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According to New York Newsday beat man Neil Best, Jeremy Shockey said Friday he still is suffering from the effects of the rib he fractured Aug. 15, an injury that has made it difficult for him to breathe deeply and thus has caused him to fatigue easily.

"It's still sore when I breathe in and out," Shockey said. "I can find myself not going as hard as I was a year ago when I was healthy. ... It's healed, really, but when I breathe in real deep, it still hurts. So when I run as hard as I can every play, I start getting real tired."

Shockey said his breathing problems are "no excuse for any of the things that happened last week," a reference to his two dropped passes -- a key third-down pass and what would have been an easy touchdown reception.

Still, getting winded does not help, especially when the Giants go to the spread offense they used late in the Cowboys game and might deploy at times against the Redskins Sunday.

"It's like when you have a stuffed-up nose and can't breathe as fast as you want to," said Shockey, who has five catches for 44 yards in two games. "It's just kind of a nagging injury."

One other note of interest this week. ...

Fullback Jim Finn told Pro Football Weekly the team is experimenting with different combinations in the backfield in order to find more ways to get Dorsey Levens on the field.

For the record. ... Levens was active for Monday night's loss to Dallas, but never set foot on the field.