As Plaxico Burress began his scouting of the upcoming opponent, he noticed a glaring absence.
The Giants on Sunday night face the Redskins at Giants Stadium, and Burress knows the opposing secondary will not include safety Sean Taylor, who was shot and killed in his Miami home on Nov. 27.
“I was looking at the film this morning, kind of got choked up a little bit, just knowing I’m going to step on the field this Sunday and [number] 21 is not going to be out there,” Burress said yesterday.
“He’s a great friend of mine. He’s a competitor. It’s going to be a little different. It’s sad to say, but we got to keep on punching. I miss him.”
The Redskins have played two games since Taylor’s death, losing to the Bills and beating the Bears.
“We would get over it if everybody stopped asking us about it all the time,” Redskin running back Clinton Portis. “You can’t put it behind you. It is always going to be on your mind. But I think a lot of people are just trying to get away from it and trying not to think about it.”
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Once again, the Giants are extremely thin at safety. FS Gibril Wilson, who missed the past two games with a knee injury, did not practice and appears likely to miss at least another game. Wilson did do some running.
SS James Butler, out last week with a strained hamstring, also did not practice. To make matters worse, rookie Craig Dahl, an emergency starter last week, could not work because of a sprained ankle. “He can probably go if we pushed him,” coach Tom Coughlin said.