roughing the passer) $5,000 each. The good news is that San Diego's Eric Weddle has been fined $7,500 for his helmet-to-helmet hit on Kevin Boss. You know, the one that didn't draw a yellow flag on the field.