Eli, top targets still miles apart

Eli Manning has made previous pleas to Jeremy Shockey and Plaxico Burress asking them to attend the Giants' offseason workout program, and they have always said "No." There's no reason for Manning to believe they have changed their minds. But it never hurts to ask, so he did. "Yeah, I've talked to both of them," Manning said yesterday. "I said, 'Hey, I probably won't start throwing until mid-April. That's when I'd like you here. Right now if you want to be training someplace else, that's fine with me.' I'll talk to them as that gets closer and see what everybody is planning."

At the moment, both Burress and Shockey are planning to spend most of the offseason training on their own in Miami, just as they have for several years. The offseason workout program is voluntary, but to their coaches and quarterback, the absence of Burress and Shockey has been a big deal. With those two out, and with Amani Toomer still recovering from a torn ACL, Manning won't be able to throw to any of his top three targets until the Giants' lone mandatory minicamp in mid-June. Continue