August 7, 2011 New York Giants Training Camp Report (Evening Practice)

August 7, 2011 New York Giants Training Camp Report (Evening Practice)

by BigBlueInteractive.com Contributor UberAlias

The team had their pads on tonight and they had the refs there so they got in a lot of team work.

There was a pretty funny incident at the beginning of practice a fan walked by with a Tony Romo Jersey and got a lot of shouts from the fans. He was standing by the fence where the running backs were on the far side and they and took notice. Jacobs picked up a football and acted like he was going to whip it into the fence at him. The fans started egging him on and it looked to me like he was seriously considering doing it but his better judgment won out.

In the early drills they split up into a few groups and had the pass catchers and defensive backs working together on the main field. There were some good battles here but the biggest play was a 40 yarder from Eli Manning to Hakeem Nicks to beat Terrell Thomas and Kenny Phillips. Thomas had good coverage but it was an absolutely perfect throw from #10.

One interesting observation here. I was wondering where Phillips was since I did not see him at all in this drill. I was worried he may have been injured at first but then realized that he was over working with the linebackers. They have mentioned they wanted to protect Phillips last year but clearly intend to have him working up in the box this year and believe he can be a real difference maker for them in that role. This team needs a physical presence in the back 7 and would love to see KP step up. Recall the Pittsburgh game his rookie year.

The team ran a lot of three wide receiver sets that saw Domenik Hixon and Hakeem Nicks on the outside and Mario Manningham in the slot.

I watched the LBs for a bit. Clint Sintim made a play from the far side of the field to make a stop of RB Da’Rel Scott close to the line of scrimmage. Jon Goff has impressed me. I think he’s a lock to retain his starting spot and think he’s going to be a solid middle linebacker for us this year. Overall there is some good potential in this group and I am very anxious to see them in live action next week.

Terrell Thomas is getting a lot of work covering the slot and they have him doing double duty as a starter with the 1s but also getting extra work with the 2s and 3s covering the slot receiver and rotating with Aaron Ross.

A few guys who looked good today were safety Tyler Sash who had a couple of stops and batted down one of Eli’s passes. They seem to be gaining confidence in the kid and have him seeing some action as the 3rd safety with the 1s.

A guy who has surprised me and having a pretty good camp after showing disappointingly little last year is wide receiver Darius Reynaud. He flashes some good quickness and has looked pretty good in both returns and as a wideout.

But the guy who really jumped out at me tonight was halfback Andre Brown who was impressive both running and catching the ball out of the backfield and just seemed to be working at a different speed than everyone else.