New York Giants wide receiver Hakeem Nicks told the media on Wednesday that he believes he'll be sufficiently recovered from his knee injury to play on Monday Night Football against the St. Louis Rams. Nicks banged up his knee in the Giants Sunday loss to the Redskins, although he still managed to put together a strong 122 receiving yard afternoon.

The injury was initially described as a bone bruise but Nicks apparently also hyperextended the knee a bit. Nicks did not practice on Wednesday but he did some jogging, which is a positive sign for a knee injury. Nicks claims to feel better than he did on Tuesday and will hopefully practice by the end of the week. The team will release practice participation reports Thursday and Friday, followed by a final injury report.

I would argue the two practice participation reports are more significant in your assessment of Nicks' availability for Monday. If he misses the entire week of practice, the safe play would be sitting Nicks, particularly since it's the MNF game. If he gets into practice tomorrow or the next day, it's still a little tricky, but we'll see what Tom Coughlin has to say each day.

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