On Saturday against the Jets, D.J. Ware dropped a screen pass, had trouble finding holes and allowed Aaron Maybin to get past him for a blocked punt.

Today, Ware was behind Giants rookie David Wilson on the depth chart, though Tom Coughlin claimed that was the plan all along and not necessarily a reaction to Ware's performance on Saturday, particularly Ware's gaining only 15 yards on 11 carries.

“I don’t know about that aspect of it,” Coughlin said when asked if he was unhappy with the way Ware ran the ball. “Of course, he dropped the screen and that was right after the punt protection, so maybe that was on his mind. We’d like him to move forward but that was a big issue, obviously.

“But no, this was scheduled. David’s going to move up and get some plays with the 1s.”

Wilson took advantage of those plays today.

The first-round pick made a nice cutback early on in team drills. Later, he showed tremendous burst and change-of-direction skills by getting to the edge and turning upfield just out of the reach of linebacker Greg Jones. Wilson even had a touchdown pass on an option pass to wide receiver Jerrel Jernigan, who out-leaped a defender on the play. The only hiccup for Wilson was when he dropped a swing pass in 7-on-7 passing drills.

With Ahmad Bradshaw limited to individual drills today after bruising his hand and popping a cyst on Saturday, Wilson figures to see even more action with the starters this week in practice and in Friday's preseason game against the Chicago Bears.

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WR Hakeem Nicks' return to practice went about as well as one could imagine.

Nicks made a back-shoulder adjustment on a throw from QB Eli Manning and then caught a fade for a touchdown over CB Prince Amukamara.

“He seemed to be pretty good, seemed to feel good,” Coughlin said. “He moved around well and did a good job with it.”

Asked if Nicks will play in the preseason, Coughlin said, “I don’t know. We’ll see. We’re going to go slow just to make sure there’s never a setback. He’s very anxious to do more, but we’ll go slow.”

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Also making an impact in his return was LB Jacquian Williams, who practiced for the first time since Aug. 2. Williams dropped an interception after making a nice play on the ball and then made a catch off a deflection and got both feet in bounds for an interception.

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LT Will Beatty was not at practice and is "still struggling," according to Coughlin. Sean Locklear is still taking Beatty's place.

“He’s a veteran football player,” Coughlin said of Locklear. "He knows his job, he knows what he’s doing."

Locklear looked hesitant early on in missing a block against the Jets.

“Some things happened in the ball game (against the Jets) with the complexities, for example, with what he saw the other night that kind of slow people down because they just don’t quite understand the communication," Coughlin said. "But by and large, he’s done well.”

I still think, if Beatty can't get and stay healthy, David Diehl will be the left tackle and Locklear will move to the right side. Coughlin was asked about such a shuffle and whether he's reluctant to do it because of Locklear's solid play or not wanting to juggle things.

“Well, it’s both, to be honest with you. There’s going to have to be flexibility whether Sean plays left or right or David Diehl plays left or right, that type of thing,” Coughlin said. “We obviously live in expectation Beatty will come back to the practice field. If something were to happen otherwise, we’d have to do some…”

Coughlin trailed off right there then continued, “And of course, it’s close, we’re getting close. And those five (starters) need to play a lot together.”

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DT Marvin Austin "seems to be getting better," Coughlin said. "I think there's a question about the type of medication he's on and whether he can practice under that circumstance. Hopefully there will be more clarity about that situation (soon)."

CB Jayron Hosley (foot) is "sore," Coughlin said. "They're trying to do as much as they can to keep him off his feet."

RB Andre Brown did not practice. With all of the cold-tub stuff and the other injury news, we simply forgot to ask Coughlin about Brown. Ugh.

LB Michael Boley (hamstring) is still out.

Also out, all with hamstring issues: DE Adrian Tracy and CBs Michael Coe and Brandon Bing.

LB Mark Herzlich (hip) practiced, as planned.

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I didn't think this would be a "cards" (i.e. scout team) practice this early in the week, but it was. In fact, I had to calm the legions on Twitter who were freaking out over all of the interceptions the defense was grabbing.

So to those and to you I say, no, the offense wasn’t having major issues today. Rather, they were running plays from another team’s playbook.

As always, those cards sessions are impossible to break down because of the foreign aspect of the playbook and the slow speed. But there were some notable moments and 7-on-7s were live, so here are a few notes to add to those I mentioned above:

--Amukamara had a pick six in one of the cards session. He got an escort to the end zone from defensive coordinator Perry Fewell. There were no cold-tub jokes made.

--QB David Carr was really sharp, particularly in 7-on-7s. He hit Jernigan on a slant and then found WR Ramses Barden on a really well-run comeback route that had CB Bruce Johnson still moving upfield. Carr then hit TE Christian Hopkins on a hook and WR Rueben Randle on an out in front of CB Justin Tryon.

--Great leaping catch by WR Brandon Collins on an in cut from QB Ryan Perrilloux. Collins has made his share of plays in camp and here in East Rutherford. That smooth grab today in front of CB Dante Hughes was arguably his best.

--For whatever reason Manning and WR Victor Cruz were off a bit for much of practice. But then, Manning hit Cruz on a quick in cut LB Mathias Kiwanuka thought he was going to be able to break up. He just couldn't quite get there.

--WR Isaiah Stanback had a real nice catch on a leaping comeback from Carr early in the 2-minute drill. Carr also found WR Dan DePalma and Randle. But the best throw for Carr was a gorgeous ball to TE Adrien Robinson on a post up the middle of the field over LB Spencer Paysinger for the touchdown.

Mike Garafolo: mgarafolo@starledger.com; twitter.com/MikeGarafolo