Mini-Camp Starts Today

[Mr. P]

just some early news is that alford has a minor mcl sprain from tripping over a teammate, says he should be 100% by training camp.

 

linval joseph has looked good

 

osi is starting with the 2nd team

 

feagles says he will be there today and tommorow to work with punters and might show up to training camp, that makes me happy.

 

 

im sure there will be full reports to post later.

[Mr. P]

BobGlauber

 

Tom Coughlin on whether S Antrel Rolle has lobbied to run wildcat offense: "Since Day 1, yes." Giants haven't used wildcat.

 

Rolle will often throw long passes after practice. "He'll show you he can throw the ball 70 yards," Coughlin said.

 

i laughed.

[Mr. P]

Minicamp will tell if moves were right

 

The New York Giants are a little over a month away from the start of training camp and there are a lot of questions surrounding a team that finished 8-8.

 

With owner John Mara setting the tone for the offseason by putting everybody in the organization on high alert, as Antonio Pierce would say, the Giants enter one of the most important offseasons in the Coughlin era. On Tuesday, the Giants open their veterans' mandatory mini-camp looking to take another step toward answering many of the questions that linger from last season.

 

Here are five things to look for in mini-camp.

 

The Middle Linebacker Race: The most watched competition in Giants camp is at middle linebacker. Who will emerge to replace Antonio Pierce? While things really won't get cooking until training camp in August, the MIKE candidates need to continue to show new defensive coordinator Perry Fewell they have a grasp on his defense and command of the huddle. Fans will get their first chance to see who will be in the middle on Tuesday when the team holds an open practice at the new stadium. Jonathan Goff, rookie Phillip Dillard, Gerris Wilkinson and Chase Blackburn all have a chance to make one more impression on coaches and teammates before going to Albany. Goff is the early leader having started with the first team in OTAs (organized team activities). Dillard has worked with the second team and Wilkinson, ready to turn his injury-marred career around, has been operating with the third team.

 

The Defensive Ends: The second-most anticipated competition this summer will be between Osi Umenyiora and Mathias Kiwanuka. Umenyiora wants his old job back. Kiwanuka wants to start in the last year of his contract. The battle to see who starts opposite Justin Tuck will be compelling. Umenyiora said back during Super Bowl week that he would rather retire than not start. However, outside of a lingering hip issue, Umenyiora -- who thought he would be traded after the Giants drafted defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul -- has been engaged, happy and focused during OTAs. Pierre-Paul also gets an opportunity to show the Giants what he can do.

 

Minister of Defense: Fewell has three consecutive days to see how players are learning his schemes and how all the pieces fit together. How will he use the plethora of defensive ends at his disposal? During one OTA, he used Tuck, Kiwanuka and Umenyiora together with Kiwanuka inside on a few snaps. Fewell will use these three days to teach his defense how to play his multiple-look scheme in different situations. He also will get a better look at some position competitions such as the battle at cornerback between Aaron Ross and Terrell Thomas. And rookies like Pierre-Paul and massive defensive tackle Linval Joseph will continue to try to impress Fewell.

 

Earth, Wind and Fire II: The Giants' running game sputtered last season due to injuries. Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw underwent offseason surgeries, and both are ready for a bounce-back season. Jacobs says he has been a full-go for some time. Bradshaw, who underwent surgery on both of his feet and an ankle, says he feels like he is running on new feet again. The Giants opted not to draft another running back with the confidence that either D.J. Ware or Andre Brown will be healthy and effective enough to emerge as the third running back. Brown, who is coming off a season-ending Achilles injury during training camp last year, has been able to cut effectively during OTAs.

 

Safety Dance: Kenny Phillips is still on the mend and won't be ready until training camp. New additions Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant have been running the back of the defense. Fewell wants his safeties to be vocal while actively disguising and camouflaging the defensive plan. The veterans have provided the Giants experience and a major upgrade after last year's disastrous safety play. Rolle could become one of the team's vocal leaders by the end of training camp this summer. Rookie Chad Jones still needs to shave a few pounds, according to assistant coaches, but his size, athleticism and hands are hard to ignore.

