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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. –** Andre Brown and Markus Kuhn are eligible to begin their 2013 seasons, while those of David Wilson and Shaun Rogers have officially ended.
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To make room on the roster, the Giants placed Wilson, who began the season as the starting running back, and Rogers, a reserve defensive tackle, on injured reserve.
The two additions to the roster will each play their first regular-season game in about a year. Brown suffered a fractured fibula in a victory over Green Bay on Nov. 25, 2012. He re-broke the bone in the same area in a preseason game at New England on Aug. 29. Kuhn tore his anterior cruciate ligament in Cincinnati on Nov. 11, 2012.
Brown joins an offensive backfield that includes Brandon Jacobs, Peyton Hillis and rookie Michael Cox. Jacobs, who missed the Giants' two victories prior to their bye week, was limited in practice today with hamstring and knee injuries. Asked if Jacobs suffered a setback, coach Tom Coughlin said, "No, not really. I don't think you'd call it a setback. He just has some issues and you're going to have to deal with them."
Last season, Brown rushed for 385 yards and a team-high eight touchdowns. He could get a fair share of the workload on Sunday. The Giants are 30th in the NFL in rushing with an average of 69.9 yards a game. Brown can help push that number up.
"A healthy Andre Brown that's playing well will be a significant contribution to our offense," offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said. "It looks like he's physically running pretty well. You can still see that he's got to make a few of the things that happened very naturally, right now are not happening as natural as usual; his reads, his awareness of some of the things that are going on. But you can see him. He's a good football player. When he's healthy, he helps us. He can run. He's big enough to block. He catches the ball well. He's an all-around guy that would…certainly his absence hurt us early on. So how far along and how much we can ask of him this week…it's not going to be like the previous two weeks, we get a guy in and you're playing 60 snaps. So he doesn't have to do that, which is a great thing for us. We can share the load a little bit, but we'll have a package for all of them."
Wilson, the Giants' first-round draft choice in 2012, was the centerpiece of the running back corps when the season began. But he lost two fumbles in the season opener at Dallas and never hit his stride. Wilson finished his season with 44 carries for 146 yards (a 3.3-yard avg.) and one touchdown, plus two receptions for eight yards.
Wilson last played Oct. 6 vs. Philadelphia and has been sidelined since because of a herniated disk in his neck. He underwent two extensive examinations, most recently on Monday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan. The Giants announced then that there was "significant improvement" in the herniation, but Wilson had not been cleared for football activities.
Asked today if Wilson will need surgery before next season, Coughlin said, "I would doubt that, but I'm not a doctor."
Kuhn, a seventh-round draft choice in 2012, played in 10 games with one start as a rookie. He had 14 tackles (seven solo) and three passes defensed. Kuhn will replace Rogers and join Mike Patterson and Johnathan Hankins as a reserve defensive tackle behind Linval Joseph and Cullen Jenkins.
Rogers, a 13-year veteran, was a productive cog in a run defense that is ranked ninth in the league, yielding 102.3 yards a game. He was credited with nine tackles (seven solo). Rogers hurt his knee against Minnesota on Oct. 21 and was inactive at Philadelphia the following week. Rogers spent the 2012 season on injured reserve after developing a blood clot in his leg.
