With Strahan staying retired (good for him) after speculation that he we entertaining a conversation with the Giants to come back for one more year, we now have a gaping void at the Defensive End position. It’s going to be interesting to see how Spagnuolo shuffles his crew to maximize its potential and fill in key voids.

Michael Strahan sat out yesterday’s practice with a sore knee. According to Coughlin, it has not been labeled as serious and he is expected to be back on the practice field today.

In other injury news Brandon Jacobs is expected to play against the Jets this weekend, but Coughlin hasn’t stated yet who will start that game at running back. Plaxico Burress is still laying off the ankle during the week, but expects to be on the field this Sunday as well.

Let’s start with Brandon Jacobs for this brief report. It appears as though he is feeling much better and planning on practicing later this week.

Jacobs has even gone so far as to say that he might be able to play versus the Philadelphia Eagles this Sunday evening — that’s a bit of a stretch, but we can appreciate the dude’s dedication and eagerness to get back on the field.

“I would love to play this weekend. I’m getting very close. I have to see the doctor in a little bit and hopefully there will be some good news.” Brandon Jacobs

Personally, I’d rather the guy sit out another week and come back stronger and more thoroughly healed. There’s no messing around with a knee injury.

Manage “an ongoing, nagging thing…”

This morning Burress was flown to Charlotte, NC to get a second opinion on his ailing ankle (not the one he had surgery on in teh off season). It’s been described as a trip to learn how to “manage” the injury. I’m not entirely sure what the actually means.

If the trip results in him holding on to more passes, I’ll be a happy camper. That said, I’m not going to complain too much. I mean, the dude does have 15 catches for 262 yards and five touchdowns in this very young season. That’s pretty good for a guy on one surgically repaired ankle and one that needs to be “managed.”

Adrian Awasom left the Packers game with what was described at the time as a “stinger.” It turns out to be much worse for the third year player. He’s been added to the season-ending injured reserve list with a fractured back.

Giant officials haven’t specified that they will fill his spot immediately and are leaving their options open for other scenarios. With nine players on this years injured reserve list, the team is quickly running out of bodies to put on the field and are well on their way to eclipsing last years IR total of 11.

In his three plus years as head coach, Tom Coughlin has had 47 players added to IR. I’d like to see some numbers on other coaches in that same time frame to see if that number is on par with the rest of the league — you know, so I can either finish up my Coughlin voodoo doll or put it away until later in the season.

Let’s start with the most obvious… the Giants looked miserable at home this Sunday against the Green Bay Packers. Even through the pixelated replay from my Comcast digital DVR, the picture was clear enough for me to watch this disaster. And for the first time since 1996, the Giants will start the season 0-2.

Any One Have a Band-Aid®

At the current rate of injuries, Caughlin will be on the field by week 5. Let’s see who we can add to the list this week. Rookie wider receiver Steve Smith will be out for a quite a while with a fractured shoulder blade — that just sounds horribly painful. Jared Lorenzen, who relieved Eli Manning early in the fourth quarter, left shortly there after with a sprained left ankle. That has got to be some sort of record for shortest time taken by a team to reach the third string quarterback.

Other injuries of note are:

• Plaxico Burress (right ankle)
• Ahmad Bradshaw (elbow)
• Reggie Torbor (elbow)
• Adrian Awasom (stinger)

And who knows what additional damage Manning may have done to his throwing shoulder by trying to prove to the team that he’s their leader. I admire the dude for stepping up to the plate. Lord knows someone on the team has to. Which leads me to my next point.

Who Has A Match?

Someone, anyone, needs to light a fire under the asses of the defense. Every sideline shot that I saw only showed every defensive player sitting on the bench with the same distant look. I know it’s easy to get discouraged after two tough beats in row, but one of the more experienced players on the team (Strahan, I’m looking in your direction) needs to stand up and get one everyone’s collective ass. There’s no fire on defense right now. Where is the leadership that we’ve seen in the past?

Pierce, Strahan, someone. Get up and motivate your team mates. If this is how the season is going to continue, I’m not going to waste my time trying to brainwash my daughter into becoming a fan. I’ll let her choose her own team.