A little news first. Plaxico Burress did miss practice for a second straight day, but Tom Coughlin said he expects his No. 1 wide receiver to practice tomorrow. Burress, who ran and cut on the side while trying to get the soreness out of his re-sprained right ankle, didn’t seem too concerned about getting back to work. He simply informed everybody interested that he’d be there Sunday.

Good enough. Clearly, the guy doesn’t give a fig about practicing, and he doesn’t seem to need it. Certainly no one will call him on it if he continues to catch touchdown passes, of which he has four so far.

Meanwhile, David Tyree appears ready to get back after taking two full days of practice with the offense and special teams. If the doctors clear him, he’ll play with a protective cast around his left forearm to keep that surgically-repaired navicular bone intact. Tyree said he can make a tackle with the cast, as well as catch a pass. It’s awkward, but he can get by.

It also appears LB Gerris Wilkinson (dislocated kneecap) is ready to go after taking two full practices. That could clear the way for Kawika Mitchell’s move back to the strong side and Mathias Kiwanuka’s return to fulltime defensive end. Don’t count on that happening this week, though.

And now for the Book of the Month Club motivation method, brought exclusively to you by defensive captain and middle linebacker Antonio Pierce. Seems he waded through a book on leadership—actually Gen. George Patton’s leadership—in an effort to pick up a few pointers himself. I love AP. But I don’t quite know what the liberation of those “Battlin’ Bastards of Bastogne” will add to any gameplan trying to stop Santana Moss and Clinton Portis, but the Giants are going so bad right now that anything could help.

Pierce also took off on the media for its abject negativity in light of all those bad numbers the defense has put up.

“You know what? I was actually looking for some applications from some guys who know anything about how to play defense,” said Pierce in his first comments to the media since Sunday. Well, first unpaid comments, anyway. He did make two paid radio appearances this week.

But I digress.

“I guess y’all have the Xs and Os and answers for us, and you know what our problem is,” he continued. “Everybody knows what our defense runs, so we’re asking the media and fans. If you could please help out the New York Giants defense, we’d really appreciate it.”

Funny. If Pierce had shown up Monday or Wednesday, I’d have given him a whole list of plays to run. Lesson for Antonio: You snooze, you lose.

Later, Michael Strahan called a question about a lack of intensity on the defensive sideline “crap.” Give a listen.

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Oh, well. They’ll go down to FedEx Field like they did last year, put up 35, and beat the Redskins. And everybody will be happy once again. Or they won’t and everybody will not be happy.

Enjoy the sound.

Ciao for now.