08/10 Practice Reports

[Mr. P]

 

Rain doesn't dampen NY Giants at morning practice

by Mike Garafolo/The Star-Ledger

Monday August 10, 2009, 10:53 AM

Chris Faytok/The Star-Ledger

 

Back on the practice field, defensive tackle made an impact with the first team at Giants practice Monday morning.

 

A little rain wasn't enough to scare away the Giants Monday morning, though some players were affected more than others. A look at practice with Monday morning's report:

 

INJURIES

DE Maurice Evans (leg) and LT Guy Whimper (toe) were new additions to the injury report. Evans' injury isn't serious. Whimper's been battling a toe issue for a while.

 

DT Fred Robbins (knee) and C Shaun O'Hara (triceps) were back as expected. Both players got plenty of work in team drills.

 

CB Aaron Ross (leg), who left practice Sunday, was out Monday. DE Osi Umenyiora (knee) and DT Barry Cofield (knee) took the morning off.

 

QB David Carr (arm) was back.

 

Also still out: DTs Chris Canty (hamstring) and Rocky Bernard (hamstring/NFI), LB Michael Boley (hip/PUP), WRs Steve Smith (knee) and Hakeem Nicks (hamstring), CB Corey Webster (hip), OLs Kevin Boothe (pec) and Cliff Louis (ankle).

 

 

THE STARTERS

DE Justin Tuck did a good job of not being faked out by a counter run. He was deep in the backfield but shallowed out in time to make the stop on RB Brandon Jacobs.

 

Great touch by QB Eli Manning on a lob downfield to WR Sinorice Moss over CB Terrell Thomas. Manning used a pump fake to draw S Kenny Phillips away. He did it later to free up TE Kevin Boss for the second of back-to-back completions in 7-on-7s. Really nice catch by Moss later on a rollout right by Manning. He fired toward the sideline and Moss made a fingertip catch.

 

LB Danny Clark showed a decent nose for the ball on a quick throw from Manning to Jacobs over the middle. Clark closed quickly and bumped Jacobs as the ball arrived for a PD.

 

LB Antonio Pierce made a heckuva play to fight through O'Hara and stop RB Ahmad Bradshaw on a throwback screen pass. Shades of his stop in Green Bay during the NFC Championship.

 

And there's Robbins coming through for a sack in his first team action. The play continued and the ball was thrown to the end zone, which was obstructed from my view. CB Bruce Johnson was in coverage, the crowd applauded and his teammates yelled, "Good job, Bruce." So he must've done something good.

 

THE BACKUPS

LB Chase Blackburn got on the board Monday with an INT on a deep in from Manning to WR Derek Hagan. Manning saw Hagan inside the corner and underneath the safety, but he missed Blackburn lurking in the middle.

 

Hagan later made a pair of nice catches, including one while slipping on the wet grass. But Hagan then slipped again. This one didn't work out so well, as CB Kevin Dockery was there for the easy INT from Manning.

 

WR David Tyree has had a tough time hanging onto the ball lately. He dropped an easy one by the sideline and then couldn't haul in a tougher one on a leaping catch. I'm not being tough on him because he threw his helmet down -- a clear indication he believes he should have caught it. He later had one almost slip through his hands when caught a comeback in front of CB Stoney Woodson. Tyree did make a play late in practice when he caught a back-shoulder TD from QB Andre' Woodson past Johnson.

 

TE Lee Vickers got behind the defense on a go route and Andre' Woodson laid the ball on his fingertips, but Vickers couldn't hang on.

 

DE Dave Tollefson had at least three sacks by my count. Big practice for him.

 

THE YOUNG GUYS

Stoney Woodson batted away a comeback from Andre' Woodson to WR Mario Manningham. Even more impressive was that he did it while Manningham pushed off. The ref even threw a flag for offensive pass interference. Woodson later made a diving play to knock away a deep out from Carr to WR Ramses Barden.

 

Manningham made a nice spinning catch on a high ball. Best catch for him in a few days.

 

Barden leaped between two guys (S C.C. Brown was one of them; didn't catch the other) to grab a 35-yard pass from Manning. He came down out of bounds because the throw was wide, but still an impressive catch.

 

RB Allen Patrick is really starting to impress. He's made a couple of nice catches, put LB Gerris Wilkinson on his back Sunday and Monday he made a great cutback to the right side. S Sha'reff Rashad allowed Patrick to get outside after the cut. Safeties coach David Merritt told Rashad "that should never happen."

 

Another good cutback by RB Andre Brown in red-zone drills. Johnson was slow to close down on Brown. "You could've had him," secondary coach Peter Giunta told Johnson.

 

S Vince Anderson is still getting used to playing safety after working as a corner in the spring. But Merritt still wants to see results and Anderson carrying out assignments. Monday, Anderson did something wrong he's apparently done before because Merritt, who stands behind the safeties during practice, warned him, "Vince, I'm going to take a pellet gun and shoot you in the behind every time you ..."

