Giants get Thanksgiving game against Denver

The Giants and Broncos will play each other on Thanksgiving night at 8:20 ET in Denver.  The game is going to be hosted on NFL Network, but I’m assuming it’ll also be available to local markets on NBC.

Practice squad moves made

The Giants have cut CB Geoffrey Pope from the practice squad and replaced him with CB Rashad Barksdale.

Tight End Eric Butler was re-signed to the practice squad, giving the Giants a full eight men on the practice squad now.

SI football preview has six covers, Giants not featured

Winning the Super Bowl usually means you’re pretty good and gives you some well deserved recognition, right? Think again.

Sports Illustrated is issuing six regional covers for their annual NFL Preview magazine. Each cover will feature a different team with the words “Bring It” on it.

The teams and players with covers are the Eagles (Donovan McNabb), Patriots (Tom Brady), Cowboys (Tony Romo), Vikings (Adrian Peterson), Jaguars (Maurice Jones-Drew), and Chargers (LaDanian Tomlinson).

I don’t understand how you can leave out the Super Bowl champs here, but whatever…

Have fun being jinxed!

Thorpe waived, Monk claimed off waivers

The Giants have waived WR Craphonso Thorpe and claimed Bears WR Macrus Monk off waivers. Monk is 6′6″ and weighs 222lbs and should be a nice, big target for Eli.

Monk was drafted by the Bears in the seventh round of the 2008 draft. He played college football at Arkansas. Monk led all SEC freshmen in receiving during the 2004 season and set a school record for receptions by a freshman with 37. He broke Richard Smith’s record of 33 receptions. Monk’s best season came during his junior year where he hauled in 50 receptions for 962 yards. Monk missed most of his senior season with a groin injury, but finished off his career ranked seventh for career touchdowns.

Giants make more roster moves

The Giants waived WR Michael Jennings, safety Terrance Stringer, placed David Tyree on the PUP list, and signed rookie linebacker James Terry.

These move gives the Giants 76 on the active roster.  They need to be down to 75 by 4:00 today.  The expected move is to place Osi Umenyiora on the injured reserve list.

Osi may be back by October?

We all know Osi is injured with a torn lateral meniscus and is supposed to miss the entire season. However, Tom Rock of Newsday has found a doctor that believes there’s a chance Umenyiora could be back on the field in October.

It seems that doctors will determine during the surgery if the meniscus needs to be removed or repaired. Removal of the lateral meniscus would allow Osi to get back on the field quicker, but it could cause him more serious problems in the future. It would be better for Osi to repair it, according to Dr. Craig Levitz, but the repair rate is only 75%. If a portion of Osi’s meniscus is repaired there’s a chance we could see him back on the field by October.

“If they don’t repair it, there is no reason he should miss more than a month,” Levitz said.

Thanks to Mike Florio of ProFootballTalk and Tom Rock of Newsday for the information.

Strahan to consider returning, Giants open to idea

Legendary defensive end Michael Strahan has said he would be open to returning to the Giants this season, according to the New York Times, who cite an unnamed source. There has been speculation of a return since Osi Umenyiora went down with an injury to his left knee against the Jets and it was discovered he would be out the entire season.

The paper reports Strahan will return if he is offered a contract of $8 million a season.

“If the Giants make a sincere overture, it’s a good chance that Strahan would consider coming back,” the source said, according to the Daily News. “There are other things he has to take into consideration: the money and his contract with Fox.”

“But if the Giants really want him, they have a shot,” the source said. “It’s not out of the question.”

Strahan is currently on vacation in Greece.

I’d love to have Strahan back. Hopefully he’s in football condition and can suit up for us. This would be a great move by Mike to help the team when they really need him, but I won’t be mad at him if he stays retired.

Giants have over $12+ million in cap space

According to Mike Florio, the Giants have over $12 million in cap space.

This amount of money would give the Giants more than enough to possibly try to lure Michael Strahan out of retirement. Strahan made $4 million last season and originally wanted $8 million to return this season.

There’s still no word from Strahan on whether or not he would consider returning. Anything can happen, but I wouldn’t count on Strahan returning.

Even if Strahan does return, he may not be in the best physical shape. Who knows if he’s ready to suit up?

Reminder: PSL rally before tonight’s game

Ten days ago I wrote about the Personal Seat License Rally that will start at 4:00 today prior to the start of the Giants/Jets preseason game.

The rally will be held as a discussion forum for Giants and Jets fans to voice their opinions on the PSLs at the new stadium.

For more information visit http://www.pslrally.com/

Bucs cut Luke Petitgout

Former New York Giants left tackle Luke Petitgout has been cut by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Petitgout was released after failing a physical nearly a year after injuring his knee in a game against the Panthers.

Petitgout played with the Giants from 1999-2006, but was cut by Jerry Reese before the 2007 season.