 

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/news/story?id=5286740

[Mr. P]

 

Jeff Feagles was holding court with reporters in the locker room Tuesday when Shaun O’Hara walked by and couldn’t help taking a shot at his former teammate.

 

“I thought this was for players’ interviews only,” the Giants’ center shouted in the direction of the recently retired punter.

 

Only seconds earlier, Feagles had said it was “nice to be around these guys.” Based on the ribbing from O’Hara, it was like he never left.

 

No, Feagles wasn’t making a comeback. And no, he wasn’t pulling a David Tyree and simply stopping by to watch practice.

 

Feagles was at the start of Giants minicamp as a special instructor for punters Matt Dodge and Jy Bond, who have a combined zero games’ NFL experience. Realizing his retirement will result in a downgrade at the punting position this season, Feagles is trying his best to help Dodge and Bond progress as quickly as possible.

 

And perhaps to kick-start a budding business idea he discussed with former Giants kicker John Carney, who served as an instructor for Saints kicker Garrett Hartley last season.

 

“The full-time coaching thing is not something I want to do because of my time I want to spend with family and things like that,” Feagles said. “However, in talking to John, he implied to me a little bit here and there will help the young guys, especially on game days when special-teams coaches are concentrating on the game. They don’t have a lot of time to work a young guy who’s on the sideline through problems or whatever. So that’s a good opportunity.”

 

Feagles noted Carney’s role with New Orleans as well as Chris Boniol’s being hired as a kicking coach with the Cowboys last season as evidence kicking instructors might be the wave of the near future. Right now, he has nothing in stone with the Giants beyond this three-day minicamp, though he’s held brief discussions with general manager Jerry Reese about helping in training camp and during the season.

 

Asked about being on the sideline on game days, Feagles joked, “It’s tough with my schedule with my other coaching junior football and stuff. Those guys are counting on me, you know? This is sixth-grade football so most of our games are on Friday nights. Sundays, I have season tickets now, so I want to kind of sit in the stands a little bit.”

 

For now, Feagles is trying to eliminate inconsistency with Dodge and Bond. Consistency was Feagles’ staple for much of his career, but it’s something that often eludes young punters, particularly Dodge, who has said directionality isn’t a big part of his game.

 

“Right now I think it’s difficult (to teach directional kicking),” Feagles said. “You take what he does well and massage that a little bit and then move into the direction side of it. The main purpose right now with both of them is to get them to be consistent so they can hit one after another instead of one out of five. The direction will come sooner or later. But right now, they need to work on the fundamentals better.”

 

Special teams coaches Tom Quinn and Tom McGaughey have certainly given their input, but as Feagles noted, “somebody that’s had a football on their foot for so long can kind of relate to their questions and things like that.”

 

http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2010/06/retired_punter_jeff_feagles_wo.html

[Balloonknot]

God Bless Feagles

[BlueInCanada]

GOAT

[Mr. P]

Morning Practice Highlights

 

Here are a few highlights from today’s morning practice.

 

* DT Jay Alford, who is recovering from knee surgery, sat out the practice with what head coach Tom Coughlin said was a tweaked MCL. Alford tripped over a teammate last Tuesday during an OTA workout, tweaking his MCL. While he won’t work in the mini camp, he expects to be fully ready for training camp.

 

* LS Zak DeOssie left practice early after his back tightened up on him following some morning long snapping drills. His ailment is not believed to be serious. In fact, DeOssie was back for the afternoon practice.

 

* Hakeem Nicks (toe) who was active in the morning practice, will not work in the afternoon.

 

* Former P Jeff Feagles, whose locker still remains in the Giants locker room, was at the team’s facility today and said that he would be around to work with the punters during this camp. Feagles, who initially said that he wouldn’t pursue a career in coaching, has not ruled out possibly working with the punters again during training camp.

