Media Camp Report JULY 28TH! Great Quotes!

[osi724dasack]

ESPN

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/nflnation/post/_/id/60722/saturday-giants-training-camp-thoughts

 

 

Justin Tuck on Shaun Rogers

With Chris Canty out, Shaun Rogers is getting a lot of first-team reps at defensive tackle. This is what defensive end Justin Tuck told me about Rogers today: "He seems to be as focused and hungry for a ring as I've seen anybody. He's in his 12th year, and he's told me personally, 'That's why I came here, because I want to taste what that feels like.' So hopefully his mind stays the way it is, because that guy's an absolute monster to handle. I'm already thinking about packages that will put him over that nose, and if you single him up, he's going to destroy your center, and if you double him, you've got me, Osi and JPP possibly singled up. So there's a lot of matchup problems we can create." Now, I don't know if Rogers, who doesn't have the greatest reputation, will make the team, but with Canty out he has an opportunity and he's impressing some people so far

 

 

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FULL READ

ALBANY, N.Y. -- At one point Saturday afternoon at New York Giants training camp, second-year wide receiver Jerrel Jernigan was running with the first-team offense. He got behind cornerback Corey Webster, but not by much, and quarterback Eli Manning hit him with an absolutely pinpoint deep pass in a spot where only Jernigan could catch it and Webster had no chance to make a play. It looked like Manning's long fourth-quarter pass to Mario Manningham in the Super Bowl, except on the opposite side of the field and without the toe-tapping sideline element by the receiver.

 

 

 

[+] Enlarge

AP Photo/Kathy WillensRueben Randle is one of several receivers in the mix to be the Giants' No. 3 WR.

The realization this sparked in me is that, as guys like Jernigan, Domenik Hixon and Rueben Randle fight it out to be Manningham's replacement as the Giants' No. 3 wide receiver, whoever's working with Manning on a given day should look a lot better than whoever's getting their reps with David Carr or Ryan Perriloux at quarterback. Nothing against those two guys, but Manning's one of the baddest dudes in the league. He makes throws others can't make. He makes his receivers look good.

 

Perhaps for that reason, the Giants are rotating which receivers get the first-team reps. With Hakeem Nicks out for a few more weeks with a foot injury, Hixon and Jernigan got most of the first-team reps opposite Victor Cruz on Saturday. And there were plays on which both Hixon and Jernigan were in the game with Manning. I don't recall seeing Randle with the first team, but it's possible he got some action there, too. And if they're going to give everybody the same chance, I think he ought to going forward.

 

Some other things I saw/thought/learned on the second day of Giants training camp:

• Rookie running back David Wilson should sleep well Saturday night. With Da'Rel Scott sitting out practice, Wilson got the bulk of the reps with the second-team and the third-team offense, and they used him a lot. They handed off to him. They threw the ball to him out of the backfield. He ran and ran and ran. And yeah, he looks fast, but remember -- there's no hitting yet, so every running back is getting through the line and bursting upfield looking good. We'll see what happens once the pads go on, but it's obvious they want to get Wilson up to speed quickly.
  
• Wide receiver Ramses Barden is also in that No. 3 wide receiver mix, and he looked good in practice. They used him on a couple of underneath routes, which is a smart way to use him, since his size is his advantage and he can use it to shield the ball from defenders in traffic. Remember, Barden usually has been hurt and not even on the field this time of year, so he's ahead of where he normally is in training camp.
  
• With Chris Canty out, Shaun Rogers is getting a lot of first-team reps at defensive tackle. This is what defensive end Justin Tuck told me about Rogers today: "He seems to be as focused and hungry for a ring as I've seen anybody. He's in his 12th year, and he's told me personally, 'That's why I came here, because I want to taste what that feels like.' So hopefully his mind stays the way it is, because that guy's an absolute monster to handle. I'm already thinking about packages that will put him over that nose, and if you single him up, he's going to destroy your center, and if you double him, you've got me, Osi and JPP possibly singled up. So there's a lot of matchup problems we can create." Now, I don't know if Rogers, who doesn't have the greatest reputation, will make the team, but with Canty out he has an opportunity and he's impressing some people so far.
  
