Aug 022006
 
August 2, 2006 New York Giants Training Camp Report (Evening Practice)

by BigBlueInteractive.com Contributor BC Eagles94

So the heat broke a bit as there was some rain in the early evening before practice. Not practicing, riding bikes, were WR Plaxico Burress, WR Sinorice Moss, LB Carlos Emmons, and OG/OT Lewis Kelly. CB Curtis DeLoatch was also there but not riding a bike – he was using one of those machines that is almost like riding a bike using your arms. Plax was there by himself at first and then was having a catch while riding. Then when the others got there, everyone was being thrown a ball while riding.

To answer some questions from my AM practice report:

1. Most people get footballs or clothing signed. Some get cards or pages in the yearbook.

2. Guy Whimper in my opinion does not look good right now. But he is a project and is supposed to be raw. If he is on the field this year, we are in trouble. One thing that we heard is his feet are good but he is raw. However, in the offensive line drills when side-stepping through those blue blocks, he looked lethargic. He also got routinely beat by second team defensive ends in scrimmages (especially by DE Justin Tuck).

3. S James Butler was back for both sessions. So we could all take a deep breath in respect to our safety depth.

4. Sinorice was nice. But he was pretty quiet and reserved – typical southern-way about him.

Okay back to the PM practice…

DE Eric Moore was back practicing after being carted off in AM. He was probably just cramped up/dehydrated or something in the AM practice when carted off.

Mr. Nickels (LB LaVar Arrington) spent more time fiddling around with the bandage around his forehead than practicing. He must have one of those cuts on his forehead from the helmet. That is now very difficult to heal because the helmet now constantly irritates it. He had a big band-aid on his forehead that was then wrapped with gauze around his head, and then followed by white. Then his tight black skull cap went on.

Sinorice Moss has BY FAR the biggest calves of any WR. Most WR’s have chicken legs, at least down in the calves. But Moss has the calves of a lineman! He may be short but he is stout. Can’t wait to see him catching some short passes this season!

FS Will Demps and LB Brandon Short were back. Will Demps was VERY ACTIVE in practice. He made a great play in the scrimmage to break up a pass. Before that the wide receivers/tight ends were doing one on one drills vs. the defensive backs – cornerbacks vs. wide receivers and safeties vs. tights ends. Demps was draped all over a tight end and ripped the ball right out of his hands and came away with the interception. I believe the tight end he abused was Wade Fletcher.

For those of you confused/worried about the LaVar at strong side issue & Short/Emmons at weak side, don’t worry. During the scrimmages LaVar was almost always lined up on the weak side with Short at the strong side (Emmons took PM practice off while Short had taken AM off). So I think we will see LaVar all over the field this year. This defense isn’t going to be the standard linebacker scheme with the more athletic guy limited to the weak side and the stiffer guy at the strong side jamming the tight end.

There were more punt return drills, with the same observations from my earlier report confirmed.

Kickoff return drills: HB Chad Morton was the primary returner with HB Brandon Jacobs still lining up back there. I love that! Let him lay someone out while lead blocking for Morton and if he does get the ball he will get you 20-25 yards by just running straight ahead and running over people.

WR Amani Toomer is in mid-season form, as usual.

None of the quarterbacks excite me behind Eli Manning.

No TE Jeremy Shockey anywhere in sight again. They are downplaying this concussion when saying it was “mild.” It was at least “moderate.” He has been sick with a headache for two days now.

WR David Tyree’s hands look suspect at times but he did make a great catch in the scrimmage. Will he ever contribute much as a WR? Probably not. But he is a special teams demon that at least provides some WR depth as the 5th or 6th guy.

Player interactions after practice…

There were a lot more people after practice this time – tons of kids screaming and yelling which made for it to be pretty hectic. If I were a player, I would not have stopped!

Brandon Jacobs pulled a Tiki and was signing HUNDREDS of autographs. Great guy. I was joking around with him about running over people and that he looks even bigger in person. He was joking around with a lot of the people he was signing for.

LaVar came out and signed. He was just like he is in all the interviews. Loud, funny, and breaking chops. He signed a good amount, but because of his stardom he was being overwhelmed by the rabid kids. The best was when he heard someone yell, “Mr. Harrington!” He stopped and said “Not again, this Mr. Harrington stuff!” Another good one was when he asked a kid begging for an autograph, how many sacks he had last year. The kid responded with “50 million.” I then said “one,” he then turned to me and said, “I actually had none.” I then said, “You had a nice interception in the playoffs though!” And he said “Yeah, yeah I did.” As much as Barber is the epitome of class, Arrington is epitome of humor and personality.

PK Jay Feely was signing again.

CB Gerrick McPhearson was signing. He had taken his jersey, pads, and under shirt off (like many players do) and was signing with his shirt off. He was ABSOLUTELY RIPPED AND JACKED. I would never imagine a cornerback being that jacked. Ripped maybe, but not that jacked. He was huge for a little guy. I asked him who was more ripped, him or Vernon Davis? He chuckled a bit and said, “Vernon is a beast and has 50 pounds on me.”

Eli actually signed some as did DE Michael Strahan. Strahan did the grab-the-item to sign, keep walking while signing, and then hand it back to the kid who was running along side with him with all the other kids. It was his way of signing several autographs without even slowing down I guess!

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