Burress hobbled

PHOENIX – Plaxico Burress’ left knee was swollen Friday. His right ankle was sore, too. Both of those caused the Giants’ top wide receiver and leading Super Bowl prognosticator to miss practice.

Those things sound ominous, but Burress has had either one or both injuries for nearly the entire season and hasn’t missed a game.

Whether he can be as effective as he was two weeks ago in the NFC Championship is a mystery.

Burress sat out Wednesday’s first practice of Super Bowl week with his sore ankle, in which he has a torn deltoid ligament.

He has missed a majority of the regular-season practices with that injury, which he suffered in training camp and re-injured against the Packers on Sept. 16.

The swollen left knee didn’t crop up, at least officially on the injury report, until Nov. 28, the first day of work after the Giants’ 41-17 loss to the Vikings.

“It’s a day-to-day thing with Plaxico right now,” coach Tom Coughlin said in his final news conference before Sunday’s game. He also spoke before practice. “He was better yesterday than he was the day before and hopefully, he’ll be even better today.”

It’s hard to say whether the knee injury has been a major issue separate from his ankle problem. He had three catches for 36 yards in the Giants’ 21-16 win over the Bears on Dec. 2, missed all of the following week’s practices, then had seven catches for 136 yards and a touchdown in a 16-13 win over the Eagles on Dec. 9.