Giants WR Hakeem Nicks has been dealing with foot an knee injuries since May. To put it plainly, he has not been himself. His not being 100% has actually held the Giants’ offense back, if that even is possible. This team is on pace to shatter all of the franchise’s offensive records and with a healthy Nicks across the field from Victor Cruz, the Giants have both barrels loaded.

This week he is practicing in full all week and is finally ready to resume being Hakeem Nicks again. In addition, he is traveling down to JerryWorld this week, where he has had some huge games.

He did not play in the game his rookie year of 2009, but he had  9 catches for 108 yards and 2TD in the Giants’ 41-35 2010 victory and  8 grabs for 163 yards in last year’s 37-34 win in Dallas. He spoke to the pool today about playing the Cowboys:

Each time you’ve played in their stadium, you’ve had a really big game. Do you enjoy playing there?
Me personally, I always approach these games the same. Personally, I like playing in this stadium. I just do, I don’t know what it is. It just seems like it’s a big stage to play on. I love big stage games, so I look forward to playing every game, but that game, being that it’s a rivalry and Dallas and New York, so it’s always a big game.

Did they have Carr or Claiborne on you during the first game?
I’ve seen both of them a little bit, but it was mainly… they had the rookie on me.

What did you think of him?
I think he’s a rookie.

How do you look back at the game?
It was the first game. I was coming back from the foot surgery and trying to play it out, see how my foot was and I don’t think it was anything that he did or nothing that they did. They came out and played hard. We’re a better team than that first game, so I think we’ve just got to go out there and execute our plays and play great team ball, we’ll be fine.

How are the Giants a better team today?
The way we play together as one. Special teams, defense, offense; we all feed off each other. We play as one. Certain guys have evolved into their role a little bit more and we’ve got guys just ready to play at any given time.

How much healthier are you?
I’m a lot healthier now, especially over the last couple of weeks. I finally feel like I finally got over the little hump. The last game, I feel like it broke me in a little bit more. First it was the foot and then the knee, today was a great practice for me. I feel like I got back to myself a little bit. I feel like I’m getting in and out of my routes and having that full confidence back, so I think it will be great week for me.

Is this the first time since the knee that you felt that way?
Yeah. The first time since the knee because I broke the foot and then after the first game, then had that huge week the second week. Then the knee limited me since then, so I feel like my body is feeling good again. I feel like I can give it a great go.

When you are feeling good, what are some of the things that you can do that you can’t do so well when you’re limited?
Stretch the field. Take it over the top. My run after the catch. Certain things like that.

Do you feel like defenses have been aware of that?
Yeah. Dealing with the knee, my burst wasn’t there. I couldn’t really separate in my routes and then with the foot, trying to get in and out of my breaks fast…. It was just having to feel it out. Now I feel like I’ve been practicing on it last week. That was my first time all season having a full week of practice, so I think that kind of helped me and led up to the game. I look at the San Fran game and then look at the Redskins game, I ran a whole lot better than I did versus that game and I think each week will get a lot better.

transcript courtesy Giants communications dept