August 19, 2015 New York Giants Training Camp Report

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Aug 192015
 
Eli Manning, New York Giants (July 31, 2015)

Eli Manning – © USA TODAY Sports Images

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AUGUST 19, 2015 NEW YORK GIANTS TRAINING CAMP REPORT…
The New York Giants held another training camp practice on Wednesday at Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The full training camp schedule is available at Giants.com.

ELI MANNING DENIES HE WANTS TO BE HIGHEST PAID QUARTERBACK…
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning denied the earlier NFL Network report that he wants to be the NFL’s highest paid quarterback. Manning is entering the last year of his current contract.

“Reports are all wrong and I don’t know where they’re getting their information from, I just kind of laugh at it,” said Manning. “Never been said. Never come out of my mouth. Never said it to my agent, never said it, so I don’t know where the reports are coming from.”

INJURY REPORT…
Wide receiver Odell Beckham (dental work), wide receiver Victor Cruz (calf strain), wide receiver Rueben Randle (knee tendinitis), left guard Justin Pugh (dental work), left tackle Will Beatty (PUP – pectoral), defensive end George Selvie (knee), cornerback Chykie Brown (knee), and cornerback Jayron Hosley (neck/concussion) did not practice.

Beckham and Pugh are expected to return to practice on Thursday. Both are recovering from dental procedures.

“Selvie, no ligament damage,” said Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “Had a little tissue, little strain. He gives everything he’s got. I don’t really think he’ll be too long. He can’t go today, but I think he’ll be back soon.”

“Cruz has had a little strain in the calf area, so he’s not going to practice today,” said Coughlin. “Randle’s not ready. We thought Randle was going to be ready to go today, but he’s not going to practice today.”

Safeties Landon Collins (knee sprain) and Nat Berhe (calf strain) participated in the walk-through portions of practice.

Cornerback Prince Amukamara (groin) and safety Cooper Taylor (sore toe) returned to practice.

PRACTICE NOTES…
The Giants practiced in full pads. Some snippets from various media sources:

  • With George Selvie out, Cullen Jenkins received reps at first-team defensive end.
  • Bennett Jackson and Jeromy Miles were the first-team safeties. Jackson broke up a pass intended for tight end Daniel Fells.
  • Prince Amukamara participated in full-team drills as a starter along with Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie at cornerback.
  • With Justin Pugh out, the Giants worked quite a few combinations with the first-team offensive line, including John Jerry at left and right guard. Geoff Schwartz practiced at both right guard and right tackle. Adam Gettis also saw time at right guard.
  • Mike Bamiro received some reps at right tackle with the second-team offense, but was promptly beat by defensive end Robert Ayers. Bamiro was moved backed to guard and did a good job of picking up linebacker Jameel McClain on a blitz.
  • Wide receiver Geremy Davis made a leaping sideline catch during 11-on-11 drills.
  • Tight ends Larry Donnell, Jerome Cunningham, and Will Tye each dropped a pass.
  • Running back Orleans Darkwa made a nice catch of a low pass.
  • Quarterback Eli Manning hit wide receiver James Jones for a touchdown, but Geoff Schwartz had a false start on the play.
  • Unai Unga worked with the second-team defense at middle linebacker with Jameel McClain playing outside linebacker.
  • The nickel linebackers were Jon Beason and Jonathan Casillas.
  • Wide receiver Dwayne Harris got behind cornerback Trevin Wade and safety Cooper Taylor for a long touchdown pass from quarterback Eli Manning. (Video)
  • Linebacker J.T. Thomas knocked away what would have been a touchdown pass to tight end Larry Donnell.
  • Wide receiver Julian Talley beat cornerback Trevin Wade for a touchdown.
  • One defensive line package had Devon Kennard and Damontre Moore at defensive end, and Kerry Wynn and Owamagbe Odighizuwa at defensive tackle.
  • Newcomer Jimmy Staten received third-team defensive tackles reps along with Dominique Hamilton. Staten penetrated into the backfield twice against the run during team drills.
  • Cornerback Trevin Wade ended practice by intercepting a pass intended for wide receiver Geremy Davis from quarterback Ryan Nassib. Wade returned the pick for a defensive score. (Video)

Pads be poppin during run drills #giants

A video posted by Jordan Raanan (@jraanan) on

HEAD COACH TOM COUGHLIN…
Tom Coughlin addressed the media in the early afternoon before the evening practice (video is available at Giants.com):

Q: Can you update us on George Selvie?

A: You know [George] Selvie, no ligament damage. Had a little tissue, little strain. He gives everything he’s got. I don’t really think he’ll be too long. He can’t go today, but I think he’ll be back soon.

Q: Do you expect Prince Amukamara or Nat Berhe to be back today at practice?

