August 10, 2009 New York Giants Training Camp Report (Evening Practice)

August 10, 2009 New York Giants Training Camp Report (Evening Practice)

by BigBlueInteractive.com Contributor Marty in Albany

It is nearly ninety degrees, humid, and not a breath of wind. I am shvitzing just standing on the sideline. The Giants, who were in full pads, must really be feeling the heat. The Giants can thank Head Coach Tom Coughlin for scheduling the two-a-days early in the morning and late in the afternoon to afford them at least some respite from the sun. A little way into the practice a light rain started to fall. It got a little cooler, but remained quite humid. Towards the end of practice (which Coach Coughlin ended a half hour early), OG Orrin Thompson had to be helped off the field. It could have been from the heat.

There was kicking and punting. P Jeff Feagles did his usual superb job of punting to either sideline with equal ease. The punts were caught by the usual suspects: WRs Domenik Hixon, Sinorice Moss, and Mario Manningham, and HB Ahmad Bradshaw. LB Zak DeOssie snapped adequately for about a dozen punts. TE Lee Vickers was put in to snap for three of the punts and he snapped three perfect spirals to Feagles.

K Lawrence Tynes attempted 4 field goals in the 30-35 yard range and he missed at least two of them. He had been making a very high percentage of his kicks until now.

The Giants continued to have NFL referees at the practice. I saw them get out of their car and I tried to interview them as the five of us walked towards the practice field. They are a surly and suspicious lot, who claim to be overworked and underpaid. I prefer people of a different stripe (pun intended).

As for the practice itself, there were a lot of players who were not dressed on both sides of the ball. I thought that the offense was rather ragged. Now that OG Rich Seubert and C Shaun O’Hara are back playing, OG Chris Snee was out and OG Tutan Reyes took his place with the starters. The defense continued to pretty much stop the offense both in the air and on the ground. In the 7 on 7’s, CB DeAndre Wright made a fine interception of a QB Rhett Bomar pass and a good chance for another Bomar interception bounced out of CB Stoney Woodson’s hands on a pass intended for WR Shaun Bodiford.

In the 11 on 11 running drill, there was no place for HB Brandon Jacobs to go on his first carry. On the second play he found a hole and took good advantage of it. HB Ahmad Bradshaw then found a small hole and ran for a small gain.

I guess you can consider it an improvement if OT Adam Koets makes only one high shotgun snap and one low one. They were both handled by QB David Carr, but they disrupted the flow of the offense. Actually, on the low snap the ball was either batted away by the defense or Carr bounced it off the head of an offensive lineman. Frankly, the most exciting offensive play was in the 11 on 11’s when QB David Carr threw a long bomb that was caught by WR Mario Manningham, but was called out of bounds by the officials.

Back in the 7 on 7’s there were more fine defensive plays. S Sha’reff Rashad made a fine pass defense of a Carr pass to TE Travis Beckum and S Kenny Phillips jumped the receiver’s route and made an excellent leaping interception of a QB Andre’ Woodson pass. S C.C. Brown followed that by, I think, stealing the ball away from a receiver after the completion.

In the 11 on 11’s, DE Mathias Kiwanuka was right there to meet HB Brandon Jacobs who was running around end. Kiwi recieved loud praise from the coach for this.