Here’s the inactives for today’s game. No surprises here.

Giants
QB Jared Lorenzen (third QB)
WR Steve Smith
RB Derrick Ward
S Craig Dahl
T Adam Koets
DE Dave Tollefson
DT Manny Wright
G Kevin Boothe

That means Corey Webster, inactive last week, is back on the gameday roster.

Lions:
QB Dan Orlovsky (third QB)
RB Tatum Bell
CB Dovonte Edwards
CB Tony Beckham
G Manny Ramirez
T Jonathan Scott
DE Akaika Alama-Francis
DE Dewayne White

Ciao for now.

No, no. That’s not the forerunner to Diana Ross and the Supremes. It’s our weekly five questions that you all so look forward to, straight from Detroit.

Do hope you all haven’t gotten too nervous about the Giants’ loss to Dallas. So as to take away all suspense, I’m picking them to beat the Lions, in as much as I believe the Lions aren’t quite as talented overall as the Giants, and also because I have little faith in any outfit that would have Matt Millen acting in any executive capacity.

So, without further ado, our five from picturesque Detroit. Hey, is that a burned out Caddy over there?

1) With all the heat Eli Manning has taken the past week, is his confidence shaken?

No. Manning just goes about his business whether people are knocking him or hugging him. That’s the wonderful thing about him. He doesn’t get flustered by the outside stuff. The on-field stuff is a different story. If he can stay away from those stupid interceptions and engineer more than two touchdown drives, he’ll shut a few people’s mouths. Can he keep up in a shootout? No. But there’s good reason to believe the defense can hold the Lions to 21 points, so if he can throw up four touchdowns, that ought to be enough.

2) And why should we believe the defense is going to do that?

Because the Lions have Jon Kitna at quarterback, not Tony Romo. Kitna is a stationary target that hasn’t gotten a whole heck of a lot of protection this year. If the front four can manhandle that leaky offensive front, they can put an awful hurting on Kitna, and that will make defending folks like Roy Williams, Mike Furrey, and Shaun McDonald that much easier.

3) Can the Giants go deep?

You’d like to think so, but the way Plaxico Burress’ ankle has been acting, it’s not likely. The joint is getting worse and worse. Sinorice Moss can fly, but has he gained enough of Manning’s confidence to actually use him in a key spot downfield? Probably not. Absent that, there could be a lot of underneath stuff open again for Jeremy Shockey. Kevin Gilbride might do well to call a couple of double-deep patterns for Burress and Moss to at least give the Giants a shot or two for a big gainer.

4) How much of that four-defensive end line are we going to see?

Probably a lot, considering the Lions pass so much and leave Kitna so utterly exposed. Get to Kitna and the Giants will stop the passing game cold. They’ll probably go a lot of nickel, with aggressive rookie safety Michael Johnson coming in on the dime. That should work.

5) What happens if the Giants lose this game?

They fall back in the wildcard race and all heck breaks loose. Visions of the 2006 collapse will be dancing in everybody’s heads. And speaking of heads, we haven’t read much about the desire for Tom Coughlin’s on a serving platter, have we? Expect that to start up, too. And this time, the Giants won’t have injuries and locker room unrest to blame. They’re together and they’re fairly healthy. Any collapse is going to be on them entirely.

Prediction: Hold off on those Fire Coughlin posts. I don’t think the Lions are as good as billed. A lot of other folks think the Giants are the superior team, too. Just look at how that line moved from favoring the Lions by 1 to the Giants favored by 3. Giants, 28-21.

Nope. Wrong. Wasn’t a Caddy. It was a Buick.

Ciao for now.

Just got back in from Tom Coughlin’s interview session, all three—minutes, 14 seconds of it. He did say that Antonio Pierce took every snap in practice, but he’d have to check with him later to see if he’s truly overcome the headaches from a mild concussion.

Looks like Pierce will play Sunday, however.

Coughlin was also vehement in defense of WR Steve Smith’s and RB Derrick Ward’s injury status. When asked whether either player would be out there if this were an even more critical juncture of the season, Coughlin said, “They can’t play,â€? Coughlin said. “If they could play, they’d be out there. They flat—out can’t play. There’s no deception.â€?