 

DE Robert Henderson showed up again Monday with a stop in the backfield on a counter run by RB Danny Ware. He also gave good chase on a scramble by Carr.

 

WR Shaun Bodiford shook CB DeAndre Wright off the line for a quick slant. Quick moves from the little guy were too much for Wright.

 

Another good block by OL Andrew Carnahan to clear out a hole. Couldn't see which player he was plowing out of the way; just saw him driving and the back of the pile moving.

 

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

[Mr. P]

August 10, 2009

Tyree struggling in fight for roster spot

 

It’s starting to get late pretty early for Super Bowl hero David Tyree.

 

And it looks like he knows it, too.

 

The frustration finally boiled over today for the 29-year-old receiver when, after dropping a wide open pass, he slammed his helmet to the ground and gave it a good kick. It was his third drop of the morning and his fifth in the last two days, which came after he missed a few practices with a sore groin.

 

“Anytime a guy is off a day or two and comes back,” Coughlin said, “things look foreign to him.”

 

Maybe that’s true. But with Derek Hagan having an excellent camp and drawing praise from the coaches, it’s getting harder and harder to see where Tyree fits since the Giants are highly unlikely to take more than seven receivers into the season. Special teams are always a possible way for him to sneak onto the roster, but after missing all of last season with a knee injury and with his advancing age, he’s just not as fast as he used to be.

 

It is still early, though. But Tyree is clearly getting frustrated.

 

Anyway, here is some more of the morning action:

 

• Today’s lengthy injury list: DT Barry Cofield (knee), CB Corey Webster (hip), CB Aaron Ross (leg), DE Osi Umenyiora (knee), WR Steve Smith (knee), G Kevin Boothe (pec), OL Cliff Louis (ankle), WR Hakeem Nicks (hamstring), DT Chris Canty (hamstring), and welcome to the club LT Guy Whimper (toe) and DE Maurice Evans (leg).

 

• Good news: C Shaun O’Hara (triceps) was back on the field and, as scheduled, DT Fred Robbins (knee) incredibly took some snaps during the team drills.

 

• The defense’s pick-fest continues. Early in practice, QB David Carr was looking for WR Derek Hagan on a deep cross, but LB Chase Blackburn cut in front of it for interception No. 20 (in 11 practices). Then later, in 7 on 7 drills, Hagan fell on a wet field leaving an Andre’ Woodson pass to go right into CB Kevin Dockery’s hands (21).

 

• It’s been a rough couple of days for WR Mario Manningham. Today he was called for an offensive pass interference penalty when he pushed off on CB Stoney Woodson, who still was able to break the play up. Manningham did rally later, though, to make a leaping, falling catch near the end of drills.

 

• TE Darcy Johnson, who’s had a few nice catches to go with a few too many drops this summer, made a nice reaching catch of a Carr pass.

 

• RB Brandon Jacobs caught yet another pass out of the backfield. I feel I need to point it out every time it happens since I harped so much on all his drops last year.

 

• Ah, the speed of WR Sinorice Moss. During a “rally” (no-huddle, hurry-up) drill, he burned by CB Terrell Thomas and caught what would’ve been an 80-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning. When he turns on the jets, nobody can keep up with him.

 

• I mentioned Hagan’s good camp earlier. He just has a knack for making plays, including one on a comeback route where his left foot slipped on the wet field and he still hung on to the ball.

 

• Nice play by 5-10 CB Stoney Woodson to reach out and deflect a pass intended for 6-6 WR Ramses Barden. Just a suggestion: When Barden is covered by a corner that small, don’t throw it low.

 

• Hey, thanks for listening. Manning found Barden going deep down the sidelines, put the ball up high and Barden skied over Woodson to get it. I still have a concern about Barden’s slow starts to his routes and I’m not sure he’ll ever be a deep threat. I wondered if a better corner would’ve been able to position himself to get up and disrupt that pass. I think Barden’s true value will be in the underneath stuff and out-jumping the smaller corners on fades. He could be a huge weapon if he’s used like that.

 

• Even when things go well for Tyree this summer, it’s an adventure. He made a nice catch on the sidelines that Coughlin noted in his post-practice press conference. But that ball nearly snow-coned out of his hands before he managed to hang on.

 

• In case you didn’t notice from all the references to the wet field, it rained here this morning. It actually cleared up for most of practice, but Coughlin kept them going for the final 20 minutes through a steady drizzle. While watching Robbins and Justin Tuck and a slew of receivers constantly struggle to maintain their footing and stay upright, it’s pretty easy to question the wisdom of that decision. But, as far as we know right now, nobody got hurt.

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/giants/2009/08/tyree-struggling-in-fight-for.html

[ppodlesny]

glad to hear about O'Hara