 

* Present but obviously not working were TE Kevin Boss (ankle) who was on the side on crutches and OL Kevin Boothe (pectoral) who was on the side with is arm in a sling.

 

* S Kenny Phillips, who stretched with the team but who remains sidelined until at least training camp, did some change of direction work. The good news is that he continues to experience not swelling in his knee after the workouts. Both Phillips and head coach Tom Coughlin remain optimistic that the safety will be ready for training camp. Phillips, meanwhile, remains patient in getting full clearance to return to fulltime duty.

 

“Whatever they tell me, I just go with whatever the trainers and doctors tell me. If they say go practice, I go practice. If they tell me to sit out, I sit out. So it’s on them,” Phillips said.

 

Although Phillips has been forced to be an observer during the OTAs and minicamp, he said that he really likes what he sees from the new defense, especially from his fellow safeties, Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant.

 

“They’re great right now. They’re creating turnovers, they’re disguising. Deon is doing a great job with communicating with the young guys. Antrel is making plays … they’re doing a great job out there. I can’t wait to get back and be a part of it.”

 

* DE Osi Umenyiora took snaps at LDE as well as RDE with the one’s, which was interesting considering that in the past he’s mostly worked at RDE whom as readers know raised a fuss earlier in the off-season when he lost his starting job, seems to have accepted the fact that he will need to compete for it all over again.

 

So far, Umenyiora continues to say the right things about being with the two’s, and said that if in the end the coaches decide that he is not worthy of having his starting job back, he’d be okay with that.

 

“If I truly was not the best player, then I’d be cool with it,” Umenyiora said after this morning’s practice. “But if I feel like I am the best player - - and everybody in this league knows the type of player I am - - the minute in my mind I’m playing the way I’m capable of playing and I’m not on the field, then of course it’s going to be a problem.”

Umenyiora, who’s determined to not be a distraction to his teammates, opined that his role as a backup to Mathias Kiwanuka is temporary and that when the dust settles, he will be back where he feels he belongs.

 

“I feel like I’m still one of the best defensive ends in the league in my head. That’s pretty much all that counts. If I really decided to start thinking about (win back the starting job), it’s not going to be good for this team at all.”

 

Despite insisting he’d be okay with a back-up role, Umenyiora suggested that he's better than Matthias Kiwanuka. “He’s a good football player, no question about that, no argument there,” Umenyiora said. “Been to Hawaii though? It’s hard. You have to be of a certain pedigree to get over there.”

 

One other note about Umenyiora and that is his hip injury, which has been an on-going thing since 2006, is something he said he could deal with, even though it flares up every so often.

 

* Jonathan Goff continues to lineup at MLB with the one’s, at times switching off with Phillip Dillard and not Gerris Wilkinson. There is no depth chart now, mind you but it’s interesting to note that Dillard appears to have moved ahead of Wilkinson, whom I don’t recall seeing with the one’s in the four OTAs we had access to.

 

* It was a rough morning for CB Aaron Ross, who took some snaps with the first team defense, rotating with Terrell Thomas. Ross looked like he was doing too much thinking instead of reacting, and was burned on a couple of plays.

 

* Ahmad Bradshaw is really moving well despite having had feet and ankle surgeries. He hasn’t really stopped and cut on a dime from what I’ve have seen, but as far as changing direction, he’s been showing no signs of slowing down.

 

* Nice job by Hakeem Nicks on an end-around as he turned the corner with ease, mostly due to Ramses Barden screening out Aaron Ross to spring Nicks for the big gain.

 

* Andre Brown outhustled Dave Tollefson around the corner after taking a pass frmt he backfield. Tollefson actually looked as though he might have been fooled by the play action pass. After the play was over, defensive line coach Robert Nunn called Tollefson over to no doubt go over the play and give some instruction.

 

* Antrel Rolle broke up a pass intended for Derek Hagan, doing a nice job to step in front of the play and get a hand in there at the last minute.