MLB Antonio Pierce kept his promise that he’d return to practice today after sitting the last two sessions with a mild concussion.

Pierce appeared ready to participate in the full practice, taking the field with the first group as it worked against the scout team. That’s good news, since the Giants probably will want to send him on selected blitzes to pressure the eminently—sackable Jon Kitna.

Steve Smith continued to run selected pass routes, but expect him to miss his eighth game. Derrick Ward didn’t move off the stationary bike during the media’s time out in the practice bubble, where the team worked on a cold, blustery morning. Plaxico Burress also appeared like he’d sit the whole practice, but he’ll play in Detroit.

Ciao for now.

Middle linebacker Antonio Pierce was still out of practice today, but he said he’s coming back tomorrow and will play Sunday. That’s good news since the Giants don’t want to be without all their starters against a Detroit team that appears hellbent on rebounding from a negative-yardage situation last week against Arizona.

Steve Smith? Not so good. The wide receiver took some limited snaps again, but he’s a no-go for Sunday. And don’t expect to see Derrick Ward anytime soon, as he continues to sit with the groin and ankle injuries. It’s too bad about him. He’s a good running back, but oh, so fragile. Looks like Jerry Reese should have kept Ryan Grant and traded Ward, since the new Packers running back has a couple of 100-yard games under his belt.

Thoughts? Concerns?

Ciao for now.

Looks like Plaxico Burress isn’t going to get additional rest anytime soon. Tom Coughlin admitted he has no better alternative for a deep threat, so Burress, even though his ankle remains as sore as all get—out, will stay in the lineup despite his diminished effectiveness.

When asked if Burress has reached a point of diminishing returns based on 11 catches for 81 yards and no touchdown over his last three games, Coughlin said, "I certainly hope not."

He said he is not at the point where he would place Burress on the inactive list to give his ankle addition rest, even though Burress now appears incapable of performing some of the work that made him a potent deep threat the first six games of the season.

"He’s commited to feeling better," Coughlin said. "Game in, game out, we want to take full advantage of him, so we’re trying to push him through."

Sealing the matter is that the Giants really don’t have another deep threat. Rookie Steve Smith, a natural selection, is still not ready to put his pulled hamstring through a full practice, much less a game, and Amani Toomer has lost the deep potential he had earlier in his career. Sinorice Moss has not shown himself as a reliable target.

Coughlin admitted if the Giants had a viable alternative, Burress might have had more of a rest by now.

"That’s not a reality for us," Coughlin said.

Middle linebacker Antonio Pierce was held out of practice today because of a mild concussion. But right tackle Kareem McKenzie, who had a bruised back in the Dallas game, returned and was not on the injury report.

Thoughts about the Lions game vis—a—vis Burress?

Ciao for now.

You guys tell me. If Plaxico Burress’ sprained right ankle is so bad that he can’t outrun anybody anymore, what are the Giants to do about it.

Come up with a plan and get back to me. Be specific. Give me your rationale.

Spelling and neatness do count.

Ready? Pencils up.

Write.

Ciao for now.

Sort of. In this slice of audio from Tom Coughlin’s press conference today, we hear him letting seventh-round rookie safety Michael Johnson off the hook for trying to do too much instead of just helping out Gibril Wilson on Terrell Owens’ 50-yard touchdown catch. He also indicates he’s delighted with Johnson’s aggressiveness, even if it did cost him a roughness penalty.

Enjoy.

Download:

Judging by the noise in the Giants locker room after they broke from meetings, you’d have thought they beat the Cowboys instead of lost 31-20 in yet another team-defining game. So the message to the media and, by extension, the fans, was “Hey, it’s just one game. We’re fine.”

Believe that if you wish. But here’s the lowdown. Plaxico Burress’ ankle is getting worse and worse, and he’s having less and less impact on games. There’s too much confusion up front, which led to three delay of game calls on Eli Manning. And the rookies who are playing, two in major roles on the defense, are making rookie errors at bad times.

