Tom Coughlin, via the Daily News sounded like a guy who wants Plaxico Burress back in the Giants’ fold, despite his antics with loaded firearms. Coughlin said he’s “very concerned,” and hopes Burress and his family come out of Tuesday’s Manhattan Criminal Court hearing with minimal damage.

That’s no surprise. The Giants have long maintained that they want Burress back, providing he plays by the rules. Even though he has yet to show evidence of that, people can change. The question is, can Burress? Or rather, is he willing to?

EP

While we’re keeping our eyes peeled and ears open for any Giants news on this side, I’d like you guys to be a pal and give our own Joannie Weston, Jane “Jammer” McManus a visit over at Jets Journal. She’s at that team’s offseason conditioning program today, and she’ll undoubtedly come up with a few goodies worth reading.

Hmmm. Wonder if Jay Cutler’s name is going to come up.

By the way, anybody remember Joannie?

EP

As the league and players prepare for negotiation Armageddon, commissioner Roger Goodell suggested to the owners today that maybe it’s time for a 17 or 18-game season, with fewer preseason games.

As good as that idea sounds—too darned many players get hurt in these meaningless games, anyway—it would have to be negotiated. And since the owners opted out of the collective bargaining agreement, it’s just one more thing that could form a major battleground in the upcoming contract fight.

Not that the players would balk at it under more peaceable circumstances. But with the salary cap in danger—2010 would become an uncapped year—and the possibility of a lockout after that, a longer regular-season schedule would be just one more major chip to fight over.

You guys want a longer regular season? Sure would make buying those mandatory tickets in August more palatable if a couple of those games counted.

EP

Sure hope one of these NFL owners has ties to the fashion industry. They’re going to need at least 16 changes of dresses for quarterbacks this year.

Sorry for the sarcasm, but the owners just implemented a rules change that, as far as I’m concerned, goes against what players are taught from PeeWee football on up—to finish the play. The new rule, passed at the owners meeting in Dana Point, Ca., was spurred by the hit Chiefs safety Bernard Pollard applied to Patriots quarterback Tom Brady’s knee that knocked the passer out of last season. Pollard had first been knocked to the ground by a block, and then continued his pursuit of Brady.

The new rule requires a personal foul for anyone who lunges or rolls at a quarterback for purposes of applying a forcible hit with his head or shoulders after said player is knocked to the ground. In addition to the foul, the player will probably be fined, too.

In the old days, they’d call that finishing the play, or playing to the whistle. Now, you lose money and yardage for it.

I can understand the helmet thing. That can inflict a load of damage. But the shoulder? Goodness. That’s basics you’re talking about here. Is the league being a bit too protective here? You tell me. Is the NFL getting too soft for its own good?

EP

One of the first guys I laid eyes on yesterday at the Giants offseason conditioning program was David Tyree. Which brought a question to mind.

Since Tyree spent last season on IR after knee surgery, what should the Giants do with him? Certainly, when healthy, he’s one of if not THE most dynamic kick coverage specialists in the league. Problem is, heading into his seventh season he’s getting up there in salary now. And sadly, despite his legendary catch in Super Bowl XLII, his experience at wide receiver is fairly limited. He’s not really a downfield type anyway, so one can’t expect him to serve as replacement for Plaxico Burress.

The fact that the Giants kept him on IR means something, though. Even though they’ll probably draft a special teams type in April, one must assume Tyree will at least compete for a roster spot. Or must he? You tell me? How valuable to you is a healthy, able Tyree. Or might his knee problems take that extra step he uses to blow past blockers to down Jeff Feagles’ punts inside the 5? Is he a cinch for a roster spot, or no?

While you’re ponderin’ and respondin’ (Oh, yeah, I went there Clyde—swishin’ and dishin’), I will tell you Tyree looked great. He’s been working out hard, and appears to have benefitted from the year off.

“I might have extended my career with that,” said Tyree, sporting his first-ever full beard and mustache. “My knee gave me a precious opportunity to rest my body fully. Before, the other parts would get out of whack from supporting the weaknesses in my leg. But now I can build it back up.”

As for the beard, he’ll keep it for now. Motivation, you know.

“When you grind it, you gotta get ugly,” he said.

Yesterday, somebody asked me about the Giants’ draft picks and how many second-rounders they have. Meant to get back to you on it and totally slipped my mind.

Anyway, the answer is, they now have 10 picks, including the compensatory third-rounder they received Sunday for free agent losses in 2008. That would be the 36th pick in the round, and the 100th overall. Pretty darned good placement, if you ask me.

That goes along with one first, two seconds, two thirds, a fourth, two fifths, and a sixth and seventh. The extra second and fifth come from the Jeremy Shockey trade. The rest are their own.

You want to package some of them for a trade? Tell me who and what.

EP

Pro Bowl defensive end Osi Umenyiora claimed he was “99 percent” healed from the meniscus repair surgery that took him out of the entire 2008 campaign. The best thing, though, is that the type of operation he had could add several more years onto his career, which now heads into its seventh year.

“Most times, you hurt the meniscus, they go in there and burn it out,” Umenyiora said. “If they’d have done that, I could have come back in a month but I’d have been out of the game in two years. That shows the type of organization the Giants are. If I knew that, I’d have thought about (returning), like, maybe I could go out there and help them.

