The trip to Iraq is never easy, and this tour is no exception. But we are looking forward to a number of full, exciting and meaningful days ahead.

When Giants head coach Tom Coughlin took the podium for a news conference on Friday, it was only a matter of time before the name of Plaxico Burress was mentioned.

To sum up the state of the NFL coaching business, consider this: Only two active head coaches have won Super Bowls. Two! New England’s Bill Belichick has three titles, and New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin has one.

The decision on whether or not Plaxico Burress returns to the New York Giants appears to be a long way off. But the way it sounds now, Giants coach Tom Coughlin isn’t ready to welcome back Burress with open arms quite yet.

Any questions about whether Giants running back Brandon Jacobs would be available for Sunday’s NFC Divisional Playoff Game against the Eagles vanished Wednesday. Giants coach Tom Coughlin proclaimed Jacobs good to go after a knee injury sidelined him from New York’s regular-season finale in Minnesota.

New York has repeated, but in a different way than it will be trying to in the postseason. The Giants have repeated the scenario where their final regular-season game means nothing.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin refuted the idea his team has little to gain in the regular-season finale, but has yet to formulate a plan on how to approach the game in terms of resting starting players.

The Giants hope RB Brandon Jacobs can return from a lingering left knee injury against the Panthers to revive an offense that has struggled in back-to-back losses.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin had little to say Wednesday about the status of RB Brandon Jacobs, who was held out of practice with a knee injury as the team prepares for Sunday night’s game against the Cowboys.

No coach likes distractions, and no coach has had to deal with more of them recently than Giants coach Tom Coughlin.

When he opened his press conference Wednesday, he did not duck the Plaxico Burress issue. He took it head on.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin spoke to his team for the second time on Wednesday to discuss the Plaxico Burress incident, using two word to describe the situation: “One, disappointment and two, sadness.”

Plaxico Burress‘ attorney, Benjamin Brafman, declared his client healthy enough to play for the Giants.

Tom Coughlin coaches the Giants, but has some strong feelings on what he expects to see from the Cowboys.

The status of Plaxico Burress remains in question on Thursday after the Giants star wideout missed his second straight day of practice and underwent tests at a hospital for his neck injury.

New York’s approach helped the Giants win the Super Bowl last season and it contributed to the team’s decision to suspend wide receiver Plaxico Burress for one game.