• Jason Pierre-Paul went down with some kind of leg injury at one point and limped off the field but only missed a couple of plays. Could have just been a cramp.
  
• Cornerback Terrell Thomas, who missed the 2011 season after tearing his ACL, had 2,400 "T2" T-shirts made up and distributed them to fans at practice. "Because they always kept me a part of it last year, regardless of a win or a loss," Thomas said of his fans. "You kind of get lost in the shuffle when you get hurt, and some fans were just there week in and week out supporting me. My mom always taught me to be thankful and to give back, so this is just a small gesture." Nice one, though.
  
• I am heading home now to spend a night there before heading out again Sunday night for Virginia. I will be at Redskins camp Monday and Tuesday, then at Eagles camp Wednesday and Thursday. I'm going to Oxnard for Cowboys camp Aug. 6-7. Didn't run into any of you up here, and I'm sorry about that. But if you see me at any of those other stops, please feel free to say hi.
  
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[Balloonknot]

Training Camp Report 7/28/12

By Marty in Albany Courtesy of BBI

http://www.bigblueinteractive.com/training-camp/july-28-2012/

 

DE Justin Trattou Helped Off Field; Rain Spoils Coughlin’s Plans

Well today was rainy and the practice had its share of high and low points. The lowest is the possible injury to DE Justin Trattou who went down with an ankle injury during the 11 on 11s. He hopped to the sideline and was helped the rest of the way off the field. During a drill prior to the injury, Justin had shown outstanding speed, which is why so many people thought that he would be Dave Tollefson’s replacement on the D-line. On a happier note, the other large Justin, DE Justin Tuck, swatted down an Eli Manning pass and rookie DT Markus Kuhn did the same to QB Ryan Perrilloux at the very end of the practice.

 

Today, the defense caught up a bit with the offense. There were a few plays that were stopped before they even started. Even though the Giants were in shorts and shells, there was a lot more physical contact than yesterday.

P Steve Weatherford practiced catching snaps on the sideline. He fielded low snaps, high snaps, spirals, and knuckle balls. He caught them two-handed and he caught them one-handed. All of it under the watchful eye of K Lawrence Tynes. Later on, there was a field goal drill and Tynes boomed 5 kicks that would have been good from 45-50 yards. There were no actual goal posts because the rain (more about that later) forced the team to use the SUNY lacrosse field. So it was not possible to tell if the kicks were wide or not. They looked pretty good to me.

In a startling turn around for Coach Couglin, the Giants ran a fake field goal! Weatherford caught LS Zak DeOssie’s snap and ran with it.

 

Lawrence Tynes also kicked in the kick-off return drill. The majority of the run backs were by RB David Wilson and WR Jerrel Jernigan, although WR Rueben Randle had one or two as well. Maybe because of their size, Wilson and Jernigan do not look like they are running fast, but Randle looks like he is as fast as anyone on the team. Both FB Henry Hynoski and DT Marvin Austin are on the kick-off return team. They hold hands (if that is still legal) to form the mid-field blocking wedge. Trust me, Henry is a lot faster than Marvin, but few tacklers are going to want to tangle with Austin.

Today I got a better look at WR Victor Cruz. All I can say is he is not the same receiver that I last saw in camp two years ago. He is slick! His footwork, his positioning, and his body control are outstanding. You better have your hands on him when he catches the ball, or he will run away from you. He caught a pass during one of the passing drills and did his salsa dance in front the grandstand. The crowd positively erupted. I guarantee that if Cruz is not double covered (or held) on every play, he will not be stopped.

 

I have wondered just how fast LB Mark Herzlich is. In one of the drills, he ran perhaps a step ahead of Greg Jones and two steps in front of Spencer Paysinger. I think that is good news. Now my only question is about Mark’s judgment. This is based on his remarkably unflattering Mohawk haircut. Did he lose a bet to a teammate?

I think that RB David Wilson had an impressive practice. He is not a big guy and he does not have big arms or big thighs like 195 pound RB Joe Morris did. I’ll have to go with Wilson having “indian muscles.” That is kind of an old-fashioned term for having a lot of strength and stamina without having bulging muscles.

