Giants Injury Report: Hakeem Nicks rests, Michael Boley goes full

Even on a day when wide receiver Hakeem Nicks (foot) sat out of practice, the news was decidedly positive on the Giants' injury front Sunday.

Coach Tom Coughlin said Nicks was “just sore” and even looked “friskier” catching some passes along the sideline.

And when asked about playing in Wednesday's opener against the Dallas Cowboys, Nicks went ahead and gave a guarantee. "I'm playing," he told reporters.

Coughlin said he expects Nicks to practice Monday.

Nicks was one of four players who didn't practice. The others were cornerback Prince Amukamara (ankle), defensive tackle Marvin Austin (back) and offensive tackle James Brewer (back).

There were two big surprises on Sunday: Weakside linebacker Michael Boley (hamstring) fully participated in practice and left tackle Will Beatty (back) felt so good he asked to take extra scout-team snaps so he could face defensive end Osi Umenyiora.

“He looked good today,” offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said when asked if Beatty could play Wednesday. “He looked really good today, so that was an encouraging sign. I don't know that I could have said that until today.

“He volunteered to go in for scout,” Gilbride said. “He wanted to go against those guys [defensive starters]. I won't say he shut them down, but he more than held his own.”

Veteran Sean Locklear has been ready to start at left tackle for a while -- and Gilbride insists he's confident in Locklear's ability to get the job done -- but for the first time there's a glimmer of hope that Beatty could be active in Wednesday's opener.

Gilbride described the opener as Beatty's "first exhibition game" because he missed all four preseason games.

"Beatty gets a few snaps every day and he's done pretty well with it," Coughlin said. "Again, I always have to be in reserve when it's something like that. We'll see how he is the next morning and that type of thing, but he's working hard at it and he's got a program that he's on and it seems to have worked and helped."

Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell doesn't know if it will be Boley or recently acquired Keith Rivers starting on the weakside this Wednesday, but he did say Boley looked good and had an interception on Sunday.

Boley said he was able to run “full speed” and he continues to stretch his hamstring “as much as I can.”

In other positive news, running back Ahmad Bradshaw (hand) and rookie cornerback Jayron Hosley (toe) fully participated in practice. Strongside linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka (groin) was limited but is expected to play Wednesday, and defensive end Adrian Tracy (hamstring) was also limited.

Although Austin was listed as being inactive, he was in pads and did some individual work. Coughlin said he was relieved to see Austin fall and quickly get back up.

“I was helping as a guard on the scout team and the play was for me to go up and get the linebacker so I'm going and [Jason Pierre-Paul] was at the tackle, he pushed me, I was already running that way, then I clipped up [Zak] DeOssie's foot and everyone was like ‘are you ok?'” Austin said. “It was cool though.”

Austin is hopeful he can play in the second game of the season.

Follow the Giants and Alex Raskin @CBSSportsNFLNYG and @AlexRaskinNYC.