Sam Donnellon: Hixon picking up slack for Giants with Burress out

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. - Off to the side, someone muttered disdainfully about the "incredibly ordinary receiving corps" in the room.

If you didn't see the blue all around, or the unfamiliar faces, it might have been the Eagles' locker room you were in. Because for most of the last three seasons, since Terrell Owens left and Donté Stallworth stalled, the rap on the Birds, made often by Donovan McNabb apologists (and guys like me sometimes), was that the Eagles had few or no guys who caught the ball consistently and/or created separation.

When Plaxico Burress put a bullet through his own leg Nov. 28, it initiated a similar refrain in the Meadowlands. Amani Toomer was steady, a nice No. 2, and Kevin Boss was a tight end you had to pay attention to, as the Eagles discovered the first time the teams played this season. Boss caught six passes for 69 yards and a touchdown in the Giants' 36-31 victory Nov. 9, but that was with Burress in the lineup, with a healthy Brandon Jacobs rushing for 126 yards and two touchdowns. Toomer also had five catches. Burress, the object of the Eagles' affections all day long, caught one pass, for a touchdown.

Then, the Giants looked every bit the team that oddsmakers still favor to win the Super Bowl. Too many weapons, impossible to game plan for all of them. Before the nightclub injury that led to Burress' expulsion. Before Jacobs started missing games because of recurring knee problems.

"That first game we were very fortunate," Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride was saying after practice yesterday. "We had a lot of success, we moved the ball very well. But whether Plaxico was there or not, I'm sure there would have been an adjustment in the second game. Having said that, certainly losing a premier football player is going to impact how people are going to look at you, how they try to defend you."

This rivalry, this series, has often been a tutorial in that. Scroll back to last season, when Brian Westbrook was missing and Tra Thomas was missing and poor Winston Justice was left all alone with Osi Umenyiora. Over and over again, McNabb found himself under one or several Giants, leading to one of the rare one-sided losses in this series.

Despite the 20-14 final score, Giants coach Tom Coughlin sees the Eagles' Dec. 7 victory as one of those games as well. "They had the ball, they had time of possession, they had everything," Coughlin said this week. "We didn't run, we didn't pass, we didn't have that many snaps."