EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- The New York Giants suddenly have added concern at defensive end. With Jason Pierre-Paul still recovering from back surgery in early June, the Giants practiced Wednesday with fellow defensive end Justin Tuck sidelined by an undisclosed back problem. "Hes got a tight back," coach Tom Coughlin said after practice without being specific. "Theyre just taking the precautions." Coughlin hopes that Tuck will be able to play in New Yorks preseason opener at Pittsburgh on Saturday night, but added his condition needs to improve a little. Bothered by a number of injuries, including a neck problem, Tuck had an off-season in 2012, finishing with four sacks and 55 tackles in 55 games. As the teams defensive captain he took a lot of criticism when the Giants finished next to last in the league in defence. Tuck was not available for comment after practice. Backs are a touchy topic. Jason Pierre-Paul played 16 games last season with a sore back, but never disclosed the seriousness of the injury. He had disk surgery in June and he wasnt sure on Tuesday whether he would be ready to play in New Yorks season opener at Dallas on Sept. 8. Free agent signee Cullen Jenkins, who has been starting at defensive tackle, moved to the outside to take Tucks spot at end. "Hes a tough guy to block no matter where he is," Coughlin said about Jenkins, who played last season with Philadelphia. "Hes very effective, very good. Moves well. Just gives us a nice piece of versatility to be able to play him basically wherever we need." Shaun Rogers took over at defensive tackle for Jenkins. New York has had a couple of injuries this week that may make some players a question mark this weekend. Justin Pugh, the offensive tackle who was the Giants first round draft pick, running back Ryan Torain and guard James Brewer have suffered concussions this week and have missed practice. Rookie safety Cooper Taylor was out Wednesday with a hamstring injury. The injury to Brewer has created a chance for guard Brandon Mosley, a fourth-round draft pick a year ago who spent the season on injured reserve with an ankle problem. Brewer had been starting at right guard with veteran Chris Snee on the physically unable to perform list. Snee, who had off-season hip surgery, was activated on Tuesday but he is not ready to play in a game, so Mosley will start. "Hes had some very good practices," Coughlin said. "He occasionally suffers from a lack of experience when something new confronts him. Hes been impressive. Hes a tough kid. Hes battling." The Giants also announced the retirement of safety Deon Grant, who sat out last season. He last played in the Giants Super Bowl win over the New England Patriots in February 2012. "Hes one of our guys. He did a great job when he was here. Mr. Versatility," Coughlin said. "He played linebacker. He played back in the secondary. We had a package basically designed to get him and others on the field at the same time and he responded very, very well. He was a very, very smart player; a guy who could direct traffic back there. The guys really respected him. He had the ability to recognize when things werent championship quality and he would call peoples attention to that." Fake Jerseys . Hargreaves began his career in 2008 with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and has played with the Edmonton Eskimos and last season with the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Fake Basketball Jerseys . How great will be revealed in the next couple of days at the board of governors meeting in Pebble Beach, Calif. https://www.fakejerseys.us.com/ . Once again Jordan Cieciwa (@FitCityJordan) and I (@LynchOnSports) go head to head in our picks. Last weekend at UFC Fight Night 32 my #TeamLynch got the best of #TeamJC by a score of 9-6. Let us know which side youre on for UFC 167 use the hashtag #TeamLynch or #TeamJC on Twitter. Fake Jerseys For Sale .500 on the season. The Jets are now 0-5-1 in the second game of back-to-backs. The game started the same way the Vancouver game started the night before, with the Jets taking the first two penalties of the game and killing off the first, but the Oilers getting on the board first, scoring on the second man-advantage. Fake Football Jerseys . Takahashi, who had a 10-point lead after the short program, received 268.31 points after the free skate to finish 15 points ahead of second-place Nobunari Oda. That big sigh of relief you heard Friday came from the folks charged with deciding whos in and whos out of the College Football Playoff.Thanks to Louisville, theyve got one less team to worry about.Those big cheers you heard? They came from the Big Ten, which suddenly has a much better chance of hoarding half of the four-team playoff field.Louisville, led by Heisman Trophy favorite Lamar Jackson, had been preemptively seething about the possibility of winding up with the short end of the stick after being judged No. 5 in the most recent rankings put out by the selection committee.The Cardinals should have been more concerned with taking care of business on the field.After a dismal performance Thursday night at Houston, theyve got no room to complain.Louisville fumbled away the opening kickoff and was already behind just 11 seconds into the game. It only got worse from there, as the Cardinals trailed 31-0 at halftime on the way to a 36-10 drubbing.We got beat by their offense, we got beat by their defense, we got beat by their special teams, coach Bobby Petrino said. It was just one of those games where you get your butt beat.With Louisville off the board, lets take a look at four teams likely to be playing in the national semifinals on New Years Eve:ALABAMA -- The defending national champions are the only unbeaten team left from the Power Five ranks, and there seems little chance that Nick Sabans squad will stumble between now and selection day. The Crimson Tide (10-0) faces road-kill Chattanooga on Saturday before closing out the regular season against Auburn in the Iron Bowl. Given the way the Tigers were exposed by Georgia, failing to make even one first down in the second half, they have no chance of pulling off a massive upset at Bryant-Denny Stadium. After that, Alabama must go through the motions of the Southeastern Conference championship game against whoever emerges from the Least -- uhh, make that East -- Division. Then, its on the playoff and a shot at the fifth national title of Sabans decade-long tenure in Tuscaloosa.OHIO STATE OR MICHIGAN -- The Big Ten behemoths wont have any trouble this weekend. Michigan is hosting lowly Indiana, while Ohio State travels to Michigan State to take on the three-win Spartans. Then, its on to the Playoff for the Playoff, otherwise known as The Game. Playing at the big horseshoe, Ohio State will be the favorite. Should the Buckeyes win, they might even get to avoid the potential stumbling block of the Big Ten championship game.dddddddddddd That honor would go to Penn State, assuming the Nittany Lions win their final two games to claim the tiebreaker by virtue of a stunning 24-21 win over Ohio State last month. No matter who plays for the Big Ten title, the Michigan-Ohio State winner is headed for the playoff.CLEMSON -- The Tigers, who were runners-up to Alabama last season and figured to be the Crimson Tides strongest challenger again, stumbled badly with a home loss to Pittsburgh. Still, Clemson (9-1) can lock up its spot by closing the regular season with wins over improving Wake Forest and rival South Carolina, before taking out someone from the weak side of the Atlantic Coast Conference in the leagues championship game. The Tigers resume is a bit lacking now that Louisvilles second loss takes some of the luster off their best win. But the selection committee would surely go with Deshaun Watson & Co. at 12-1, especially if the alternative was taking a couple of two-loss teams.A SECOND BIG TEN TEAM -- If Penn State and Wisconsin both win out, and Ohio State beats Michigan, the winner of the Big Ten title will be in prime position to claim the final playoff spot. What about Washington? Yes, the Huskies (9-1) are still very much in the running, even after an ugly home loss last weekend, but its hard to see them winning out. They close the regular season with a very challenging road game against on-the-rise rival Washington State (8-2). Even if they get past that, theres still the Pac-12 championship game and a possible rematch against Southern Cal, the team that just beat up Washington 26-13. Another possibility is a two-loss Oklahoma team, should it win the largely overlooked Big 12. At this point, though, the Sooners are merely a backup option should someone falter.No matter what, the committee doesnt have to worry about Louisville mucking things up.We blew it, Petrino said bluntly.With that, the playoff picture got a whole lot clearer.---Paul Newberry is a sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at pnewberry(at)ap.org or at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963 . His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberr .---For more college football coverage: www.collegefootball.ap.org ' ' '