Losing isn't the only thing contagious on the Giants these days. Blowups are just as popular, and Michael Strahan on Wednesday joined the ranks of Jeremy Shockey and Tiki Barber in mouthing off in what is quickly becoming a season of frustration for the team. Unlike Shockey and Barber, who criticized coach Tom Coughlin and his staff following losses earlier this season, Strahan did his best to intimidate an ESPN reporter who attempted to question him about comments he made on radio Monday about Plaxico Burress quitting on plays.

Plaxico Burress failed to run hard on an overthrown pass from Eli Manning in the fourth quarter that was intercepted by cornerback Pacman Jones. Burress then made a half-hearted attempt at tackling Jones, who easily escaped for a 26-yard return. "It's a shame, because Plaxico is a great player and a good guy to be around, but at the same time you're judged by your actions on the field and you can't give up, you can't quit, because you're not quitting on yourself, you're quitting on us," Michael Strahan said Monday on his weekly WFAN appearance. "We work too hard all together to have that type of stuff happen, and Plaxico is one of the guys who works hard. "I don't quite understand what his motivation is, or what his lack of motivation is in those type of situations. I'm pretty sure I'm going to try to see what it is and try to see if I can talk to him about it. "He's too great of a player to have people look at him and think he's a quitter. Don't be labeled as a guy who's a sometimes player, I-play-when-I-want-to type of attitude. He's too good for that."

Just a few days after Tom Coughlin said he didn't want Tiki Barber to criticize him to the media, the Giants head coach did the same thing to Eli Manning. "There's no way you can throw an interception in that situation," an angry Coughlin said. "No way. If you're rolling and you don't like what you see, throw it out of bounds. Throw it away." The Giants players rushed to Manning's defense though. "I don't fault him for what he did," Barber said. "You gotta try to go for a win."

Giants' tight end Jeremy Shockey dislocated his ring finger during pre-game warmups Sunday, but he planned to play against the Titans.

For the second time in less than a year, Giants coach Tom Coughlin had a sitdown with Tiki Barber after the halfback criticized the coaching staff following a loss. While refusing to discuss what was said in their meeting, Coughlin said Friday that Barber's complaint that coaches abandoned the running game too early in a loss to Jacksonville should have been made to him directly instead of through the media.

According to one team source, Tom Coughlin told Tiki Barber that his outburst was "inappropriate and unacceptable." For the second time in the last 11 months, Barber was highly critical of the coaching staff, this time in the wake of the Giants' 26-10 loss in Jacksonville. After carrying only 10 times in the game, Barber said his lack of use left him feeling "insignificant," and that Coughlin's excuses for abandoning the running game were "a cop-out" and "a slap in the face."

A frustrated Tiki Barber criticized the Giants' play calling on Wednesday, saying abandoning the running game against Jacksonville was a slap in his face and a sure way to lose more games. The mild blowup from Barber came two days after the Giants (6-4) called only 14 running plays in a 26-10 loss to the Jaguars.

Giants halfback Brandon Jacobs is unhappy with the NFL and plans to let the league know. Jacobs revealed Friday that the league fined him between $5,000 and $10,000 for shoving a football underneath his jersey to celebrate a touchdown run against the Bears on Sunday night. Jacobs, who said he will appeal, insisted he was not celebrating. He said that when he puts the ball underneath his jersey to create a bulging stomach and then rubs it, he is acknowledging his wife, Kimberly, who is pregnant.

Tiki Barber said Tuesday the thumb he sprained in Sunday night's loss to the Bears won't prevent him from playing this Sunday at Jacksonville. But he hasn't tried to grip a ball with his right hand since suffering the injury. "It's more a pain in the butt is what it is," the running back said as he signed autographs for patients at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, where he was promoting awareness of sickle cell disease and its complications. He wore a cast on his wrist that kept his thumb immobilized.

Tiki Barber said after the Giants' loss on Sunday that X-rays on his right thumb were inconclusive and that he would get further tests today. "I don't think he will [miss any time]," coach Tom Coughlin said of Barber. "He played through the game tonight."