FanHouse MadisonHedgecock

Barring injury, the New York Giants will not have to worry about their fullback position for the next four and a half years.

In a somewhat unexpected move, the team extended the contract of Madison Hedgecock; a fullback that was picked up off of waiver from the St. Louis Rams in early September.

The extension will go through 2012, and all but ends the Giants career of Jim Finn, who is currently on injured reserve with a bad back.

One of the huge concerns early in the offseason was the lack of a quality fullback; a concern that only got worse when Robert Douglas was lost for the season with a knee injury. But to date, Hedgecock has been a godsend. Thanks in large part to his superb blocking ability, the Giants have been averaging 137.8 yards rushing per game and have many people asking "Tiki who?"

It looks like the Reuben Droughns at fullback experiment is over in New York after only one week. According to Mike Garafolo of the Star-Ledger, the Giants have been awarded fullback Madison Hedgecock off of waivers from the St. Louis Rams.

In order to make room for the 6-3, 266 pound back, the Giants have released Robert Douglas.

In addition to that announcement, the Giants also received good news on running back Brandon Jacobs today. Although a doctor didn't come right out and say it, Jacobs claimed that his knee is feeling better and he'll be back much sooner than expected.

"It sure won't be five weeks," Jacobs said.

Apparently, he was walking around without a limp and appeared to be in good spirits. Which, obviously, is excellent news for the Giants and their fans.

If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times -- the preseason is no time to panic. Though the Rams can't be happy with practically every element of their 30-13 loss to the Chargers last night, they should take a lot of the negatives with a grain of salt. One thing coaches never like to see, though, and which the Rams committed in bunches, is turnovers.

The Rams' starters got the ball in Chargers territory on two out of three drives, but couldn't produce any points; both ventures past the 50 resulted in turnovers -- a fumble by Madison Hedgecock and an interception in the end zone by Marc Bulger. The first team has committed three turnovers in two preseason games, and the Rams boast a -6 turnover differential altogether. They've given up the ball six times and haven't forced a turnover yet.

"It starts with the head coach, making sure we continue to work on it," Scott Linehan said. "We emphasize it. We talk a lot about (turnover margin). But we have not executed that in preseason. ... And that's got to change."

That it does, coach. With that defense, the Rams' offense doesn't need to be shooting itself in the foot. That being said, two interceptions coming from Bulger -- a guy known for his ability to protect the ball -- is just the sign of a quarterback getting re-adjusted, not anything that should be chronic.