Hakeem Nicks not tipping his hand on his foot

Hakeem Nicks is not playing at 100 percent, but he refuses to tell the Giants which part of his game is lagging behind.

The wide receiver admitted last week to not being himself on the field after undergoing offseason surgery on his foot, and he said there are some moves and routes that are more troublesome than others. Which ones? That’s a secret because he doesn’t want to be taken out on certain plays or have the Giants tweak their offense to meet his needs.

“I just let them call the offense and I play accordingly,” Nicks said today. “I’m always (saying): ‘Play within the system, don’t tweak nothing due to this foot.’ The mind overcomes all and I’m strong-minded. I feel like if I’m out there I have to be ready to do everything that I can do.”

He’s getting closer and closer to everything. After a scheduled day of rest yesterday, Nicks said he practiced fully today (although he was listed as limited on the injury report). “Today was a real good day for me,” he said.

Nicks, however, would not speculate on whether he would practice tomorrow, the final on-field prep for the Bucs.

“We’ll see what they say about tomorrow when I come in,” he said. “To my knowledge, I knew I was practicing today. We’ll see about tomorrow and then maybe it’s just be me working my way in. And then next week will be a little bit more.”

Next week, of course, is a short week. The Giants will likely have only one practice to get ready for the Panthers.

“Right,” Nicks said. “Well, we’ll see about that. We’ll see what they decide.”