**
- Perry Fewell: "We'll crawl out."**
|
|||||||||||||||||||
The Seahawks posted a franchise-record 350 rushing yards on the Giants last week, dropping Big Blue's defense to last in the NFL in yards allowed per game. Now it's time to crawl out with seven games to play, beginning with the San Francisco 49ers. "We all want the same thing," defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said. "We want to win, we want to be the best we can possibly be and we're going to put energy and effort into doing that. So we have seven games, we're at the 32nd spot right now, we have seven games to crawl out of that spot. We'll crawl out."
2. The Giants prepare for Aldon Smith's return.
The 49ers' outside linebacker, who has 42 sacks in 43 career games, was suspended the first nine games of the season for violating the NFL's personal conduct and substance abuse policies. Sunday will be his first game back, and the Giants expect him to play. "He's conditioned and studied and been in meetings with the team throughout," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "I don't think there's any doubt that if he's ready to go that they'll have him in. We have tape from years gone by and we look at that and we project."
3. Demps, Parker, and Ogletree are next up on kickoff return.
The Giants lost running back and kickoff returner Michael Cox for the season after he fractured his leg last week against the Seattle Seahawks. As far as filling his role on kickoffs, special teams coordinator said the next three up are Quintin Demps, Preston Parker and Kevin Ogletree, who signed with the Giants last month. "You like Preston's elusiveness in his run skills, but ball security is the number one thing with him, he had one ripped out," Quinn added. "Kevin Ogletree has done it in the past. When he was in Dallas, he was back, good straight line speed."
4. The injury report.
As expected, the only changes to the injury report were Mathias Kiwanuka (knee) going from limited in practice yesterday to no work on Thursday, and vice versa for fellow defensive end Damontre Moore (shoulder). Meanwhile, defensive Cullen Jenkins (calf) did not practice again and neither did running back Peyton Hillis nor linebacker Jacquian Williams, who are out with concussions.
5. The Giants are reintegrating Stevie Brown.
Demps took over a starting safety role in Week 4 in place of Stevie Brown, but the two have rotated in and out in the last few games, almost splitting equal time in Seattle. "From that standpoint, we played Brown 50 percent and we played Demps 50 percent," Fewell said. "We're trying to get both guys integrated. We'll try to use a little bit of the three-safety package. Nothing out of the ordinary."
6. Kennard, Giants D prepare for Kaepernick.
The Giants saw what quarterback Russell Wilson could do last week and will face a similar challenge this Sunday against San Francisco's Colin Kaepernick. Rookie linebacker Devon Kennard said a lot of his responsibility this week will be on defending the dive play. "You have to know your assignment and be in the right position," Kennard said. "I am going to make sure I am in the right spot when I do have him per se. I am going to make sure he doesn't have 10 yards of space around me when he gets the ball, if I do have him, for instance. Those are the types of things, like knowing what to do and if I am ever on him, putting myself in a positon where I can succeed."
7. Parker's "nastiness" showed on Sunday.
Preston Parker, a first-year Giant who was out of football all of 2013 after three seasons with Tampa Bay, caught his first touchdown as a member of Big Blue last week, recording seven catches for 79 yards on the day. "Preston Parker, we noticed when we got here in the spring, he is a competitor," offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo said. "He plays with a little bit of nastiness to him, with a chip on his shoulder, so to speak. I think when that shows up he is at his best. It is nice to see that come out on Sunday."
