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fr THE RECORD S-13 -SUNDAY, AUGUST 4, 2002 NFL TRAINING GAMPS REPORT GIANTS Abraham hurts knee QUICK HITS SIDELINES SEfc Jets' pass rusher due for MRI after practice pileup 'Thumbs up Coach cooperation. Game film 'J doesn't exist for the expansion "'Texans, but Giants coach Jim "Fassel and Houston coach Dom Capers will help each other out. "All of us just want to see the same things in our players, so we talked to them about what fronts they use and other things," Fassel said. "You're not giving anything 'away. There are little basic we can exchange on so we make the smoother." Ul Thumbs down "'''Warren Sapp.

Hey Sapp, vt Michael Strahan heard your statement that his sack record have an asterisk on it and he has two words for you: Shut up. Really, though, he is by you, and cannot help but wonder why you are so two-faced, acting nice to Jhim in person and then talking behind his back. "When I see nr him, it's all buddy-buddy," 3rStrahan said. "He won't be unless he owns the record." Under the microscope Pochman. The tryout is i officially on.

Pochman wowed jjf.the Giants with his preseason 3i for the Patriots last year, kicking four field goals against the Giants in a New England victory. As soon next 14 weeks. But Edwards wasn't flinching in the face of this latest adversity. "By now everyone understands how I feel about injuries," he said. "People get injured no matter what you do.

When it comes to an outstanding player, people get all nervous, but if it's Joe Smith we don't talk about it that much." Abraham is an outstanding player. In his second season, he recorded 13 sacks, tied for sixth in the NFL (well behind Strahan's record-setting 22.5 sacks for the Giants), and made his first Pro Bowl. "I think it's possible," Abraham has said of reaching Strahan's heights. "I just need to keep my focus the same as it was last year, not worrying about sacks, just making plays." 'John's excited about the season," Ricky Lefft, one of his agents, said. "He's just scratching the surface in terms of what he can do." The idea of taking Alabama-Birmingham defensive end Bryan Thomas with this year's first-round pick was to help Abraham and the Jets improve their pass rush.

Now Thomas, as Abraham's backup, will be pressed into first-team duty. "People always wonder why you stack certain positions," Edwards said. "I think that's a positive on the defensive and offensive lines. You want to make sure you have some bodies in there. "Injuries are like anything else," he said.

"When it's your turn, it's your turn. There's nothing you can do." By RANDY LANGE STAFF WRITER HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. John Abraham, the Jets' defensive end who has considered the possibility of breaking Michael Strahan's year-old NFL sack record, sprained the medial collateral ligament in his left knee on the third play of Saturday's afternoon training camp practice. The sprain could cost the Jets' budding pass-rush star from a month to the entire season. But immediately after practice, coach Herman Edwards declined to characterize the severity of the injury or whether Abraham will need surgery.

"Right now I don't know how long he'll be out," Edwards said. "John'U be fine. I don't have any diagnosis of when he's coming back, and the doctors don't. For me to really talk about it, I can't at this point" The injury seemed serious when it occurred at the outset of the "mock game" practice of 65 situational plays. The first units practicing as they often do in helmets, shoulder pads, and shorts were scheduled to open with eight goal-line plays.

On the third play, Abraham, lined up at right end, got tangled in a pile of bodies. A player fell on the outside of his right knee, stressing the MCL on the inside of the knee. Abraham was in pain as he lay and then sat on the Jets' grass practice field while the team's medical staff examined him. PETER M0NSEESSTAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Jets' defensive end John Abraham could be out from a month to the rest of the season depending on the severity of Saturday's knee injury. After five minutes he was helped to his feet He left the field grimacing and placing little pressure on his left leg as he headed for the trainer's room supported by head trainer David Price and Elliot Pell-man, chairman of the team's medical staff.

"At first I thought it was his ankle," said a teammate. Abraham tweaked his left ankle in Monday morning's practice and got that afternoon off, then returned Tues day. Edwards said the severity of the injury could be determined today when the knee is reexamined or Monday when an MRI is scheduled to see if there is other damage. This is the second straight summer that Edwards has lost a key player. At last year's "Family Night" practice the third day of camp, then-rookie Santana Moss partially tore knee cartilage, underwent surgery, and missed the as the Pats let him go, the Giants gobbled him up.

