Oh, yes, football

There actually have been some practices at this Giants minicamp, which has been primarily devoted to the soap operas starring Jeremy Shockey and Plaxico Burress.

For one tight end Darcy Johnson, who missed all of last season with a knee injury, has seen a lot of footballs thrown in his direction. And he has caught just about all of them, including one on a great diving catch of a Jared Lorenzen toss.

Could it be Johnson is auditioning for a lead role should Shockey succeed in getting himself shipped out of town?

"This is a tight end friendly offense," said Johnson. "We have one of the best tight ends in the league in Jeremy Shockey, they try to create a lot of passes to him. And to be the No. 2 or even No. 3 guy you have to be able to run the routes and catch the football."

It's funny how perceptions can differ. Shockey obviously does not consider this a tight end friendly offense.

At any rate Johnson and Kevin Boss have gotten the bulk of the work at tight end while Michael Matthews sits out recuperating from shoulder surgery.

Chase Blackburn has been getting a lot of reps at both middle and weakside linebacker. Injuries to potential weakside starters Danny Clark (sports hernia) and Gerris Wilkinson (knee) plus back problems that have sidelined both Antonio Pierce and Zak DeOssie have whittled the linebacker corps to five.

Blackburn had to interceptions in the morning workout, both on rather deep drops into the secondary.

Anthony Wright has been getting the bulk of the work as the backup quarterback while David Carr still appears a little overwhelmed in his new offense. Danny Ware has shown some nice bursts as a running back.

WR Todd Lowber made some nice deep catches in Wednesday's workout. The backup offensive line, from right to left, has listed Adam Koets, Kevin Boothe, Grey Ruegamer, Na'Shan Goddard and Guy Whimper.

With Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora both spending some time resting, Dave Tollefson has gotten a lot of play at defensive end where the Giants hope he can be the No. 4 man in the rotation. Jay Alford has gotten some work as a tackle in the nickel package, joining Tuck, Umenyiora and Mathias Kiwanuka in the front four. Kiwanuka is destined to be a linebacker on first and maybe second downs and a rush lineman on third and maybe second downs.

Corey Webster (thigh) returned to practice full time Thursday afternoon and he and Aaron Ross have been the No. 1 corners. Kevin Dockery, who excels every spring, has gotten a long look as Sam Madison recovers from a  sports hernia.

Rookie safety Kenny Phillips made a nice deep range pass breakup in the afternoon workout, but he continues to run second-string with Sammy Knight as Michael Johnson and James Butler work with the starters.

It's too early to figure out who will be the return men as about a dozen guys have had trials. But it does appear Domenik Hixon will be back there on kickoffs.