There was no shortage of frayed nerves in the New York Giants locker room on Thursday.
With the final preseason game in the books, a lot of jobs are on the line as the current 75-man roster will be to 53 by Friday’s deadline.
There are some players such as defensive tackle Shaun Rogers (blood clot) and cornerback Terrell Thomas (knee) who could end up on IR, which would create a roster space. However, the NFLPA just approved a new temporary IR designation that would allow a team to choose one player that can come off IR to practice in Week 6 with an eye toward playing in Week 8.
When asked, Coughlin said there is “optimism” regarding the injuries to Rogers and second-year defensive tackle Marvin Austin (back), but he didn’t clarify what exactly he’s heard from the team’s physicians.
Coughlin did, however, say that he’s concerned about the lack of time Austin has seen on the field -- three preseason games since being drafted in the second round of the 2011 NFL Draft.
“It’s a little bit frustrating because of the lack of time he had to spend on the field during preseason, and that definitely, definitely, is going to prevent him from being where he should be once he comes off of the injury,” Coughlin said. “There are some issues that have to be dealt with there.”
Andre Brown says he’s comfortable, but…: Brown had a fumble against the New England Patriots on Wednesday night, but he looked solid while gaining 55 yards on 14 carries.
“I feel that other than the one fumble that I had, I feel as though I put a solid game together. I’m sure I’m capable of playing in the league,” said Brown, who’s battling D.J. Ware and Da’Rel Scott for a roster spot. “I know I’m going to be here or if it’s not here, I’m going to be somewhere and I know that I still believe that it’s going to be my year.”
On Thursday Coughlin said both Brown and Scott “distinguished themselves” in the game, adding that Brown “ran hard.”
Mathias Kiwanuka gets a big 'atta boy! The Giants aren’t a particularly vocal team, but that hasn’t stopped Mathias Kiwanuka’s teammates from applauding his recent comments on WFAN’s “Boomer and Carton” show.
In July Jerry Jones told Cowboys season ticket holders that they can watch his team “beat the New York Giants’ asses,” so Kiwanuka reminded the WFAN listeners that the Giants have been “whupping his ass for a long time.”
From there Kiwanuka pulled his trump card: “It’s got to be tough on the outside looking in on all of these championships lately.”
The Giants beat the Cowboys twice last season, with the second win securing a division crown and subsequently robbing Dallas of postseason football.
Former teammate and current San Francisco 49ers running back Brandon Jacobs tweeted “I like it Kiwi,” while current Giants defensive end Justin Tuck told reporters on Thursday, “Kiwi’s a confrontational guy so I’m not surprised by it.”
“I don’t see why everybody else can talk about us but we can’t fire back,” Tuck continued. “I ain’t got no problems with it.”
Are the Giants hiding David Douglas? The undrafted receiver played well in training camp and in the preseason, but would sort of be redundant on a roster with Jerrel Jernigan (they both return kicks, punts and play slot receiver).
Of course, the Giants would naturally want to keep Douglas around in case anything happened to Jernigan or Victor Cruz.
That’s why it was interesting that Douglas barely played in the final preseason game after returning three punts and a kickoff against the Chicago Bears in the third preseason game.
“I don’t know,” Douglas said when being presented with the theory on Thursday. “You don’t really pay attention or think about that kind of stuff. Whenever your number is called, you go out there and try to make plays.”
Tyler Sash met with commissioner Roger Goodell: Sash spoke with Goodell about receiving a four-game suspension for failing to report an Adderall prescription — move that has helped other players win appeals — but the second-year safety didn’t really get any answers.
“I never really got an explanation of why,” Sash said. “It’s just ‘the rules are the rules.’ I never got an explanation why one player got off and I didn’t. But at the end of the day it’s on me.”
Coughlin encouraged by Will Beatty: After practicing on Monday, Beatty’s sore back hasn’t gotten any worse, Coughlin said, and that could be the product of his new core-strengthening workout regimen.
Coughlin: “He’s continuing to work hard on his core and his conditioning and he seemed to be okay after having a few snaps in practice and so I’m really looking forward to seeing the continuation of this routine, this physical strengthening session that Will has started. He’s making some progress and I’m looking forward to seeing him on Saturday."
The Giants practice again on Saturday, but Coughlin couldn’t say if Beatty could play in the season opener against the Cowboys.
Follow the Giants and Alex Raskin @CBSSportsNFLNYG and @AlexRaskinNYC.
