Written By Fred Robbins

December 16, 2008

We’re just not playing the type of football we’ve been playing since the beginning of the season. We have to make more plays, stop making penalties that kill us and get off the field on third down. All the teams we’re playing are geared up for the playoffs now, so we have to play better football all-around. Offense, defense and special teams, we have to play in sync with each other, which we haven’t done the past couple of weeks.

We’ve got two good teams coming up, first Carolina on Sunday for home-field advantage in the playoffs. They’re a good team so we’ve got our hands full. We have to get back to doing the small things that made us great during the season.

Carolina has two excellent running backs and the last two weeks we’ve been struggling to stop the run, so I’m pretty sure they’re going to try to run the ball. Steve Smith is one of the best receivers in the game, they’ve got a good O-line and a solid quarterback so our work will be cut out for us.

I definitely want to play. That’s the thing, the players always want to be out there on the field, but I don’t want to go out there too early and have a chance to reinjure my shoulder. I want to make sure I’m around for the playoffs, take some time as far as the healing process. I started having problems with it after playing last week.

What happens when you have an injury is that you talk to the team doctor, they ask for your opinion, the doc says his opinion and the coach makes the final decision. Coach Coughlin said he wanted to make sure I was around for the playoffs. Health is a big issue and you want to make sure you don’t reinjure yourself.

I’m definitely starting to feel better but it’s too early to say for sure whether I’ll play against Carolina. The strength in my shoulder just isn’t there yet, I can’t protect myself on the field and that’s not a good thing. I’ll probably know by the end of the week. Friday I’ll go out there and do some work on the practice field and see how it feels.

By the way, I was named Pro Bowl second alternate for the NFC … could be my first trip to Hawaii. I want to thank my family, friends and fans for their votes and their continued support.

Fred Robbins is a starting defensive tackle for the Super Bowl champion New York Giants. His blog for playerpress.com runs at www.fredrobbins98.com.