 

* Rhett Bomar, who was under pressure, wildly threw the ball away and it was nearly picked off by rookie free agent LB Micah Johnson. Johnson, however, dropped the pass.

 

* Great job by Terrell Thomas to break up a pass intended for Mario Manningham. Thomas, who will have to fend off Aaron Ross for his job, seems to be playing with more of a passion and purpose in this camp and had mentioned to me that he was determined to get a few picks before the spring practices ended.

 

* Corey Webster had the defensive highlight of the morning, picking off a Jim Sorgi pass for a pick-six. Webster did a nice job watching the quarterback and then quickly jumping the route to grab the pass that I think was intended for Victor Cruz.

 

* TE Bear Pascoe did a good job on an over the shoulder catch of a corner route. He then came back and caught perhaps the prettiest pass of the morning, a flag route thrown by Jim Sorgi, beating Chad Jones in the process.

 

* Gerris Wilkinson, working with the two's on this play, did a nice job blowing up a screen pass thrown to Ahmad Bradshaw.

 

http://trainathought.insidefootball.com/2010/06/morning-practice-highlights.html

[Treehugger]

GOAT

[Mr. P]

Mike Garafolo NJ_Giants

 

Rich Seubert (shockingly) + Jason Pierre-Paul (shockingly - for real) get into a brawl.

[Mr. P]

Afternoon Practice Highlights

 

Before I get to the afternoon practice report, let me just saw that the view from the press box, where most of the media chose to work, is phenomenal. It was great not having a line of bodies in your line of sight and being able to see the plays develop as you would if were a game. While the crowd turnout was a little smaller than I thought it might be, the energy in the building was good and I think overall the Giants, who by the way are the first pro football team to hold any kind of football activity in the new building, were energized by playing in the new place.

 

On the flipside, I got a glimpse at the old building next door, or what’s left of it. I’ve said it before, but seeing that building come down truly breaks my heart because of all the memories I have of the place. It’s nearly completely down – just one remaining rotting section filled with holes remains. I suspect the next time we set foot in this building, the old girl will have completely been dismantled and will have been replaced by a parking lit.

 

Ok, let’s get down to business.

 

* LS Zak DeOssie was back at work after having to leave practice early this morning when his back stiffened up on him. DeOssie and the rest of the kicking specialists were off on the side working with Jeff Feagles, who was not only showing the punters how to directional kick, but was also giving instruction on holding for place-kicks.

 

* WR Hakeem Nicks (toe) was held out of the team pat of practice, as expected. Nicks, who will e fine for training camp, is only going to work once a day in this minicamp.

 

* DT Jay Alford (knee) remains out of practice and will not work in this minicamp.

 

* WR Mario Manningham left practice early grabbed his helmet and ran off the field, but according to the PR staff, his departure was not due to an injury.

 

* Aaron Ross was the unlucky first recipient to be booed at the new Giants Stadium after he dropped a punt. On the flipside, I think Travis Beckum gets the honors of being the first individual player to be cheered in the new stadium when he beat Sha’reff Rashad on a pass thrown by Eli Manning that was slightly overthrown (this in one-on-one passing drills). Ross later did a nice job deflecting away a pass that was intended for Mario Manningham.

 

* Also in the one-on-one passing drills, Derek Hagan made a beautiful fingertip catch against Michael Johnson.

 

* Phillip Dillard lined up on the strong side with Jonathan Goff in the middle. As a rule, the coaches will give the rookies a lot to do when they first join the team in an effort to learn about them. In Dillard’s case, he seems to be doing well with the responsibilities he’s getting to get some first-team snaps on the strong side. Dillard, a few plays later, was back in the middle and strung out RB Andre Brown on an outside run to the left.

 

* Mathias Kiwanuka, who seemed to be extra motivated in this afternoon’s practice, came up with a “sack” of QB Eli Manning. Kiwanuka was so quick off the line that he was barely touched. Later in the practice, he batted down another of Manning’s passes.

 

* Not to be outdone, Justin Tuck came up with a “sack” of his own, he too barely being touched.

