August 6, 2009 New York Giants Training Camp Report (Evening Practice)

August 6, 2009 New York Giants Training Camp Report (Evening Practice)

by BigBlueInteractive.com Contributor Marty in Albany

Finally, the Giants were in full pads and the hitting was crisp. The offense did a better job of giving the quarterbacks more time to throw, but they have a long way to go before they can be said to dominate the defense. On the first pass in the 11 on 11s, the line gave Eli plenty of time to loft a deep pass. The pass went over the intended receiver and into the arms of S Michael Johnson. That was all it took to start some people muttering about Eli’s salary.

On the next play Eli chose a safer play and handed it off to HB Brandon Jacobs who powered his way up the field. I mentioned to Pat from Inside Football that Jacobs looks thinner this year and asked her if Jacobs had lost any weight. She said it is all muscle – no more fat. This cannot be good news for the defensive backs in the NFC East. The next handoff went to HB Ahmad Bradshaw who displayed wonderful acceleration after getting past the line of scrimmage.

Predictably, with the donning of pads came the first scuffle of camp. I thought it would be amongst the linemen, but I forgot that OG Rich Seubert (who participated in individual drills) would not be playing. Apparently HB Dwayne Wright and LB Clint Sintim disagreed about something and ended up rolling around on the grass a little. It was not a great fight and I did not see enough to declare a winner.

We also had our first razzle-dazzle play of camp. QB Andre’ Woodson attempted a flea flicker. It was almost caught and almost intercepted. Way to keep the defense honest, Andre’!

In the 1 on 1 drills, the receiver has the advantage over the defender. Here are the good defensive plays: S Michael Johnson made a fine defense of a pass to TE Kevin Boss, CB DeAndre Wright stripped a ball from WR Domenik Hixon’s grasp, CB Kevin Dockery had a pass defense of a very deep pass to WR Steve Smith, S Sha’reff Rashad put a good defense up against TE Travis Beckum, and WR Derek Hagan had to push off against CB Stoney Woodson. Hagan has been having a great camp and he ought to be able to push off without making it so blatantly obvious.

In the 1 on 1s, TE Kevin Boss made a leaping one-handed catch that brought oohs and aahs from the fans.

The practice started out with a dozen or fifteen punts by P Jeff Feagles, who is in mid-season form. HB Ahmad Bradshaw muffed one, but it was the only bad catch. Both LB Zak DeOssie and DT Jay Alford were snapping for Feagles.

I continue to be impressed with the agility of HB Danny Ware and the speed and balance of HB Andre Brown.

K Lawrence Tynes attempted some field goals with LB Zak DeOssie doing at least some of the snapping. It was difficult for me to tell because the practice was on the lower fields and I was standing on the sideline. There were 6 or 7 FG attempts from about 40 yards out. Again, it was difficult to tell the distance. Tynes missed two of them, but they all had plenty of leg and most would have been good from 50 yards or more. There was no wind to speak of tonight.

Center wannabe OT Adam Koets had a bad night. He sandwiched a botched handoff to QB David Carr between two shotgun snaps that he rolled along the ground, thus bringing three plays in a row to screeching halts.

TE Darcy Johnson made several fine catches during the practice. He runs impressively fast for a guy who is listed at 267. Heck, he runs fast for a guy of 240 or 250.

Last year, head coach Tom Coughlin ended many of the practices 20-30 minutes early, saying that the players had accomplished everything they had to do. This year, none of the six practices was ended early. My conclusion is that Coach is not happy. Will there be a shake-up? Only time will tell.