Now, they need him to replace Hall of Famer Morten Andersen. Organizational eyes will be on the youngster's kickoffs and field goals. Injury report ara: Giants are still a family business The Giants will be without four starters Monday night Dusty Zeigler, CG Jason Whit- tie, CB Jason Sehorn, and LB Dhani Jones. Rookie OL Jeff I Hatch and WR Tim Carter also are out. Looking ahead i The Giants' walk-through tonight in Canton from 6-7.

will be open to the public. They begin the preseason Monday night against the expansion Houston Texans in the Hall of i Fame game. TARA SULLIVAN Eagles Defensive tackle Hollis Thomas is out indefinitely after breaking his right foot during one of Friday's practice drills, Eagles' coach Andy Reid said. Thomas suffered the same injury last year and missed five games after having surgery to insert a screw into the bone. Reid said either Paul Grasman-is or Darwin Walker will replace Thomas in the lineup.

Panthers Rookie defensive end Julius Peppers was held out of practice, a day after colliding with an unidentified Carolina teammate during a drill. Peppers, the No. 2 pick in April's draft out of North Carolina, still had a headache but a CT scan revealed that he had no significant injury. Peppers, however, said he had a "mild concussion." Packers Packers' center Mike Flanagan is expected to miss 2-to-6 weeks after breaking his right thumb in practice. Flanagan was injured in a blocking drill and had his hand put in a cast.

He will be replaced by eran Frank Winters of Union City in the starting lineup. Bengals Jon Kitna threw the only touchdown pass during the in-trasquad scrimmage, staying ahead of Gus Frerotte in the two-man competition for the Bengals' starting job. "I think it's been pretty doggone close," coach Dick LeBeau said. "I've been pleased with both of them, and I think they both moved the team well. I think both guys acquitted themselves well." Ravens Safety Ed Reed, the Ravens' top pick in the draft and 24th overall, agreed to a five-year contract worth $6.2 million.

Reed is expected to contend for a starting job. A four-year starter at Miami, he had nine interceptions and 44 tackles for the national champion Hurricanes in 2001. Steelers Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher halted practice a few minutes early on a steamy day in which the intensity level especially that of the defense resembled a real game. Afterward, Cowher unexpectedly called off practice for today, concerned about a heat index that reached the low 100s and the possibility his defense is peaking too soon. "It's a veteran team that's come out here with a purpose in practice, so I like where we're at right now," Cowher said.

Bears Bears' wide receiver Ahmad Merritt will miss 10 weeks after breaking two bones in his left hand, and right guard Chris VII-larial is out 10 days after surgery for a broken right thumb, the team said. Browns-Bills With running back William Green (shoulder) sidelined and Browns' quarterback Tim Couch struggling in the pocket, the offense sputtered during a two-hour scrimmage against the Bills. Couch went 7-of-10 for 58 yards, threw one interception, hurried a toss that ted to a turnover, and was sacked three times. Meanwhile, coach Butch Davis said Green is expected to return to practice early next WCCri, As for the Bids, Drew Bledsoe played in just the first series, finishing 5-of-7 for 58 yards. Colts Peyton Manning and the Colts' offense looked in midseason form as the team wrapped up its first week of training camp with an itrasquad scrimmage.

Manning went 5-of -5 for 109 yards and threw two touchdowns. Running back Edgerrin James (knee) saw action in the first two offensive senes before stng out the rest of workout ASSOCIATED PRESS through the kids now." Back at Fairfield, when air conditioning hadn't yet caught up to the dorms, John slept in a room with the waiver wire machine, nodding off to the typewriter sounds, but staying ahead of the news. Frank became such close friends with linebacker Brad Van Pelt that as a teenager, he flew across the country for Van Pelt's wedding. Frank played racquetball with quarterback Phil Simms, and now Tim plays video games with Ike Hilliard and Shaun Williams. According to Frank, Chris was "a little more adventurous." So while the current general manager of the Arena League's Gladiators encourages the baton passing between fathers and sons and uncles and nephews, he doesn't recommend the following: "I guess my best story is about Spider Lockhart a Giants' defensive back from 1965-75, who was a terrific guy," he says.