A: They’re little by little. Little by little, they’re doing it. You don’t see much of them in the team stuff, but they’re working their way back in there, which is good. They take all the jog-through and all that business, they take. And some of the individual. Hopefully we can advance that part of it.

Q: Are Victor Cruz or Rueben Randle ready to get any action Saturday?

A: [Victor] Cruz has had a little strain in the calf area, so he’s not going to practice today. [Reuben] Randle’s not ready. We thought Randle was going to be ready to go today, but he’s not going to practice today. So we’ll have a couple receivers down today.

Q: Is it beneficial right now to be extra cautious with him, sit him down, and let that build back up? Randle, I’m talking about.

A: Well, we’ve been out a while. I mean, yes, but he needs to practice. That’s the one thing I’m anxious about. Everybody wants to talk about our passing game. Unless we get out there and practice together, what passing game? So that’s something that has to be considered. We have to work together on the field to get to where we’re going. So advancing some of these young guys, yeah, that’s a plus. But we certainly aren’t cohesive with the other guys, either.

Q: Is Victor’s calf related to his knee at all?

A: No. No, not at all. No. Probably dehydration, little bit of that.

Q: Assuming your cast can be together, what are the steps you expect to make in this second year of Ben McAdoo’s offense?

A: You know, like I said before, I think the going back with the installation has been better for the players. Obviously, they’ve done it before. So they’ve had it in the spring, they’ve had it last year in the spring and fall. So the advancement of that is good. What we expect from them, they have a pretty good idea of that. They’ve got to go see everything on the field, and all the different coverages and the techniques that are going to be employed against them. But I expect it to be—we’re going to improve, we’re going to improve in all areas, and we’re going to be able to complement each other by hopefully having a lot of weapons on the field that people are going to have to decide what they’re going to defend.

Q: We all know how smart Eli is. How much in tune is he with Ben the second year into the offense?

A: He’s very much in-tune with what’s going on. His opinion is asked for and shared in the quarterback meetings. He’s anxious. He knows the offense well and he’s very much interested in moving forward.

Q: What difference do you see in the offense between now and last summer?

A: I don’t see enough right now, to be honest with you. I don’t see enough yet, but I’m looking forward to it.

Q: You’ve tried different offensive line combinations for different reasons. In your mind, is there a point when you want to decide on the five moving forward?

A: I read about that when I read about other teams. They’ve got this point and they’ve got—I just want to find the five guys that work best together, as soon as we can. Whether it’s the second, third preseason game. There’s a certain number that we’re going to have to depend on, and they’re going to have to be versatile enough to play in some different spots. And so, obviously, I’d like it to happen fast, but you’ve had a guy like [Geoff] Schwartz that hasn’t practiced much. You have Marshall [Newhouse] who has been out a day or so. So we’ve had some of that. Plus, the young guy, we’re trying to bring a couple of young guys around. [Bobby] Hart, we’re trying to get Hart going. And he’s had some good days, and days that are not as good. So I’m looking for some consistency in his play as well.

Q: What went into that decision of bumping Hart out? You bumped him back out last week to tackle.

A: That’s where he’s played. He’s played there in college, so we wanted to take a look at him.

Q: But you started him at guard.

A: Yeah. You’ve got to line them all up somewhere. He’s playing some guard and he’s playing some tackle.

Q: Did Orleans Darkwa impress you the other night?

A: Darkwa’s had a couple of good weeks, yeah.

Q: A guy like that who is behind a bunch of players who have been around for a while, do you think he fits in the mix or does he have to impress you on special teams?

A: Last year his special teams were outstanding. He’s always been a pretty good—he’s run the ball on scout team for us, and done a nice job of that, too. So he has some power, he has some punch, he’s run the ball up in there for us. You know he gives you some more flexibility. Thinking about having a guy who can run behind the line of scrimmage and can play special teams.

Q: You’ve played against and had to game plan against Dwayne Harris for several years. When you watched him, what did you see?

A: Powerful, nifty, tough, do a lot of things for you. It’s kind of interesting that in studying him, you saw him as a gunner on kickoff coverage, running punts back, running kicks back, and doing a lot of things. Coming into [the Dallas Cowboys] offensive sets and blocking at the perimeter, or being a guy who catches the ball underneath—short pass, long run kind of a guy. So he’s versatile. We’re trying like heck to get the punt return team going, which is something I’m hoping will advance come Saturday night.

Q: He filled four very big roles for the Cowboys. He was a big identity for them. Do you need an identity on special teams and can he bring that identity to you guys?

A: I think he certainly could. As one of some guys that are obvious special teamers, you take great pride in that. Yes, he could.

Q: Speaking of special teams, Geremy Davis has obviously gotten some work on that. How has he looked to you in that role?