 

* WR Mario Manningham, on a stop-and-go route, ran a nice pattern, but barely made the catch, as Terrell Thomas was right there on his hip. Thomas tried to knock the ball away, but Manningham was able to hold off Thomas.

 

* Scary moment there on punt return drills when WR Domenik Hixon fell down and grabbed his right knee. His foot apparently got stuck in the turf, but after a few minutes, he got up and walked off the field under his own power, albeit with a slight limp. Head coach Tom Coughlin later told us that he didn’t know the severity of Hixon’s knee injury but was hopeful that it wasn’t anything major.

 

* Will Beatty lined up at LT with the ones, along side of Diehl. Both Coughlin and GM Jerry Reese have said that Beatty would be in the mix for a starting job, but up until this point, Seubert, the left guard, had been rotating with Guy Whimper while the tackles remained in place. So we’ll see if anything further comes of Beatty’s insertion into the starting lineup.

 

* Speaking of Seubert, he got into a mini scuffle with Jason Pierre-Paul following a pileup of bodies.

 

* Rookie free agent WR Victor Cruz snagged a deep ball thrown over the middle by Rhett Bomar for a touchdown. Then on the next play, Riley Skinner grossly overthrew Cruz.

 

* In seven-on-sevens, Terrell Thomas broke up a pass over the middle thrown by Eli Manning. Then it was Ramses Barden coming up with another nice fingertip catch against S Sha’reff Rashad.

 

* DE Jason Pierre-Paul got a loud round of applause when he knocked down Sorgi’s pass intended to Travis Beckum in the flat. Speaking of the rookie, he was part of a nickel package that saw Osi Umenyiora and Mathias Kiwanuka at the Des, and Pierre-Paul and Justin Tuck as the tackles.

 

* Nice job by rookie WR Tim Brown in making CB Bruce Johnson think a pass was coming when in fact it was a running play. Bad job by Johnson in not watching the quarterback, which was something that the defensive backs have said was an objective in Perry Fewell’s offense.

 

* Jim Sorgi did a bad job in setting up WR Derek Hagan, who was wide open in the end zone after running a slant. As a result, CB Courtney Brown was able to swoop in and break up the play.

 

* LB Kenny Ingram dropped an interception and caught an earful from Perry Fewell, especially considering Ingram had a wide open path to the end zone.

 

* Practice concluded with Ramses Barden, lined up in the slot, catching a fade pass thrown by Riley Skinner in the corner of the end zone.

 

Read more: http://trainathought.insidefootball.com/2010/06/afternoon-practice-highlights.html#ixzz0qxn6spGp

[Mr. P]

 

[BlueInCanada]

Going to be interesting to see what happens with Osi and Kiwi, I mean if Osi wants out and Kiwi is coming into the end of his contract we may be loosing both players.

[Mr. P]

Going to be interesting to see what happens with Osi and Kiwi, I mean if Osi wants out and Kiwi is coming into the end of his contract we may be loosing both players.

 

and drafting jpp will look brilliant.

[Mr. P]

Minicamp Day 2: Morning Practice Report

 

The Giants continued to go about their business under overcast skies as across the way, a caravan of Jets fans were making their way to see their team close their minicamp in the new stadium.

 

* As I mentioned in another blog report, WR Domenik Hixon, who was initially was reported to have suffered a hyper extended right knee in yesterday’s workout at the new stadium, has a torn ACL and is done for the season. Hixon, who got his leg caught in the turf during yesterday’s workout at the new stadium, will have surgery in 2-3 weeks once the swelling goes down and will be placed on injured reserve at some point.

 

With Hixon finished for the year, the Giants will have to find a new punt returner. As of right now, the candidates include Aaron Ross, Sinorice Moss , and Antrel Rolle, all of whom have taken turns returning punts during the OTAs and in the mini camp.

 

* Jay Alford (knee) remained sidelined. Meanwhile Mario Manningham, whom as I reported yesterday left the afternoon practice suddenly due to a personal reason, was back on the field.

