08/06 Training Camp Reports

[Mr. P]

 

NY Giants start hitting and defense sets tone during morning practice

 

by Mike Garafolo/The Star-Ledger

Thursday August 06, 2009, 10:31 AM

 

The Giants put on half pads for the morning practice at training camp, and Justin Tuck, center, and the defensive line looked impressive.

 

It was time to start hitting Thursday morning, as the Giants put on half pads for this morning's practice. (They'll go full pads this evening.). And let me tell you, the defensive front got the message. The guys in blue whupped the boys in white this morning. Players like DE Justin Tuck, LB Bryan Kehl and DTs Jay Alford and Chris Canty were cracking helmets and knocking guys all over the field Thursday. Check out the highlights below:

 

INJURIES

LG Rich Seubert (shoulder), DE Osi Umenyiora (knee) and DT Barry Cofield (knee) were limited or did not practice.

 

DT Fred Robbins (knee/PUP), LB Michael Boley (hip/PUP) and DT Rocky Bernard (hamstring/NFI) did not practice.

 

THE STARTERS

S Kenny Phillips can do more than go after the ball. He can play the run. He flew up to make a stop on a pitch left to RB Brandon Jacobs. "I love it, Kenny Phillips!" defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan yelled. And I mean yelled. Sheridan screamed Phillips' way again on another stop later. This one was on a "tackle" of RB Ahmad Bradshaw that was made possible by Kehl's taking on RG Chris Snee and creating a stalemate in the hole. Kehl later did the same thing when he took on RB/FB Dwayne Wright in the hole and forced RB Andre Brown to bounce the play way outside.

 

Kehl had a good morning session. He later knocked away a ball from QB Eli Manning to Jacobs up the right sideline. Of course, that play would have ended in a real game with a sack by Tuck, who added a stop on pitch right the next play.

 

Canty beat LT David Diehl to disrupt a counter run to that side.

 

Great disguise of a corner blitz by CB Aaron Ross. He timed it perfectly and would have dropped Manning easily in a live game.

 

TE Kevin Boss got ahead of rookie LB Clint Sintim on an out to the left side from Manning. Elsewhere on the same play, WR Mario Manningham got a great release off press coverage and was open.

 

WR Steve Smith made a pair of low diving catches on 7-on-7s.

 

THE BACKUPS

Alford continues to flash. He opened up team drills with a sack of Manning. Tuck, who was all over the place this morning, was right there, too. Those two combined on another sack later in practice.

 

Early training-camp MVP CB Terell Thomas backpedaled into a deep zone and then came up when he saw TE Lee Vickers crossing in front. Thomas got up and reached over the 6-6 Vickers to knock the ball away.

 

QB David Carr made a pair of nice throws to rookie WRs Hakeem Nicks and Ramses Barden on in cuts. But then, he was expecting another in from WR David Tyree, who ran the hook. Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride signaled to Carr he made the wrong read and that Tyree ran the correct route.

 

Finally a reverse that looked good. It was to WR Sinorice Moss with RT Kareem McKenzie leading.

 

Moss made his biggest play of camp on a deep flag to the left side from Manning past Phillips.

 

LB Chase Blackburn made a real nice play to slip inside a blocker and make a stop on an inside reverse.

 

Fumbled snap for C ... Kevin Boothe. Not Adam Koets this time.

 

Wait, one for Koets, too. The next one was nearly bobbled as well. OL Tutan Reyes is now taking snaps at center as well.

 

Here's some good coaching for you: DL coach Mike Waufle yelled, "Come on, seven-five. Raise that tail and get off quickly!" Sure as heck, DT Anthony Bryant exploded off the line, pushed OL Andrew Carnahan into the backfield and got to the QB.

 

THE YOUNG GUYS

Nice shimmy by Nicks to get inside CB Stoney Woodson about 10 yards off the ball on his way to the post. He later made a good catch in traffic on the 18-yard in cut from Carr on the right side and another one from Carr on the left. The second one was a nice, sharp route over Ross and under S Michael Johnson.

 

Barden showed a desire to go over the middle and reach out his long arms. It's training camp, so S Sha'reff Rashad couldn't lay him out. Will Barden do the same in a live game and give a DB a shot at a big target?

 

TE Travis Beckum showed up this morning with a pair of catches in 7-on-7s and a deep out from Carr during team drills. In terms of what Tom Coughlin calls "flashing," this was Beckum's best practice.

 

Wow. What a big hit by LB Kenny Ingram, who combined with LB Jonathan Goff to flatten Brown. Too big of a hit, however, as Tom Coughlin yelled, "Don't knock the back down!" ... And I mean yelled.

