NFL

Coughlin says Giants ‘accept the challenge’ of injuries

Tom Coughlin knows his Giants defense has taken too many hits, lost too many quality players for anyone to feel good heading into Sunday’s season-opener against the Redskins. But the head coach isn’t going to allow himself the luxury of feeling sorry for what the team has gone through, the latest blow being the season-ending loss of middle linebacker Jonathan Goff.

“I’m not going to let myself have that sense,” Coughlin said yesterday when asked if he feels his team is short-handed. “It’s unfortunate the way these guys have gone down. There’s a number of defensive players we were counting on that are not going to be with us, you can’t hide that fact. But still we have what we have and we’re going forward with it.”

Six defensive players are gone for the season, including two starters, Goff and cornerback Terrell Thomas.

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“We accept the challenge, look at it as another form of adversity and on we go,” said Coughlin, who admitted all the losses aren’t easy.

“You do have your moments, I mean, we are human,” he said.

Coughlin said he liked what he saw when he walked into the defensive meeting room.

“The way they presented themselves this morning, the defensive meeting room was outstanding,” he said. “Guys press on. It’s not an excuse, we got a job to do, got to go do it.”

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DE Justin Tuck on Monday said he’d bet on himself practicing yesterday. If he had, he would have lost money.

The Giants gathered inside their fieldhouse to get out of the rain, but Tuck only participated on a limited basis. His neck is still bothering him from the burner that took him out of the Aug. 29 preseason game against the Jets, but he’s expected to play this weekend. “He’s getting better and feeling better,” Coughlin said.

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Veteran safety Deon Grant called Peyton Manning “a good friend of mine” and surmises how Peyton is feeling about his 208-game ironman streak coming to an end.

“I know he don’t like that at all,” Grant said. “Oh, man, it’s killing him. He was trying to chase Brett Favre.”

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Safety LaRon Landry (hamstring) did not practice for the Redskins. . . . This is sure to get the ire of Giants fans: WR Steve Smith (knee) practiced fully for the Eagles. The Giants did not anticipate Smith being ready for the start of the season when they tried to re-sign him in free agency.