 

* Ahmad Bradshaw (feet/ankles) didn’t work this morning and head coach tom Coughlin said that Bradshaw wouldn’t be working this afternoon either. You might recall I said in my reports yesterday that I thought Bradshaw was running hard and looked no worse for the wear. Apparently, he might have gone at it a little too hard as Coughlin reported that Bradshaw was sore today.

 

* S Chad Jones had to come out of the practice to have his hip wrapped. There was no word on how serious that might have been, so we’ll see if he’s out there this afternoon.

 

* The Giants continued mixing up their first-team offensive line, getting Will Beatty into the mix at left tackle. I didn’t see much with Guy Whimper moving in at left guard, but I’ll preface that by saying that at times we didn’t always have the best view for some of the 11-on-11 stuff. I definitely did see Beatty take some snaps with the ones at left tackle, with Diehl moved inside to guard.

 

* I thought RB Andre Brown had a solid morning. Brown has quietly impressed a lot of observers at this minicamp. Brown is running with a lot of confidence and is showing no signs of pain or discomfort. He’s also doing a nice job of picking out the holes to hit n traffic and getting through them quickly.

 

* Rough morning for TE Bear Pascoe, who dropped one pass as Michael Boley was closing in on him during a seven-on-seven drill. In an 11-on-11 drill, Pascoe dropped another ball, this time as free agent S Michael Greco was closing in on him. Toward the end of practice, Pascoe did snare a high pass out of the air for a reception, but his momentum carried him out of bounds.

 

* CB Corey Webster came up with another pick-six, this one off a pass thrown by Rhett Bomar. It looked like Bryan Kehl managed to get a hand on it to deflect it toward Webster. On the play, Webster jammed his finger. Webster, who’s been having a great camp so far, said afterwards that he’s going to be fine.

 

* It was a good morning for CB Courtney Brown. In 11-on-11s, he got a hand on a pass intended for Sinorice Moss to swat that away. He then broke up another pass, thrown by QB Riley Skinner on a pass intended for Ramses Barden in the corner of the end zone.

 

* CB Aaron Ross, who has been doing work on the punt return team, moved very well. He was zigzagging all over the place and looked quick in the process. Ross has slowly been rebuilding his confidence after last season and seems to be having fun out there, something that might not have always been there in the past. Ross, of course, will compete with Terrell Thomas for the starting cornerback role opposite of Corey Webster this summer.

 

http://trainathought.insidefootball.com/2010/06/minicamp-day-2-morning-practice-report.html

[Mr. P]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuQM7-6X0d8

[Mr. P]

Day 2 Minicamp Report: Afternoon Practice

 

Here’s your afternoon practice report.

 

* DE Justin Tuck sat out the afternoon practice with a sore foot, which explained his very noticeable limp. Tuck, remember, first developed a sore foot in the 2008 season and elected to skip surgery to remove some bone spurs.

 

* DE Dave Tollefson filled in for Tuck on the ones. Meanwhile Mathias Kiwanuka played on the opposite end with Osi Umenyiora working with the twos.

 

* CB Corey Webster (finger) and WR Hakeem Nicks (toe) were back on the field working. Webster had at least one pass break up this afternoon while Nicks had at least one reception.

 

* S Michael Johnson fell to the turf after one play grabbing his right leg, but it turned out to be just cramps.

 

* Aaron Ross swatted away a pass that TE Bear Pascoe had in his hands.

 

* Ramses Barden is a big target to miss, but somehow Rhett Bomar pulled it off by heaving the ball way over the receiver’s head.

 

* LB Bryan Kehl came up with his first interception of the minicamp, a pick-six off of Jim Sorgi, who so far hasn’t looked particularly impressive in this camp. On the play, Ruben Riley ha to bear hug Linval Joseph, who had him beat for the inside track on a sack.

 

* WR Victor Cruz cleanly beat CB Vince Anderson on a streak along the sideline, but the ball, thrown by Riley Skinner, was thrown ay over Cruz’ head.