 

Nobody yelled when Sintim squeezed down and dropped RB Danny Ware, though. Sounds like high-draftee favoritism to me!

 

Ingram got his later when OT Cliff Louis pancaked him and knocked his helmet off. One other nice block by an OL: Carnahan, who pulled on a pitch left and cleared the way for RB Allen Patrick.

 

Louis later got stood up by LB Zak DeOssie on a pitch to the outside.

 

http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2009/08/ny_giants_start_hitting_and_de.html

[Mr. P]

August 6, 2009

Money Mann gets off to slow start

 

Eli Manning’s first pass after agreeing to terms on a six-year, $97.5 million contract extension brought up one very important question:

 

Is it too late to cancel the check?

 

Yes, I’m kidding. But that first pass of this morning’s practice was pretty hideous. Not even worth 97.5 cents, really. After holding the ball forever and getting wrapped by at least one defender, he tossed it out in the direction of CB Aaron Ross. Seriously, if there was an offensive player in the vicinity, I couldn’t find him. Lucky for Manning, the ball just bounced harmlessly to the ground.

 

He completed his next two, though the throws were hardly worthy of his salary. He would’ve been crushed by blitzing LB Bryan Kehl and Ross long before he made his low throw to Domenik Hixon. And his deep completion to Sinorice Moss quacked on its way down.

 

The bright side? Actually, Manning was pretty sharp this morning after the shaky start. Maybe he just needed time to get used to that sizeable wallet in his back pocket. Or maybe he’s just nervous because, as far as we know, he hasn’t signed that mega-deal just yet.

 

Still, this morning was mostly about the defense, which once again controlled the play. Here are a few notes from that first padded practice of training camp. At least the first shoulder-padded practice. It’ll be full pads tonight:

 

• LB Kenny Ingram, an undrafted free agent trying to make a transition from safety, hammered RB Andre Brown on a run up the middle, much to the delight of his defensive teammates.

 

• S Kenny Phillips made a great play to read and come up and play the run on a pitch to RB Brandon Jacobs. That seemed to delight the defensive coaching staff, too.

 

• Hakeem Nicks showed some good speed and separation getting behind CB Stoney Woodson deep. Too bad QB Andre’ Woodson overthre him by five yards. He made a couple of good catches in traffic in 7 on 7 drills, too.

 

• DE Osi Umenyiora (knee) and G Rich Seubert (shoulder) sat out the full-team drills. DT Barry Cofield (knee) sat out the entire practice.

 

• Ramses Barden made a great reaching catch on a ball fired just off target by David Carr. The best part, though, was an instant after the catch he slammed into S Sha-reff Rashad and still hung on.

 

• Two catches for TE/H-back Travis Beckum in 7 on 7s, which is noteworthy only because he’s hardly done anything in camp so far.

 

• WLB Bryan Kehl made a nice play to stick with Jacobs and knock away a pass on a deep route down the sidelines (Jacobs going deep? Yikes.). Kehl has consistently made plays whenever he’s been on the field. He’s way ahead of Gerris Wilkinson at this point, or at least that’s the way it seems. If he keeps playing this way the coaches will have to consider getting him on the field when Michael Boley (hip) returns, too.

 

• LB Clint Sintim blew a chance to knock away a pass from Manning to TE Kevin Boss. He was right there, but got his arms up too late.

 

• Another nice play by CB Terrell Thomas to close fast and knock away a pass from TE Lee Vickers. The more Thomas continues to make plays the more I think he’s got to at least be the nickelback, maybe more.

 

• Third-year DT Anthony Bryant made a great move to get inside and in QB David Carr’s face right after D-line coach Mike Waufle implored him to make something happen. Bryant would have crushed Carr if he had been allowed to. Carr’s deep pass was dropped by Nicks, though it looked like it would’ve been a difficult catch.

 

• The troubles for Carr behind the second-team O-line continued. DT Jay Alford got through up the middle on the next play. Then DT Chris Canty did it a few plays later. “The quickness of our front was obvious,” Tom Coughlin said. “You saw some strong penetrating moves from three or four guys.” Of course, the flip side of that is it’s not good for the offensive line. “When you put the pads on you don’t expect guys to come (through) clean like they do when we don’t have pads on,” Coughlin said.

 

• More pressure a few plays later on Carr, but he did a nice job of stepping up in the pocket — skipping, really — and finding Beckum downfield.

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/giants/2009/08/money-mann-gets-off-to-slow-st.html