Daniel Jones – © USA TODAY Sports
RAY PERKINS PASSES AWAY…
Former New York Giants head coach Ray Perkins, who coached the team from 1979-1982, has passed away at the age of 79. Perkins’ Giants compiled a 23-34 regular-season record and 1-1 playoff record in his four years with the team. The 1981 Giants returned to the playoffs for the first time in 18 years, compiling a 9-7 record and defeating the Philadelphia Eagles in the playoffs. Perkins resigned from the Giants after the 1982 strike season in order to coach at the University of Alabama.
“Ray was George Young’s first hire as general manager in 1979,” said team President/CEO John Mara. “I remember George saying, ‘He will make it very uncomfortable for our players to lose.’ Ray did a good job for us and got us into the playoffs in 1981 for the first time in many years. During the 1982 season, which was shortened due to a players strike, he announced he was leaving at the end of the year to go to Alabama, which he described as his dream job. He left behind a team that had Lawrence Taylor, Phil Simms, and Harry Carson, among others and this was the nucleus of the group that would go on to great success in the 1980’s and win two Super Bowls. I always wondered whether he later regretted that decision. But he certainly left our team in much better shape than he found it in, including having Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick on his staff.”
“I’ll start out offering our thoughts and prayers to coach Perkins’ family,” said Head Coach Joe Judge. “Coach was a guy who touched a lot of lives in the National Football League as well as college football. There are a lot of relationships around this country with him. Personally, I’ve had some crossover with coach through his time coming through Tuscaloosa when I was down there, as well as some contact early in my tenure here. But I appreciate everything he did for me, the time he shared with me, and our thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”
GIANTS-BROWNS GAME FLEXED TO SUNDAY NIGHT…
The NFL has flexed the Cleveland Browns at New York Giants game on December 20th to Sunday night. The game had originally been scheduled for 1:00PM on CBS. It will now be aired at 8:20PM on NBC.
DECEMBER 9, 2020 NEW YORK GIANTS INJURY REPORT…
LB Blake Martinez (back), OT Matt Peart (ankle), and CB Madre Harper (knee) did not practice on Wednesday.
QB Daniel Jones (hamstring) and CB Darnay Holmes (knee) were limited in practice.
“As far as Daniel, we’re going to give him an opportunity today to move around the field,” Head Coach Joe Judge said before practice. “We’re still in that point of the week where I haven’t seen him do anything physical yet this week since the last week really. We’ll see him move around today. We’re optimistic, I know he’s going to tell us everything we want to hear, we’ve got to again use our eyes instead of our ears with Daniel, so we’re going to put him out there today and make sure we give him a chance to progress. Today’s a walk-thru, tomorrow we’ll be on the field moving around and then Friday will be a big day for us to kind of make a final decision hopefully going into the weekend.”
ROSTER MOVES…
The New York Giants signed defensive end/linebacker Niko Lalos from the team’s Practice Squad to the 53-man roster. To make room for Lalos, the team waived linebacker Trent Harris.
The Giants also signed quarterback Joe Webb to the Practice Squad and terminated the Practice Squad contract of tight end Nakia Griffin-Stewart.
The Giants signed Lalos as an undrafted rookie free agent after the 2020 NFL Draft. He spent more than half of the season on the Practice Squad but was elevated to the 53-man roster the past two games.
The Giants signed Harris to the Practice Squad and then the 53-man roster in October 2020. He played in four games with two starts for the Giants. The 6’2”, 255-pound Harris was originally signed as an undrafted rookie free agent by the New England Patriots after the 2018 NFL Draft. He spent his rookie season on the Practice Squad of the Patriots. The Miami Dolphins claimed Harris off of waivers in September 2019. He played in 11 games with three starts with the Dolphins, accruing 20 tackles and 1.5 sacks. The Dolphins cut him in early September 2020.
The 34-year old, 6’4”, 231-pound Webb was originally drafted in the 6th round of the 2010 NFL Draft by the Minnesota Vikings. He has spent time with the Vikings (2010-2013), Carolina Panthers (2014-2016), Buffalo Bills (2017), Houston Texans (2018-2019), and Detroit Lions (2020). Webb has played in 102 regular-season games with four starts, completing 90-of-159 passes (56.6 percent) for 888 yards, three touchdowns, and six interceptions. He also has caught 10 passes in his career and returned 18 kickoffs.
The Giants signed Griffin-Stewart to the Practice Squad in November 2020. The 6’5”, 260-pound Griffin-Stewart was signed as rookie free agent by the Minnesota Vikings after the 2020 NFL Draft. He also spent time on the Practice Squad of the Green Bay Packers that year before signing with the Giants.
LEONARD WILLIAMS NAMED “NFC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK”…
New York Giants defensive end Leonard Williams has been named the “NFC Defensive Player of the Week” for his performance against the Seattle Seahawks last Sunday. In that game, Williams was credited with three tackles, two tackles for losses, 2.5 sacks and five quarterback hits.
HEAD COACH JOE JUDGE…
The transcript of Joe Judge’s press conference on Wednesday is available in The Corner Forum while the video is available at Giants.com.
THE PLAYERS SPEAK…
Transcripts and video clips of the media sessions with the following players are available in The Corner Forum and at Giants.com:
WHAT’S UP NEXT…
The New York Giants practice on Thursday afternoon (12:00-1:45PM). Head Coach Joe Judge, the team’s coordinators, and select players will also address the media.
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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