He had better be very resilient, because he is going to get knocked around quite a bit. I wonder about his pass blocking ability and I wonder about his ankles. It appears that he wears wraps around his ankles, I was told, but can’t confirm, that he had done so Virginia Tech as well.

 

Today he caught passes that RB Brandon Jacobs can only dream of catching. He also runs very well after the catch. His only misstep was a muffed catch of a pitch-out in the 11 on 11s. I could not tell if it was an incomplete pass, or a live ball (lateral). Wilson also got a bunch of hand offs and that is where his agility really shows. On one run he made three cuts in about five yards. He has tremendous balance as well. The rest of the RBs also had a good practice.

RB Ahmad Bradshaw is not even trying to run at full speed yet. He does not have to. He looks comfortable running and that is fine with me. On one play he ran about five yard in traffic, then bounced mid-air chest-to-chest with a LB, kept his balance and continued running down the field.

The Giants have an interesting RB drill. The football is attached to a long and heavy rubber band. The other end is attached to a player sitting on the ground. The running back takes the football under his arm and sees how far he can stretch the rubber band while still holding onto the ball.

 

In terms of catching the ball, I have seen nothing from RBs Henry Hynoski, D.J. Ware, or Andre Brown that I can complain about.

It was very clear today why QB David Carr is the back-up quarterback. He is a better ball handler, more accurate, and most of all is better a finding open receivers than Ryan Perrilloux. Ryan hesitated frequently before he pulled the trigger on his passes.

It rained this morning so the Giants could not use the practice fields. They used Fallon Field where the SUNY team plays lacrosse. It is astroturf and quite springy. Never-the-less, the Coach was not happy about having to change his plans.

This morning, I figured that Tom would try to get the practice in by starting ahead of the scheduled 1:30 PM time so I arrived at 1:00 to a slight drizzle. The team had already been on the field for a quarter of an hour. Although it was cloudy and threatening, the rain held off until 3:10. That dampened the enthusiasm of the autograph hungry crowd, but TC kept the team on the field until 3:30.

This is not the first time that Coach Coughlin has managed to get in his practice just ahead of the rain. I can only think of two or three times during Tom’s entire tenure with the team that he has lost a practice to the rain. There are three possibilities, Tom is either smart, or lucky, or has made a pact with the devil.

[Treehugger]

Both FB Henry Hynoski and DT Marvin Austin are on the kick-off return team. They hold hands (if that is still legal) to form the mid-field blocking wedge. Trust me, Henry is a lot faster than Marvin, but few tacklers are going to want to tangle with Austin.

 

[Storm]

 

Cue Jack, "While Andy Reid is busy faking punts, doing onside kicks, wildcats, and other forms of trickery that will be sure to catch General Tom with his pants down, our team is busy holding hands!"

[Storm]

Let me be the first to go on record saying that I don't mind so much of Rueben Randle is returning kicks and punts....but not David Wilson....running back is not a deep position....we have no one I'd be comfortable with gaining even 50 yards a game if Ahmad went down....and if David Wilson doesn't even make it out of training camp because he's returning kicks, that would be shitty.

[Sephiroth]

CBSsports.com

 

"On this field, Barden has been as difficult to cover as Hakeem Nicks or Victor Cruz. Nearly every practice, Barden seemingly makes a catch that only someone with his size (6-6) and reach could handle."

 

Giants101.com

 

"Meanwhile, for Barden, it was more of the same. And by that, we mean he flashed on the practice field and displayed a unique blend of talents everyone has hoped he'd eventually show during a game that counts.

 

The fourth-year wide receiver out of Cal Poly reached behind him and hauled in a pass while being completely blanketed by rookie cornerback Jayron Hosley, and later caught what would have resulted in a touchdown as he streaked down the sideline passed a linebacker.

 

He appeared smooth, focused and determined. It's something he'll have to continue throughout camp and the preseason if he's to earn playing time once the regular season kicks off."

 

 

 

 

[NeMesiS]

Great news from camp...

[Zelmo]

In a startling turn around for Coach Couglin, the Giants ran a fake field goal! Weatherford caught LS Zak DeOssie’s snap and ran with it.

 

With Weatherford what guarantee do we have that that was actually the called play?

 

 

 

-Z