A: He’s got to get better. We like him, he’s big and strong and fast. But he’s got to define some of the things that he can do for us. But, obviously, we’re always looking for gunners, gunner help. If he does that for us, as one of those people who can work in a rotation out there, that would help a lot.

Q: There was a lot of stuff about Eli’s contract yesterday. Would you think that would impact him or have you seen anything in that regard?

A: No. I haven’t seen one thing about it. It’s not going to affect him.

Q: How would you describe his professionalism overall as a leader for this team?

A: How high does it go? What’s the number you want, 1-10? (Yes.) 11.

Q: How did you think Geoff Schwartz did the other day?

A: So-so. He did so-so. Trying to get him to go every day. His second day wasn’t as good as his first. But hopefully he gets better.

Q: Any news from Jason Pierre-Paul in terms of when he might be showing up?

A: No.

Q: He’s been tweeting and on Instagram a lot lately.

A: I think he’s talked to more of our people, but it’s conversation.

Q: You guys didn’t have any incidents in your joint practices with Cincinnati last week. That’s not been the case in some other places. There’s a lot that goes into it, you practice, you play a game. Is it something moving forward that you think you would look into doing again?

A: Yes. Yes. How’s that?

Q: Why?

A: Because we got a lot out of it.

OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR BEN McADOO…
Ben McAdoo addressed the media on Wednesday (video is available at Giants.com):

I hope everyone is having a good camp. With that, let’s fire away.

Q: Has the starting offense made progress this week?

A: We made some progress this week. We were disappointed in our performance last week. We had two productive days of practice, got to the game, and it seemed like we were a little flat. The details, the play speed wasn’t there, and we addressed the issue head on and we’re working to fix it. You don’t fix mistakes overnight, it takes time to do that, and we’re working at it every day.

Q: What kind of expectations do you have in your second year?

A: We met a couple times as an offense on this, in the offseason, and now in training camp. We set our expectations very high. We set parameters, I’m not going to spell those out for you, the players may be able to help you figure those out, but we do set them high. We have high expectations for ourselves. There is one goal in this business and we all know what that goal is, but you can measure the parameters each week as you go to make sure you’re on track.

Q: How much faster do you want the offense to be?

A: My mother told me not to put all my eggs in one basket. I like to change up speeds, and I think it’s important to be able to do that. You don’t want to just have a fast tempo, you don’t want to slow things down, you don’t always want to be no-huddle, and you don’t always want to be in the huddle. I think it’s good to be able to change your pace and change your tempo as long as it’s on your terms. It has to be on our terms.

Q: What are you looking to accomplish in the second game with your first group?

A: Execution. We’re not out there to chase numbers, that’s not good offense. We’re out there to execute, put ourselves in position, to take care of the ball and put puts on the board.

Q: How do you view your RT position right now?

A: Marshall [Newhouse] has been getting a lot of work in there. He’s growing, he’s getting comfortable with the men around him, and he and John Jerry are working well together. After that, we have a couple guys in the mix. One guy isn’t practicing at this point in time and we’re going to continue to develop and see really how the preseason games go. Practice is practice, but when the lights come on we need to see guys play and play well. I have confidence in Marshall, I’ve been around him at a different spot before, and he’s an athletic guy. He’s a smart guy and I look forward to him growing in the offense.

Q: Where does Geoff Schwartz stand?

A: I need to see Geoff play. He’s coming off of a major injury. He needs to get back out on the field and needs to do it on a consistent basis. It’s tough to answer that question.

Q: Is it difficult when you have to continue to swap guys in and out on the offensive line? Would you want to have five in there so they can jell?

A: In a perfect world, that’s how things work but this isn’t. It’s far from a perfect world and our philosophy here is next man up. We don’t think twice about it.

Q: How fortunate do you feel to be in a situation with an established QB? Do people sometimes take for granted how indispensable Eli [Manning] has been?

A: I don’t take him for granted. I’ve been fortunate since 2006 to be around a franchise quarterback. Men that have carried themselves well, prepared well, and can rally the team in their own way. They’re comfortable in their own skin, so we’re very fortunate to have Eli.

Q: Has WR James Jones been a pro since he’s been here? Do you like what you see from him?

A: Absolutely, he’s been a pro. He was out of work for a little bit, he’s getting his football legs underneath him, the last two days of practice he’s stood out a little bit, and it’ll be exciting to see him over this next week get out there a perform.

Q: Does it help in any way to have some former Green Bay guys here like Jones and Newhouse?

A: It’s probably a better question for the players.

Q: Are you aware of the rule changes that seem to favor the offense when you’re scheming or coming up with plays?

A: We try to teach things from a fundamental perspective and a read perspective. Is it the passing game that you’re referring to?

