August 5, 2008 New York Giants Training Camp Report (Evening Practice)

August 5, 2008 New York Giants Training Camp Report (Evening Practice)

by BigBlueInteractive.com Contributor Pegasus Park Goose

The time for waxing poetic about a championship dropped out of blue heaven is over, and the battle is joined anew. I rest assured that the dust one everyone’s Super Bowl DVD’s has not yet begun to settle, and so the memories are still crisp. And yet almost to this fans amazement here we are in Albany in preparation for a title defense. The crowds in attendance for this evening’s session certainly reflect a champion. Far be it from me to say that there is a Big Blue Bandwagon making the rounds in Albany, but numbers certainly tell a compelling story. (Readers of this website may exclude themselves from such discussion.) That said, battling riff riff fans for a little real estate to drop my blanket for a decent view of the practice field is going to be nothing compared to the battle with my newlywed wife (July 19. 2008) for PSL funds. She is of the opinion that we need money to start a family. I’m of the opinion that we first have to make sure that our potential children will be “in the building” as Mr. Mara likes to put it. But all that will wait for another day.  I’m back in Albany sitting on a blanket because I forgot my chair (and boy my butt is sore) its 6:10 pm the troops are done stretching, its time to practice and its all worth it.

The Giants begin the session symbolically enough by working on kickoff team. In the meantime the offense line broke off to practice firing off the ball while the 4 Quarter Backs practiced taking snaps from O’Hara and a host of backups. While scanning the field for who would drop back deep to receive the kickoffs the lack of wide receivers on the practice field was certainly evident. Although the session was just shorts, shoulder pads and shells, noticeably absent were #17 Plaxico Burress, #81 Armani Toomer, #12 Steve Smith, #85 David Tyree, #82 Mario Manningham, and # 19 Antonio London in other words all four receivers who were on the field for 62 Y Sail Union and the third round draft pick everyone’s been salivating to see. (I walked right passed Drew Rosenhaus in the parking lot following practice, so let’s hope he can help make #17’s ankle feel a little better.) London was supposed to have been having a nice camp so it was disappointing not to see him out there. For the first half hour of practice the only thing going on was some walk-throughs and a lot of Giant DB’s dropping balls in a drill where they were trying to catch passes while breaking on the ball.

At 7:00 the Giants began running some 11 on 11’s and the first thing that I noticed was the presence of a 35 second play clock. Maybe it’s been there in the past and I haven’t noticed it, but an emphasis on getting the ball snapped quicker is surely a welcome sign for fans that have had to endure far too many delay penalties in recent years. On the second play, Eli threw a short pass for #83 Sinorice Moss, who had the ball bounce off his hands and right to #37 safety James Butler who ran it in for a touchdown. The next play was a handoff to #44 RB Ahmad Bradshaw who looks extremely explosive. During the 11 on 11 and 7 on 7 drills the breakdown of snaps per quarterback went like this: Manning 13, Wright 16, Carr 11, Woodson 8. Despite throwing an interception right to #21 S Kenny Phillips, Anthony Wright looks much more confident and competent than Carr and Woodson.

The void left by Jeremy Shockey is a big one and the men trying to fill it had an up and down session. Kevin Boss had a few catches including a nice catch falling out of bounds on a ball thrown by Anthony Wright. #84 Darcy Johnson who needs to impress in camp also had a bad drop on a toss over the middle from Wright. The Giants practiced their field goal unit and Lawrence Tynes made 3 of 4, but the one he missed was straight on from no more than about 35 yards out. The three he made were struck nicely but the one he missed was ugly.

Wednesday morning’s practice was a jog thru and the first preseason is Thursday night in Detroit. Enjoy your title defense Giants fans. It should be a great ride!