This week, Peyton Hillis gives Giants instant impact

Peyton Hillis runs the ball in the second half of a game against the Minnesota Vikings at MetLife Stadium. (Oct. 21, 2013) Credit: Jim McIsaac
For the second straight week, a Giants player was added to the roster just days before a game, dropped into a demanding role, and managed to make a positive impact for the team.
Against the Bears, it was linebacker Jon Beason who, less than a week after being acquired, led the team with 12 tackles in a loss in Chicago. On Monday night, it was Peyton Hillis, the running back signed last Wednesday to help back up Brandon Jacobs but who wound up starting and scoring a touchdown.
"To be able to come in a short amount of time and complement your team and play well and contribute, it's a huge positive," Tom Coughlin said. "I think it does breed confidence and it does breed the idea that there is something perhaps we didn't have that now we have. I think [Hillis and Beason] have both, in their own way, inspired others and I hope that will continue."
Coughlin called Beason, who led the Giants in tackles for the second straight week, "a pro's pro" and called the play of Hillis "a huge plus for us."
Hillis wound up rushing for 36 yards, but his true value was in other areas such as pass protection and receiving. Hillis wound up starting when Brandon Jacobs was inactive with a hamstring injury.
"A lot of things you just did on the move," Hillis said of relying more on instinct than intimacy with the playbook. "Sometimes it worked out . . . We got the win, that's the important thing, and I know from week to week, I'll get better."
Giants contest flagAntrel Rolle was flagged for a personal foul for a hit to the head of receiver Jerome Simpson late in the first half and said if he is fined by the NFL, he will appeal.
"It absolutely was not a penalty," Rolle said in his weekly appearance on WFAN.
Rolle hit Simpson in the head with his shoulder, but only after Simpson lowered his head into the strike area Rolle was aiming for. "I'm not sure that the helmet was involved there," Coughlin said.
Rolle added that the penalty will not change his approach on the field.
"I'm trying to not allow him to catch the ball," Rolle said. "If they have to call me for that 100 out of 100 times, they're just going to have to call me for it 100 out of 100 times because I'm not going to allow the opponent to catch the ball under any means. I am trying to play smart and play within the rules."
Giant stepsCoughlin did not have an update on the knee injury C David Baas suffered at the end of the first drive Monday night. Baas, who had multiple surgeries this offseason, has already missed time with previous knee and neck injuries . . . WR Hakeem Nicks appeared to reinjure his dislocated finger late in the game, but Coughlin said if he did, "he kept it to himself." . . . Coughlin pointed to the 86-yard punt return for a touchdown, the third of the season against the Giants, and a 69-yard kickoff return as areas of concern. "We're disappointed in the majority of our special-teams play, our coverage teams first and foremost," he said. "We have plenty of work to do."