Q: Some of the defenders can’t do the things they used to do?

A: It goes back to fundamentals. Any benefit that you get from a flag, we’ll take that. From a fundamental perspective, we can’t go out there, and from a mentality perspective, we can’t go out there and coach players on this pass interference. You have to fight through all contact and any contact and can’t rely on the referees to make those calls to get us a first down. It’s up to you to come and compete and win your one-on-one matchup to make those plays.

Q: Do you think too many players are trying to make one-handed catches these days?

A: I’m not in favor of it. I would like to see two hands on the ball.

Q: Have you seen more in the last couple of years?

A: I think maybe it’s come to light a little bit more. Guys are always out there trying to work on catching the ball with one hand, whether it’s pre-game, pre-practice, and challenging each other. I don’t know if there’s anything wrong with that, but the game situation, you’d like to see guys catch the ball with two hands out in front of their eyes.

Q: How in tune are you and Eli now as opposed to last year?

A: Last year we spent a lot of time together, we had to have a conversation on just about every play, and make sure we were on the same page there. This year it’s a little bit more natural for him and as we go, things will gravitate to what he likes and what he does well and what he feels that the players around him do well.

Q: Has Dwayne Harris shown you anything as a receiver?

A: Yes, Dwayne is a guy that when the lights came on the other night, you could see some physicality from him. He’s a guy that doesn’t mind getting mixed up in the run game. He’s working to learn the offense from a couple different positions inside and outside. He’ll have some opportunities here over the next few weeks moving forward. It’ll be good to see him out there.

Q: Can you do what you need him to do as far as running routes and catching the ball?

A: Absolutely.

Q: You have three capable guys in Rashad [Jennings], [Andre] Williams, [Shane] Vereen. Do you have to find a way to give all three a way to contribute? Is it a blessing or a burden?

A: Each of them has a unique skillset. They’re all different and you can add Darkwa [Orleans] in there as well. They’re all different and you have to use their skillset to our advantage but at the same point and time, we have to push them out of their comfort zone. We can’t let them fall into a niche, ‘I’m this guy or I’m that guy.’ You have to be a complete player and we’re going to push them that way.

Q: Do you have more of an idea of what [Victor] Cruz you’ll get on September 13?

A: Yeah, I’m excited for Victor. He came out early on and didn’t seem tentative at all about sticking his foot in the ground. The other day he made some nice plays, made one in the back of the end zone similar to the one the injury was on, and that’s a big step, that’s a major step. He made a b-line play down the middle at the beginning of the no-huddle period of last practice. It’s good to have him out there and I can’t wait until he’s out there full time and ready to go.

Q: How do you view that WR position?

A: I see it as it’s all up in the air right now. There’s a lot guys in, a lot of guys out, a lot of opportunities for young guys. It’s who takes advantage of it is going to get the nod, I would think.

Q: How many receivers is the max that you think the roster can handle?

A: That’s probably a better question for Tom [Coughlin] and Jerry [Reese], but we’ll take as many as we can get.

Q: You would take ten if you could?

A: If we could.

Q: Does the new extra point rules change the amount of time you spend on the two-point play?

A: We always put a lot of time on the two-point plays because the information is hard to get. They weren’t very prevalent but now they’re going to be more prevalent, so your time may be a little bit better spent because you’ll have more options, and more recent tape to look at. You won’t have to dig back four or five years at a time to find something. You’ll be able to be smarter with your time. We’ll be ready. We’ll have plenty of options down there.

Q: Overall, do you think the quality of your offensive line will equip you to do the things that you want to do with the rest of your ball club?

A: I’m excited for the offensive line. I think they’re growing and they’re ahead of where they were last year. The saying is, ‘We’re not where we want to be but thank goodness we’re not where we use to be.’ From a physicality standpoint and communication standpoint, they’re growing.

Q: What was the thinking behind moving Bobby Hart from guard to tackle?

A: Bobby is a young talented man. He’s a rookie and has to figure some things out, but I think he has some ability and at some point in time may be able to help us.

THE PLAYERS SPEAK…
The following transcripts and video clips of player media Q&As are available at BigBlueInteractive.com and Giants.com:

RELATED ARTICLES…

WHAT’S UP NEXT…
The next training camp practice will be held on Thursday. For a complete listing of training camp practices as well as a handy fan Q&A about training camp, see our Training Camp section of the website. Only two remaining training camp practices at Quest Diagnostics Training Center will be open to the public this year:

  • Thursday, August 20: 5:50 – 7:50PM
  • Tuesday, August 25: 2:30 – 4:30PM
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Eric Kennedy

Eric Kennedy is Editor-in-Chief of BigBlueInteractive.com, a publication of Big Blue Interactive, LLC. Follow @BigBlueInteract on Twitter.

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