The Giants will have DE Jason Pierre-Paul and S Kenny Phillips active tonight against Washington. JPP was questionable with a back injury that kept him out of Friday and Saturday practices. Phillips was doubtful, but his aggravated knee is apparently ready for action after all. It's not yet clear whether Phillips will start. Stevie Brown remains a decent upside IDP. JPP can be started as usual.

Giants S Kenny Phillips said his aggravated knee injury would be good to go. Apparently his knee has said otherwise. The starting safety is doubtful for Sunday's rematch with Washington. That puts high-upside Stevie Brown back into the starting lineup and into our Week 13 DB rankings. DE Jason Pierre-Paul, meanwhile, missed a 2nd straight day of practice Saturday with a back injury. Word after Friday's missed workout had him likely to play, but JPP is officially questionable. IDP owners should use him if he's active, but we'll have to see.

The Giants will host the Cowboys in the 2012 season-opener on Wednesday, September 5th.  It figures to be a high-scoring affair.  The two teams combined for 116 points and 1,691 total yards of offense in 2 meetings last year.

The Giants will host the 2012 season opener on Wednesday, September 5th.  The NFL has traditionally kicked off on Thursday, but they pushed it up a day this year because President Obama is speaking at the Democratic National Convention on the 6th.  The Giants' opponent has yet to be announced.  The opener usually isn't a divisional game, so it'll likely be the Packers, Saints, Steelers, Bucs, or Browns.  Any of those first 3 opponents would make for a tasty opener.

The Giants left behind WR Hakeem Nicks, RB Ahmad Bradshaw and C David Baas when they traveled Saturday. That officially means the team will be without all 3 "doubtful" players for Sunday's matchup with the Patriots. As we've said before, that boosts Mario Manningham, Victor Cruz, Brandon Jacobs and D.J. Ware for the game. The WRs look good for fantasy purposes. The RBs don't.

The Giants will likely be without RB Ahmad Bradshaw and WR Hakeem Nicks when they face the Patriots on Sunday. Both players are officially doubtful for the game, Nicks with a hamstring injury and Bradshaw the cracked bone in his foot. D.J. Ware becomes relevant with Bradshaw out, while Brandon Jacobs will be in line for the primary workload. Nicks' absence helps Mario Manningham and Victor Cruz against the D that leads the league in most catches and yards allowed to WRs. On the defensive side, DE Jason Pierre-Paul is questionable with what's being called a neck injury.

Most undrafted free agents remain fairly anonymous until they make a regular season impact. Most aren't cancer survivor and former ACC defensive player of the year LB Mark Herzlich. HC Tom Coughlin said the team saw improvement from the rookie each week before electing to keep Herzlich on the final roster. He'll obviously open as a backup, but this team is far from set long-term at LB. Michael Boley is injury prone, Jonathan Goff is in his 2nd year as a starter and Mathias Kiwanuka's role tends to change with scheme and team needs. It'll be interesting to see if Herzlich is challenging for a starting job in a couple of years.

Former Boston College LB Mark Herzlich tweeted Tuesday morning that he'll be signing with the Giants as an undrafted free agent. Most such moves will be fairly anonymous, but Herzlich gained notoriety by fighting off cancer after his junior season. Some viewed Herzlich as a 1st-round NFL talent before that scare, and the 2009 ACC defensive player of the year has made a full return. Herzlich isn't overly fast but stands 6-4, 244 pounds and can play ILB or OLB in the Giants' 4-3. Obviously, there's also absolutely no way you can question his character. He's not likely to break into the lineup as a rookie, but he seems like the kind of player other teams will quickly regret not drafting late.

The New York Giants opened the throttle vs. the New England Patriots and tried to beat them, even though the game meant nothing whatsoever on paper. It was a great effort, but the Star-Ledger reports "The Giants lost linebacker Kawika Mitchell, safety Craig Dahl and center Shaun O'Hara with sprained knees -- all by halftime. Cornerback Sam Madison left in the fourth quarter with what the Giants announced to be an abdominal injury..." Aay, Tom Coughlin has got to be sick about this. They fly to Tampa Bay for the wild-card next week.

Giants C Shaun O'Hara, LB Kawika Mitchell, CB Sam Madison, and CB Kevin Dockery all missed practice Thursday. O'Hara and Mitchell injured their MCLs in the meaningless game vs. New England.

Giants S Gibril Wilson (knee) is out again. Michael Johnson gets his 2nd straight start.

When the Giants travel to Philadelphia to take on the Eagles on Sunday, they could be without two of their top defensive players. S Gibril Wilson (knee) has already been ruled out, and LB Antonio Pierce (ankle) will be a game-time decision. This is turning into a nice matchup for the Eagles' offense, especially RB Brian Westbrook.

Giants FS Gibril Wilson is doubtful with a knee injury so Michael Johnson will start vs. the pass-happy Lions. Johnson is a former All Pac-10 safety from Arizona who somehow slipped to the 7th round this year. FOXSports.com and a couple other sources rated Johnson as a 3rd-round pick. He's a 210-lb banger who is always around the ball and makes receivers pay. Johnson, Arizona's defensive co-captain, allowed only 5 receptions for 50 yards in 10 games last year.

Giants S Gibril Wilson sat out week 13 with a knee injury and two other safeties got banged up yesterday too. S James Butler (hamstring) and S Michael Johnson (neck) were both in and out of the game vs. Seattle. Johnson had to have his neck X-rayed in the 2nd quarter.