 

* Great job by Terrell Thomas to adjust and knock away a pass that was off-target and intended for a Hakeem Nicks. Thomas left nothing to chance in knocking it away. Thomas, by the way, lined up in the slot against Ramses Barden on a couple of occasions.

 

* RB Andre Brown had a couple of dropped passes this afternoon. Despite that, it seems, It seems that Brown might be ahead of DJ Ware in that race for the third running back spot, as Brown seems to be getting more reps than Ware of late.

 

* Nice pass by Eli Manning to Steve Smith on a 50-yard strike in 11-on-11s as part of the two-minute drill. The play was so spectacular that head coach Tom Coughlin decided to end the practice rather than line the players up for another play.

 

* * *

 

GM Jerry Reese today said that he was surprised to hear that Domenik Hixon’s knee injury was more serious than first thought. The team’s trainers tested out Hixon’s knee and were sure that it was intact; however, this morning Hixon experienced some swelling prior to having the MRI.

 

Reese said that he has already spoken to the Field Turf officials about making some changes to the field, but added that any changes that take place will have to be approved but the Jets as well.

 

Reese said he didn’t blame the turf for the injury, noting that it could have happened on any surface. Still, the fact that some suggestions for changes were made seem to indicate there is concern with the turf.

 

As for who will fill in for Hixon as a punt returner, Reese mentioned Mario Manningham and Aaron Ross as possibilities. (He said they were fine as far as kick returners went.) Reese said he also wouldn’t rule out trading for a punt returner if someone doesn’t emerge from the roster.

 

Ross, incidentally, has been soliciting the coaches to put him on special teams. “I’ve been asking to do it,” he said of playing on special teams.

 

When asked what the appeal is, he smiled and said, “It keeps me loose. It’s a momentum changer for both sides of the ball. And it’s just something I’ve been doing since I’ve been in college, so I don’t mind doing it here.”

 

Ross, who spoke prior to the news about Hixon’s season-ending injury, might not get the chance to be the team’s punt returner if he ends up winning back his starting job from Terrell Thomas. Typically, the Giants don’t like to put starting players in kickoff or punt return roles.

 

However, Ross doesn’t seem to mind if he’s asked to do double duty.

 

“I don’t know how that’s going to work, but I just want to catch punts,” he said, adding, “Hopefully I’ll get a chance to do it.”

 

 

* * *

 

Former WR Amani Toomer, who stopped by to announce that he’d be participating in the upcoming New York City Marathon in November – Toomer will be starting deadly last and through a sponsorship with Timex, one dollar will be donated for every runner Toomer passes en route to the finish line – spoke about his life after football.

 

“I think the fact that I have something to do in terms of trying to get into broadcasting as well as running this marathon is really keeping me busy,” he said.

 

Toomer, whose contract was not renewed by the Giants last off-season when he was a free agent, initially left the team with some bitterness. He signed with the Kansas City Chiefs as a free agent, but soon realized that the situation was not the best fit for him in which to continue his career.

 

“Once I was with the Chiefs, I don’t know if I was really into it,” he said. “Going from an organization like the Giants to the Chiefs was a big difference – it was like playing varsity to playing junior varsity. I didn’t really like the fact that a lot of the things were going on over there. They have a good organization and they’re making moves, but for the (rebuilding) situation they were in at the time, I don’t think I was the right person to be there.”

 

Despite the breakup, Toomer said it’s all water under the bridge.

 

“I’ve been with the Giants for 13 years. When you’ve been in a relationship that long, the breakup is going to be very hard but cooler heads prevailed and everyone’s happy,” Toomer said. “I’m excited to be back here and part of the Giants family and I don’t have any regrets about what I did.”

 

http://trainathought.insidefootball.com/2010/06/day-2-minicamp-report-afternoon-practice.html

[Treehugger]

Glad Amani's no longer unhappy.

[NightFire]

Wow the backup QB position is looking promising.