“Me being in the middle of my career, that’d be crazy, man. They just decided to go ahead and fix it. So they went in and sewed it down.”

Umenyiora said he never knew the true consequences of a quick-fix until he started talking to people during his rehab in Atlanta, when doctors apprised him. Now, he’s glad he sat out the season, despite how tough not being there mentally was on him. He made a point of staying away.

“I couldn’t be around,” Umenyiora said. “I couldn’t be in a situation where I showed my face. It would have made me worse, and it would have made the players worse looking at me like that.”

He probably won’t go two-a-day in training camp. But when he is, he said he’ll be going full-speed. Most of the work left to be done is mental, as the physical pain has subsided.

EP

With Plaxico Burress’ gun possession hearing coming up March 31, it was understandable his future was on the players’ minds. But so was the offense’s future.

The Giants were trying to present an optimistic outlook to all this. In fact, Osi Umenyiora said some of his friends in law enforcement have told him that first-time offenders generally get five years probation for illegal possession. That’s not to say Burress dodges the proverbial bullet here (pun absolutely intended), but it’s a possibility.

Just as possible, though, is the fact that Burress could spend the next 3 1/2 years in a bright orange jumpsuit.

“Being such a good friend, I want him to be out so he can help his family,” running back Brandon Jacobs said. “We all can’t change what happened to him. We can only be there to support him.”

Jacobs did offer some strong opinions on whether Burress should go to jail, though.

“I hope he doesn’t have any problems,” Jacobs said. “There’s plenty of guys running around on the streets that deserve to get convicted for more than what he’s done. You got murderers and killers and rapists and every other kind of criminal out there.

“This is a messed-up world and a messed-up country.”

Whether Burress gets off or not will be up to the legal system. Either way, for now at least, the Giants’ offense is still on the hook. Unable to procure a downfield threat in free agency, and with Anquan Boldin looking more untradeable than a month ago, the Giants are now looking at the possibility of operating without a true gamebreaker.

That doesn’t mean they can’t win, Eli Manning said.

“I’m sure some adjustments will be made,” Manning said. “But remember, we played some great games without him. We played great against Carolina without him. We know we can play well without him.”

Said Umenyiora, “Look, New England won 11 games without Tom Brady last year. So anybody can win. It won’t be quite as easy, of course. But we can still win.”

Jacobs said the offense would certainly have to change. As it is, he’s expecting to take another five to six carries now that Derrick Ward has run off to Tampa. The alterations without Burress might be even more telling.

“Dealing with all this could affect us,” Jacobs said. “But we’ve got from now until the start of the season to find a new identity. I’m in a waiting game, that’s all.”

So, tell me. Where’s the adjustment. Be the coach and tell me what you would do, assuming no help is coming via free agency or trade, and a worst-case scenario regarding Burress and a jail cell comes to fruition.

EP

Met the team’s new pass-rusher/pass-blocker Chris Canty today. Big puppy, that one. Says he’s 6-foot-7 “and change,” which led center Shaun O’Hara to warn Eli Manning that the number of blocked passes in practice could skyrocket this year.

You won’t see Canty apologizing, however.

“If you don’t do it in practice, you’re not gonna do it in a game. You’ve got to get your hands up,” Canty said. “I’m sure I’ll get on the offensive coordinator and the offensive coaches’ nerves with that.”

Canty comes out of a 3-4 alignment in Dallas, but said they played enough four-man looks that he should have no problem adjusting to defensive end here. Besides that, he’s also capable of playing inside, meaning the Giants now have two Justin Tuck-type players. Only thing is, one is three inches taller than the original version.

Getting excited yet?

The offensive linemen might have a particularly tough job in practice.

“I think they know I was considered a good football player,” Canty said. “So they were happy to see me.”

Tuck’s happiness was tempered only by his outright hatred of anything Dallas. On the one hand, he’ll be able to stay fresh, as the D-line rotation has not only been deepened by Canty, but also by DT Rocky Bernard. Oh, and don’t forget the almost completely rehabbed Osi Umenyiora. But, geez, he came off the Cowboys.

“I’m gonna have to let that go,” Tuck said. “I will say this. He’s got the longest arms I’ve ever seen. And like me, he can do more than one thing.”

EP

About those Cleveland trade talks, presumably for deep threat Braylon Edwards, the Giants indeed spoke to the Browns. But it was just a preliminary discussion, according to someone with knowledge of the talks, and never went further than that. My source said that, contrary to initial reports that Browns GM George Kokinis brought up wide receiver Steve Smith as compensation, no Giants players were discussed, meaning there was no chance Smith was ever leaving.

That’s good, since Smith is so valuable where he is right now.

Smith and some of his teammates did have a chat about the initial reports that the Browns did mention his name, immediately ending the conversation.

“It makes me feel good that this organization wants me so much,” Smith said. “We were talking about it today. It’s something that can keep me going for a long time.”

Smith said he’s ready to step into a bigger role in 2009, assuming Amani Toomer’s career with the Giants is over. He’s proven himself an excellent third-down receiver and a great route-runner the last two years, and he’s eager to get going.

“I’ve definitely been working for this the last two years,” he said. “It’s time for me to step up and make plays.”

EP