"He and Willie Williams a defensive back in 1965 and again from 1967-73 were roommates when camp was at Monmouth. Spider liked to go out at night, but there was a curfew, so I would go down to his car late in the day and get his golf clubs and bring them up to the room. Willie would put them into the bed and pull the covers over them and at bed check, just say Spider was asleep." The scheme was never uncovered it even earned an enterprising Chris a little extra dough on the side. But don't expect Chris' son Dan to follow suit. JETS "I wouldn't try that," Dan says, shaking his head and grinning.

"My dad never told me that story." Dan, heading into his junior year studying history at Boston College, loves to evaluate players as much as hang around with them. Like Tim, he is training his brain for a future in football, trying to learn how to predict sue-" cess and analyze talent. But as these two senior ball boys inch closer to maturity, they know the real magic of summers in training camp. "My grandfather is awesome," says Tim, who was Wellington's sole roommate until Dan returned from a few years' hiatus. Now, Pop-Pop stays with the younger boys while Tim and Dan share a separate room.

"You hear him tell stories and every day he has a new one about Frank Gifford, or some coach from the 1930s," marvels Tim, who is working his 12th straight training camp. "He remembers every name. And he's just a regular person. Yesterday I was walking around and you know how the players drink Gatorade and drop the bottles? My grandfather was picking them up so no one would sprain an ankle." Tim has no trouble following the family way. He cleans up the empty bottles; he walks side-by-side with his grandfather, making sure there is a suitable spot for Wellington's portable chair.

This is football for the Mara family, a lineage that starts with Pop-Pop and right now, has no end in sight From Page S-l nell will suffer Giants withdrawal, a condition so severe it had him hailing a cab to a nearby sports restaurant last season to catch a game that was blacked out on local television. "People didn't know why I was cheering so much, but they left me alone," he says. Such quiet moments are rare in camp, where players often turn to ball boys for errands nobody else can do. They buy CDs, pick up laundry, and in Tim's case, wear an extra baseball cap above his own that belongs to backup quarterback Jason Garrett while Garrett is wearing his helmet. "The tradition started with me and my brothers, going to camp in Fairfield, C.W.

Post, Monmouth, Pace, and then to FDU-Madison," says John Mara, Giants executive vice president and the oldest of Wellington's eight children (the four sons are John, Chris, Stephen, and Frank). "It was definitely a combination of work and fun. Some years we had so many kids there wasn't a lot of work going on. I think we spent more time finding ways to get into trouble." John is smiling now, the carefree memories of youth creasing across his grown-up face. Adult hindsight is a powerful force, one that puts definition into those simple days of fun.

"You get to have a special relationship with the players, ones, we can't have now," says Frank, the Giants' director of promotions. "You're in awe of them and I can see that 'dm) SIDELINES GIANTS N0TEB00I JETS NOTEBOOK Thumbs up QB Chad Pennington, getting all the first-team work in the afternoon "mock game," spotted WR Santana Moss wide open in the deep secondary on a blown coverage. Moss grabbed the pass and took off for the right pylon, diving out of bounds at the 1 -yard line for a 59-yard gain. Thumbs down The kickoff coverage team was exposed when Chad Morton took a John Hall kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. Morton zipped down his left sideline and got a key block near mid-field from rookie guard Jonathan Goodwin.

Under the microscope John Abraham's injury set the defensive end picture in motion. Herman Edwards said first-round rookie Bryan Thomas is Abraham's backup in the 4-3 base. Also in the end rotation is starter Shaun Ellis, Steve White, and Riley Klein-hesselink, who was on the Jets' practice squad last year and played in NFL Europe. Setback for Carter A just-in-case QB Injury report And if you see Mallard, chances are Nick Greisen isn't far behind. The three linebackers selected by the Giants on the second day of the draft have not only been drawn to each other, they have done a good job of impressing Fassel.

