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.

Sure-to-be-Hall-of-Famer Michael Strahan has announced his retirement. After 15 years in the league dominating opposing offensive linemen, the Giant’s defensive end will ride off into the sunset with Superbowl ring in tow. The ever charismatic Strahan has fueled speculation of this moment for the past few months, often teasing of a return, but ultimately deciding to go out on top.

This surely isn’t the end of his relationship with the NFL by any means. He’s a shoe in for just about any television gig that he wants to take a run at. I wish him the best and thanks for giving the Giants organization and fans your all every time you stepped onto the field.

Here are just a few career stats:

• 7 Pro Bowls
• 141.5 Career Sacks
• NFL single season sack record with 22.5 in 2001

The Giants’ defense showed up with a vengeance today, contributing to 24 points in the win over San Francisco. As impressive as that is, and as much as I think I may need some alone time as a result, let’s not forget that Amani Toomer set a franchise mark for all time receiving touchdowns.

Toomer now sits atop the list with 49 touchdown receptions. He’s just one of those dudes that deserves to have this record — repeatedly showing up and performing to the top of his game. Yeah, his touches have steadily decreased over the pass couple of seasons due to the surge from Shockey and Burress, but have you ever heard the man complain? No.

He embodies what all young football players should strive to be. Classy. Poised. Hard working. Record holder.

The game is still early in the third quarter and I’m sure this is going to jinx something, but I’m going to go ahead and come out and say it.

If Umenyiora doesn’t win at least the Defensive Player of the Year award by the time this season is over, he will smite us all. So far against the 49ers, he has 2 fumble recoveries (one returned for a 75 yard touchdown) and a sack. Add that to his league leading total and the dude is not only a stud, he’s a god.

All hail Osi, God of defensive mayhem!

The Atlanta Falcons just recently announced that their starting left tackle Wayne Gandy is now out for the season with a torn ACL. That sucks for the Falcons on so many levels. First, you hate to see a guy lost to the season with injury. Second, you’ve just got to hate what you saw from the Giants’ defense when the Philadelphia Eagles put up an inexperienced player on the offensive line.

Could this be another huge game for Osi and the rest of the defensive front? I sure as hell hope so. Monday Night Football would be a great stage for Strahan, Osi, Tuck and the rest of the crew to light up the Falcons’ offensive line.

All I know is that I’ll be able to see my fifth Giants game of the season, and at the beach no less. Normally at this point in the year the television gods have denied my craving for Giants’ football. Of course, now that I’ve said that, I won’t catch another game for the rest of the schedule.

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.

In not so surprising news, the New York Giants are once again looking at improving their kicking game.

After Lawrence Tynes’ poor performance this weekend — missing a field goal from 34 yards out in addition to a failed extra point — the team has decided to work out Josh Huston, who barely lost the roster spot during training camp this summer, and Billy Cundiff.

“It’s not just the missed field goals… I don’t remember ever being around a missed extra point. There are concerns and we have to address them and think seriously about them to try to figure out what we can do to help Lawrence in that situation.” - Tom Coughlin on the kicking game

While neither kicker was signed as of yet, the kicking game has been a thorn in Coughlin’s side for just about his entier tenure with the Giants. Whether it’s bad snaps or shanked kicks, this portion of the special teams needs some help.

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.