Tom Coughlin would love to know precisely who will be on the practice field on Monday, when the Giants begin preparation for the Sept. 8 regular-season opener against the Cowboys. But with so many banged-up regulars, that may not be possible.
“You’d love to stand up on a bandbox and say ‘Alright, fellas, anybody that makes this team has got to practice, we need to practice.’ But you know what? Sometimes it doesn’t work that way,’’ Coughlin said. “And then you’re scrambling. It’s very difficult to put together the kind of week you need to have when you are at 53 and eight [on the practice squad] and out of the 53 there are three or four of ’em that can’t practice.’’
Center David Baas (sprained MCL) is getting closer but offered no timetable for his return. It seems he is unlikely to be ready in time for the opener.
“My doctors have said they are very happy with my progress,’’ Baas said. “This is something that we’re just going to continue to work on and keep pushing it to its max and hope for the best.’’
* Rookie DE Damontre Moore, out since the preseason opener with a bruised shoulder, said he’s feeling better and is surprised he has taken this long to heal. … TE Adrien Robinson has a sprained left foot. Coughlin said the injury is to the side of Robinson’s foot, not the more serious mid-foot sprain. … LB Dan Connor came out of Thursday’s game against the Patriots with a burner, but he says he is fine. “Just shoulder tightness, nothing terrible,’’ Connor said. “I could play today, I could have played [Thursday] a lot more.’’
* S Stevie Brown, out for the season with a torn left ACL, is waiting for the swelling in his knee to subside before he has reconstructive surgery. He said he already has spoken with CB Terrell Thomas about what the rehab will be like — Thomas has had three ACL tears and surgeries.
“You work all summer, everything like that getting ready for the season, and just a freak accident like that to happen definitely sucks,” said Brown, who hurt his knee returning an interception against the Jets.
* Final cutdown to the 53-man roster is 6 p.m. today. One player who helped himself immensely this summer is former Jaguars LB Kyle Bosworth, who started training camp with the third-team defense and now appears to have made the cut.
“This is the time in everybody’s career, the thin, thin air,” Bosworth said. “Everyone’s going to be nervous until that deadline comes by.”