Ralph Vacchiano on his Daily News blog writes that “swelling and soreness” in his left knee kept Plaxico Burress out of practice this afternoon, according to the pool report on the Giants practice filed today by ESPN’s John Clayton.

According to the report, Burress was all dressed, got loose and ran a few routes early in the session. But he shut it down early and spent most of the one-hour, 50-minute practice in the training room getting treatment.

“He has an ankle that always has been a problem, but he also has some issues with a knee that off and on in the past has bothered him,” Tom Coughlin said. “That’s the thing right now. Between the two of them, that’s why he’s not working. He comes out and tries to go and can’t go.”

Wow, lets hope Burress can get well quickly. Any predictions on if this will effect his prediction?

An unidentified Giants player told CBS Sportsline that the Giants wouldn’t be in the Super Bowl if Tiki Barber was still on the team.

“Tiki was all about Tiki,” said a key Giants player, who asked not to be identified, speaking recently about the former Giants runner. “I don’t get why people make this so complicated. If he was still on the team, we wouldn’t be here (in the Super Bowl). Trust me on that. It would be a different locker room.”

“It’s not a coincidence that he’s gone and we’re here,” the player said.

“You’re a fool if you think it is.”

Wow, there is certainly no love lost between Tiki and certain Giants players.

Giants TE Kevin Boss was given the opportunity of a lifetime when Jeremy Shockey was lost for the season with a broken leg at Washington on Dec. 16. Hailing from Oregon, Boss graduated from Western Oregon University in 2006 and was selected in the 5th round of the 2007 NFL Draft by the Giants.

Boss made his first career catch on against the Cowboys this year and scored his first career touchdown pass against the Redskins.

Boss has not only been a reliable receiver but has been a crucial part of the Giants blocking scheme. He helped the Giants running game put together a 291-yard rushing game in his first game. In his last appearance against the Patriots he caught four passes for 50 yards and a touchdown.

Boss tells Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald about preparing to play.

“First off, I felt terrible for Jeremy. Any time someone goes down with an injury, your heart goes out to the guy,” Boss said. “But it was a situation that I’ve been preparing for all year. I felt confident that I could go in there. I didn’t expect to go in there and do the things that Jeremy does, but I felt I could come in and contribute.”

Scout.com learned that Shockey will not join his teammates in Arizona to watch the Super Bowl saying it will be too hard, and he doesn’t want to be a distraction.

WFAN’s Chris Carlin writes that the Giants offense has been able to focus more with Shockey out of the huddle.

After talking to some people within the organization, its clear that some feel that Shockey not being in the huddle has helped Eli Manning. The thought is that Shockey is so wound up and chirpy in the huddle and on the field, that he becomes distracting for Manning.

Pretty amazing that Boss now finds himself starting in the Super Bowl, something he couldn’t have imagined when the season began. The Giants were devastated to lose Shockey, who is such a vocal leader on the team, maybe too vocal, but they seem to be in good hands with “The Boss”

Its a tough call at halftime this year. You have the Lingerie Bowl and Puppy Bowl IV competing for your attention. Deadspin reports on the pups…

Most of these puppies look like trouble, but if anyone is going to raise the bar of puppy mayhem, it’s probably going to be Bruin, the Alaskan Malamute. Look for at least 17 penalties from this puppy in the first quarter alone. And Jack the Mini Dachshund looks like he’d chew up your Super Bowl tickets without thinking twice.

I think I am going to have to go with watching Carmen Electra running a post pattern between halves this year. Those puppies are cute, but they’re no Nikki Ziering.

Former Mets manager Bobby Valentine is among the celebrities that Sports Illustrated polled for their Super Bowl picks.

Valentine predicts 21-17 Giants.

Hat tip to Andrew Vazzano of theRopolitans and Hot Foot for the link.

Greg Prince of the great Faith and Fear In Flushing Mets blog sent this video to me which has a Giants fan and a Patriots fan talking smack to one another entirely in sign language.

Dan Lewis at Armchair GM alerts us to one of his contributor’s named Neil that created a Tecmo Bowl version of Super Bowl XLII.

You have got to see this, its really outstanding. I loved when someone recreated the epic Bill Buckner moment for the 1986 Mets on Nintendo RBI baseball.

Here is the first half, to see the second half and all the details of how Neil put this together, head over to Armchair GM.

In case you missed it, check out Antonio Pierce on SNY talking about the Giants underdog role in the Super Bowl. He also has an interesting answer to Tiki Barber’s comment that if he was still a Giant they would still be in the Super Bowl.

Sam Madison and R.W. McQuarters have been the rock of a Giants secondary that has played a vital role in each of the Giants three playoff victories. In each game, they have had a game-changing or game-deciding play.

Erik Boland in Newsday, cites younger players who credit Madison and McQuarters their ability to provide a ‘calming influence’ throughout the year where many players were either benched or hurt.

“I think it’s their presence on the field and off the field,” third-year safety James Butler said of Madison and McQuarters. “Just that veteran presence that says that they’ve been here, they’ve done that. They just bring that veteran attitude that’s a big help.”

McQuarters expressed how he relished in the opportunity to mentor his younger teammates.

“We have a lot of knowledge in this league,” McQuarters said. “Sam and I have had different coaches with different ballclubs, different defenses. Between the two of us, we’ve seen a lot. It [mentoring] makes us feel good. It sort of makes us feel like what we learned in the past, we’re passing the knowledge on down to them. That’s what we try to do.”

An 11-year veteran, Sam Madison started his career with the Dolphins in 1997, and has taken what he’s learned from the veterans he played with and passed it down.

A moment of truth came in Dallas when Aaron Ross was injured and Geoff Pope, freshly activated from the practice squad just a week before, suddenly was taking on Terrell Owens. Despite the loss of Ross, the Giants secondary limited the second highest offense in the league to three second-half points.

McQuarters was benched most of the regular season, and didn’t get his shot again until the NFC Championship Game. He marked his return with two big interceptions on at Tampa Bay and at Dallas.

Corey Webster was also benched for much of the season, but returned when Madison was injured in the final regular season game against the Patriots. Webster came up big with two interceptions, including the huge one in Green Bay that set up Lawrence Tynes‘ winning field goal to send the Giants to the Super Bowl.

Webster said McQuarters and Madison told him to keep fighting when he was benched and his opportunity would come.

That opportunity came and McQuarters and Madison could not be more proud of their young protege.

Plaxico Burress stood by his prediction that the Giants would defeat the Patriots 23-17 in the Super Bowl on Sunday, Robert Lee in the Providence Journal reports.

“What I said is what I said,” Burress said. “I believe in my guys just as much as they believe in me. It is very evident. They stand by me and what I say, and we believe in each other. I really don’t consider us to be teammates or a team. It’s more like a brotherhood. That is how close we are as a team. We have so much respect for each other, and guys go up and beyond to do things to get the job done. We play hard for each other. I think that has shown in some of the games we’ve won and the way that we’ve won them. There is no quit in this football team. We don’t know what that word means.”

The Patriots have not been held to 17 points all season and have averaged 36.8 points a game.