The Giants need something or someone to help save their moribund special teams. Can Chase Blackburn be that someone?
Blackburn missed the second half of the season opener and the past two games with a sprained knee but he practiced fully Wednesday and expects to be on the field Sunday against the Bears.
“I feel good, as far as I know I feel like I’m ready to play,” Blackburn said. “Feel great, doing everything. I expect to be out there and help the team.”
That’s good news for the Giants. Blackburn is the team captain representing special teams and he’s one of the best as far as keeping his lane in coverage, something the Giants must do against the shifty Devin Hester on punt returns.
“Everyone’s got to get down the field together, hold our lanes, stay with your shoulder, with your leverage and trust there’s someone else coming with you,” Blackburn said. “Force him to try to find a lane between a bunch of defenders.”
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Eli Manning on the need to keep Bears DE Julius Peppers off him: “They do a great job moving him around and he’s talented. We’ve played against him before and know what he’s capable of doing. We got to be aware of where he is on a number of plays and we got to account for him. We got to be able to block him.”
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With Mario Manningham’s status for Sunday uncertain because of a concussion, rookie Victor Cruz is next in line as the No. 3 receiver. He stepped into Manningham’s spot during Wednesday’s practice.
“Little bit more action, I’ve been trying to learn every position anyway, just working in Mario’s position a lot more now,” Cruz said. “His position more as a ‘W’ receiver in three wides. He’s mostly by himself on the back side and making reads off the corner, mostly one on one stuff. Mostly I was at the ‘Z,’ mostly in the slot. I’ve been all over the field.”
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Rookie punter Matt Dodge on the best way to deal with Devin Hester:
“The best strategy I would say is to try and gang tackle or don’t give him a chance to be tackled,” Dodge said. “With a guy like this its definitely very directional. You don’t want to give him the whole field, you saw what he could do the other night. Try to pin him to the sideline.”
