August 19, 2014 New York Giants Practice Report

Odell Beckham – © USA TODAY Sports Images

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AUGUST 19, 2014 NEW YORK GIANTS PRACTICE REPORT…
For a full-pads cards/game plan practice that saw the starters match-up against each other just once, Tuesday was an eventful one in East Rutherford.

The “not-injured” Odell Beckham Jr. sat out practice. With both Charles Brown and James Brewer nursing injuries, the offensive line had a few new looks.

There were more picks, a little trash talk and a water bath for Eli Manning.

On to the report…

Jon Beason – Photo by Connor Hughes

THE WALKING WOUNDED…
The same players were injured and not at practice: Xavier Grimble (hamstring), Trindon Holliday (hamstring), Charles Brown (shoulder), James Brewer (back), Jon Beason (foot), Peyton Hillis (ankle/foot) and Prince Amukamara (groin). Odell Beckham Jr. (non-injured hamstring) sat out, too. Ross Weaver (ankle) returned. Trindon Holliday (hamstring), who practiced limited yesterday, was out again today.

SPECIAL TEAMS…
As is the case with a cards practice, there really isn’t too much to take out of anything. But, you can observe some different formations.

• With Holliday and Beckham sidelined, the Giants worked the following as punt returners: Rueben Randle, Victor Cruz and Preston Parker. This list just gets shorter and shorter each day.

• The first-team gunners were Charles James II and Zack Bowman.  The second-team featured Trumaine McBride and Bennett Jackson.

• It was Brandon McManus‘ turn to kick today and he went 3-of-4. What once looked like a real competition now appears anything but. Coughlin was asked if it would be tough to make the kicker choice and his response said it all: “I hope so.”

HURRY-UP DRILL…
After practice, Coughlin said about 50 percent of the day was ‘carded’ or ‘game planned.’ Here’s essentially what that means: the offense and defense line up (rarely ones vs. ones) and one of the groups will have a card with a play design that their upcoming opponent runs, the other will just run their normal play. So, if the Giants offense is up first, the defense will run a ‘Jets’ play while the offense will run their normal play. Then, reverse. The offense will run a ‘Jets’ play and the defense their real one. It’s tough to take anything out of these practices for that reason.

• A little bit of trickery from the Giants with an end-around to Victor Cruz to start this portion of practice. Also, Manning and the offense looked much better and seemed to abandon going deep for underneath stuff. Yesterday, Manning started practice 3-for-10. Today, he began 5-of-6 with the incompletion being a drop by Andre Williams.

• The Giants initially marched out their starting offensive line (Will Beatty LT, Geoff Schwartz LG, J.D. Walton C, Brandon Mosley RG, Justin Pugh RT) but then changed it completely a few plays in. Pugh played left tackle, Schwartz and Walton stayed at left guard and center, Weston Richburg played right guard and Mosley right tackle.

ONE-ON-ONE…
Always one of the more competitive and fun to watch aspects of practice is whenever the receivers and defensive backs go one-on-one in a goal line fade drill.

• Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie looked really sharp in his two reps. He intercepted one throw for Victor Cruz on lock-down coverage. Then, he had a bat down which was a near interception.

• Touchdown for Marcus Harris. Go this one on film:

THE CARDS…
While the majority of practice was cards, the 11-on-11 portion was noticeably so. It was tough to really take anything out of anything, but here’s a few things that stuck out:

• Damontre Moore had a huge day and was all over the place. Seems like he’s starting to get a bit of an edge to him, too. He was jawing with Will Beatty a bit in between plays.

• There was a deep pass down the sideline to Julian Talley, but Zack Bowman intercepted the pass.  Walter Thurmond III and Devon Kennard had interceptions as well off Eli Manning.

• Not the best practice for Will Beatty as he was beaten for a sack by Emmanuel Dieke. It is not usually a positive sign when the third-string defensive end is beating your franchise left tackle.

• Ryan Nassib connected on a deep pass to Julian Talley down the right sideline. Talley with a juggling catch.

TWO-MINUTE DRILL…
The only time the Giants starting offense matched up with the starting defense was at the very end of practice. The coaches put 1:16 on the play clock and challenged the offense to drive down the field. Since this was the only time the ones went at it, I kept a play-by-play breakdown of what happened.

1st and 10
Eli Manning completes curl route to Jerrel Jernigan for seven yards.

2nd and 3
Eli Manning completes drag-curl to Victor Cruz for first down.

1st and 10
Eli Manning completes screen pass to Rashad Jennings, no gain.

2nd and 10
Eli Manning pass to Jerrel Jernigan incomplete/dropped. Trumaine McBride punched it out.

3rd and 10 (:27 seconds left)
Eli Manning pass complete on deep in to Julian Talley for first down.

1st and 10 (:21)
Eli Manning pass incomplete to Julian Talley.

2nd and 10 (:16)
Eli Manning pass incomplete to Julian Talley (Pass defensed by Walter Thurmond III).

3rd and 10 (:11)
Eli Manning pass complete on out route to Jerrel Jernigan.

4th and 2 (:06)
Brandon McManus kicks game-winning field goal in the Super Bowl of practices.

Last week, Eli Manning dumped a bucket of water on top of J.D. Walton’s head at the end of practice. Today, Walton got Manning back by doing the same.

The Giants will practice for the final time this week on Wednesday at 12:00 noon. Tom Coughlin will speak to the media after and some players following that.