"All of them are solid players," Fassel said. "It's highly unusual to get three linebackers you can say can come in and make a play for us." They are a matched set: Greisen, a fifth-rounder, is a middle linebacker, while sixth-rounder Mallard plays on the weak side, and seventh-rounder Monk is on the strong side. STARTING ROTATION: Fassel said starters will play about a quarter Monday, second-stringers through the second and third quarters, and third-stringers in the fourth. Tickets are available for the Giants two home preseason games, Aug. 10 against the Super Bowl champion Patriots and Aug.

29 against the Ravens. Tickets, priced at $75, $65, and $55, may be picked up at the ticket office at Giants Stadium, or at any TicketMaster outlet Ticket sales at Giants Stadium are cash only. TARA SULLIVAN American Bowl game in Japan Saturday, and a natural question is: When will the NFL ask the Jets to make their first preseason trip overseas, or at least to another country? General manager Terry Bradway knows such an invitation could be coming, possibly as soon as next summer. "We haven't heard from the league about it," Bradway said. "It's something we'd be interested in doing, if it was the right situation.

It's a tough trip, no question, but there are advantages also. You have to weigh the plusses and minuses, but it's something we'd have to consid-cr BAILEY CATCHING Oft Rookie wide receiver Kory Bailey made three nifty morning catches, one each from Testaverde, Pennington, and Woodbury. Although he also lost a strip fumble, he and Ataveus Cash have elevated themselves in the battle for the fifth WR slot Despite Bailey's status as an undrafted free agent, he's not shy about his desires. His North Carolina vanitv plates declare: THRW2ME. RAN0Y LANGE ALBANY, N.Y.

Tim Carter tried to hide his disappointment, but it's clear the rookie wide receiver is disappointed that an injury could postpone his professional debut "If he's not really in good shape, I'm not playing him Monday night" head coach Jim Fassel said. Carter sustained a bruised back and side in Thursday morning's practice session, when rookie safety Ryan Clark leveled him going out of bounds on a pass route. Carter could barely get up after the play, eventually being driven off on a golf cart He has watched practice from the sidelines since. Fassel was incensed about the hit because players were not wearing pads and play should not have been that physical Carter said he was unsure how much of his injury was caused by the tackle, but he was probably just avoiding embarrassing his teammate "There was contact on the play," Carter said. "It felt like a pulled muscle and there is a contusion.

It's not that bad." THREE AMIGOS: If you see linebacker Quincy Monk, chances are Wesfy Mallard isn't far behind HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. A third Dragon has dropped into the Jets' training camp lair. Quarterback Matt Nagy, who made five starts for the Arena League team this season after breaking records held by Rich Gannon at Delaware, worked out for the Jets in their practice bubble Friday. "We're looking for somebody down the road," coach Herman Edwards said. "If Vinny (Testaverde and Chad Pennington were to get hurt, Tory Woodbury would go in but he'd be limited.

We want a guy who could go in and play." The well-traveled Gus Orn-stein of Tenafly also is vying to be that "guy," but reps have been hard to come by in camp. The fourth quarter of the preseason opener at Pittsburgh could be a make-it-or-break-it time for Omstein. Nagy, meanwhile, isn't expected to be signed for a while if at all. The Jets already have two New York Dragons in their wide receiver corps: Kevin Swayne, back bigger and stronger after making two starts and 13 catches as a rookie, and first-vear man Mike Furrey. OCEAN ELEVEN: The 49ers and Redskins played this year's Abraham was the only injury reported from the mock game.

Vmny Testaverde (right thumb) practiced in the morning but didn't work in the afternoon. WR Laveranues Cotes (bee!) returned for the late practice. Guard Randy Thomas (shoulder) said he'l return Monday. There were a number of morning nicks: CB Aaron Beasley (hyperextended (eft knee), DT Josh Evans (sprained right ankle), RB Little John Flowers (sprained left ankle), and Jon McGraw (sore right groin). Looking ahead The Jets retjm with dourie sessions Monday at 8:30 am.

and 3:30 p.m. RANDY LANGE.