Take the rookies first. Michael Johnson was supposed to come over and help Gibril Wilson on that game-sealing 50-yard touchdown pass to Terrell Owens. Instead, he was way off to the side, on the same plane as Wilson, completely out of the frame. Seems he went after Jason Witten, running an underneath route, instead of doing his responsibility on that particular play.

Aaron Ross, the otherwise good-looking first-rounder, had a horrible day at cornerback and missed Patrick Crayton at the 12 on his 20-yard touchdown in the second quarter. And he picked up an illegal hands to the face penalty. Count, too, Kevin Boss’ holding penalty on Ahmad Bradshaw’s kickoff return to the 3. It was a borderline call at best, but still called.

The vets had a hand in it, too, though Tom Coughlin said he’s going to send Chris Snee’s hold that nullified Brandon Jacobs’ tying touchdown run to the league.

As for anyone who wanted Coughlin to challenge Tony Romo’s touchdown pass to tight end Tony Curtis on the basis of an illegal forward pass, forget it. The rule states that the quarterback’s whole body has to be over the line of scrimmage, which Romo’s was not. The coaches looked at it upstairs and decided against challenging. Regardless, no way Curtis should have been left wide open. Coughlin blamed it on an alignment mishap, having slid the coverage and linebackers to cover the slot receiver on the other side. When Romo started his scramble, Curtis slid out to the wide-open left side, which had only James Butler out there, and he was nowhere near Curtis.

It’s mistakes like those that cost decent teams games against real good teams. And the Giants remain a decent team, right in the thick of the wildcard race, but no better.

As for Burress, it might be time to sit him down for a while. The ankle is feeling worse and worse. He’s caught 11 passes for 81 yards and no touchdowns over the last three games. Even though Dallas kept defensive backs deep to take him out of the big-play mode, Burress doesn’t appear to be moving well at all. Pulling him would be a tough call, though, since the Giants really don’t have a deep threat anymore. Amani Toomer is more of a possession receiver now, and Jeremy Shockey won’t get deep on any consistent basis. Sinorice Moss has speed, but hasn’t been productive at all as a third receiver, so there’s no reason to believe he can do it as a No. 1.

Could be tough going the rest of the way.

Ciao for now.

Stay so-long to the division race. Dallas has four home games in the last seven, and unless the Cowboys suffer a Giants-like collapse ala 2006, the Giants will play the rest of the season in wildcard mode whether they want to admit it or not.

I didn’t see it at first, but now I’m convinced the Cowboys are playing at a different level. What makes them so different is not only their quarterback, Tony Romo, who moves and slides and scrambles to buy time, but that his top deep threat, Terrell Owens, is in much better shape that Plaxico Burress. Owens isn’t nursing a bad right ankle, and his healthy status was very evident as he blew past Sam Madison on the 25-yard go-ahead touchdown catch. He was also pretty nifty on that 50-yard catch-and-run past Gibril Wilson on a play where not only three-deep coverage broke down, but Kevin Dockery barely touched Owens on a jam attempt at the line.

The offensive line couldn’t keep the Cowboys out, resulting in five sacks on Eli Manning. And Manning couldn’t read the clock, incurring three delay of game calls that helped ruin second-half drives. It also didn’t help that Chris Snee had a holding call on Brandon Jacobs’ tying touchdown run in the fourth quarter, turning that into a field goal that kept the Giants down 24-20.

Tom Coughlin blamed rookie mistakes, not a good phrase to use for a potential playoff team at this stage of the season. They go to Detroit next week, and the Lions will be in bounce-back mode after losing today. It’s too early to panic yet, but if they don’t get this straightened out soon, the Giants could be headed for another substandard second half and another nailbiter entrance to the postseason.

Then again, the Giants did hang with the Cowboys for a half. And I’m not sold on the Lions being real, even at 6-3. The Giants do need to clean up those issues in the secondary, however.

Okay, start writing. Who’s on the bandwagon? Who’s off it?

Ciao for now.