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6 Players Hit With Flu Bug

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 29, 2008

CHANDLER, Ariz. - The New York Giants arrived for the Super Bowl on Monday battling the flu.

Rookie starting CB Aaron Ross threw up on the plane just before it left Newark-Liberty International Airport, the sixth player to be hit with the bug in the past four days.

Starting FB Madison Hedgecock, backup DT Manny Wright and rookie S Michael Johnson all missed practice on Friday after running temperatures.

"I hope that's the end of it," Coach Tom Coughlin said after the team arrived at its hotel. "We had three guys missing last week, and some who were not quite as sick. But it didn't drain those players like the three that stayed home" on Friday.

Seven-time Pro Bowl DE Michael Strahan fared better than some of this teammates. He sat out just one day with a cold from the NFC title game on Jan. 20, when the Giants beat the Packers in frigid Green Bay, where the wind chill factor made it feel like minus 24.

MANNING RETURNS: The only other time Eli Manning has suited up for the Giants in Arizona was the last time he didn't start.

Manning's final game in his brief time as an NFL backup came on Nov. 14, 2004, when the visiting Giants were beaten by the Cardinals 17-14. Kurt Warner, the Giants' starter, was sacked six times. Afterward, first-year coach Tom Coughlin said Warner would keep the job.

But by the next day, the coach changed his mind and gave the job to the rookie Manning, the NFL's No. 1 overall pick that year.

When he takes the field in the Super Bowl on Sunday, it will be his 60th consecutive start. His 55 straight regular-season starts rank fourth among active quarterbacks, behind Brett Favre (253), older brother Peyton Manning (160) and Tom Brady (110), his opponent in the Super Bowl.

EX-BALL BOY GETS SHOT: Zak DeOssie gets a twinkle in his eyes talking about his days as a New England Patriots ball boy.

How many teenagers get to throw passes in 7-on-7 drills, make snaps to punters in training camp, have dinners with players and stand the sideline when the Patriots won their first Super Bowl title six years ago?

"There was nothing like it," he said.

On Sunday, DeOssie is going to be on the opposite sideline and on the field, wearing a New York Giants uniform.

The rookie linebacker from Brown is the Giants' snapper on punts and part of their special teams unit.

Tribune wires

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