Loading ...More than 5,000 die-hard football fans descended on the University at Albany on Saturday as the New York Giants held their second training camp practice in 2012. And despite massive thunder storms in the area, rain held off as Big Blue took the field and got to work in an effort to ready themselves for the upcoming season and their title defense.
The team began with a light walkthrough before stretching, and at that point rookies David Wilson and Rueben Randle were returning kicks. Following warmups, in which offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride briefly partook, the team broke down into individual drills. As expected, Hakeem Nicks, Clint Sintim, Travis Beckum and Chris Canty remained on the sideline and did not participate as per PUP rules. Joining them was running back Da'Rel Scott, who had a swollen ankle.
Individual drills were followed by 11-on-11's and then autograph day, which was promptly soaked as the skies opened.
The Good:
Jerrel Jernigan – For the second straight day, Jernigan stood out amongst his teammates, hauling in several impressive catches and running precise routes. He appears substantially better than a year ago and may be rocketing himself up the depth chart with a series of very quality practices. I was thoroughly impressed, and surprised, in what I saw of Jernigan today and would go as far as to say he out-performed all other wide receivers. The #3 spot may very well be in his future.
Victor Cruz – Although Jernigan put on the most impressive all-around display, Cruz was not far behind. And for those of you expecting him to take a step back in 2012, don't. He's all business, all the time and for the first half of practice was putting on a show most fans would have paid to see. Like Jernigan, Cruz looks better than he did a year ago … and that's got to be a scary thought for opposing defenses. The highlight of the day was an unbelievable one-handed catch while falling out of bounds.
David Wilson – You hear how fast the rookie running back is, but you can not truly understand it until you see it live and in person. Wilson appears to have the ability to go from 0 to 60 in the blink of an eye. He has incredibly quick feet and make cuts that did and will break the ankles of defenders trying to chase him down.
Terrell Thomas – Returning after a little bit of a scare yesterday (stiff back), T2 looked fluid and demonstrated a good ability going backwards and not allowing receivers to get ahead of him. I fully expect the T2 of old when the season starts.
Mark Herzlich - Herzlich was in as the MLB on the second-team D and stood out in pass protection. He just missed on a couple would be deflections/interceptions, and did eventually manage to snag one out of the air on a throw intended for tight end Adrien Robinson.
Perry Fewell – All afternoon Fewell was screaming "Speed! Speed!" at the defense, and they certainly heard him. Moreover, he makes sure that his defensive players pick up and run back every single ball that touches the ground, live or not. It's a great habit he's forcing on them.
The Bad:
Michael Coe – Coe was picked on all day and gave up quite a few big plays, including one to Cruz and another to Jernigan. He's a much better player than he appeared this afternoon.
David Diehl - Admittedly, I didn't focus much on Diehl today, but when I did, it wasn't overly impressive. On the first play of 11-on-11, Justin Tuck blew by Diehl for what would have been a crushing sack of Eli Manning.
Rushing attack – Save for a few runs by Wilson, and one by Ahmad Bradshaw, the rushing attack was getting shut down at or behind the line routinely. Perhaps the Giants run D is just that good, or perhaps the Gilbride & Co. need to focus much more on fixing that issue. They started there today, focusing almost exclusively on the run in 11-on-11's.
The Mixed:
Ramses Barden – After a very solid first day of camp, Barden was a bit of a mixed bag on Saturday. He dropped several passes, drawing groans from the crowd, and looked a little sluggish going into and out of his cuts. However, as practice wore on, he improved significantly and made a few nice grabs during 11-on-11's.
Rueben Randle – Randle looks polished, NFL-ready and all that jazz, but he also clearly has some rookie in him. Like Barden, he got better as practice went along, but had a few drops of his own. Additionally, during individual drills, he was called back to re-run a route as he had completely forgotten to make a designed cut.
Steve Weatherford – Great punter. Great guy. Loved by fans. Had a good practice. But he drove up blasting "Call me Maybe" … that's a major no-no.
Justin Trattou – High energy, non-stop motor kinda guy who really dazzled during practice … until he went down. He suffered an ankle injury and was carted off the field. It appeared serious and he was immediately send for X-Rays.
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I approve this message, good job Dan. Pretty much agree on all points. Fellas, when Dan says Jernigan, Cruz and Wilson impressed, it ain’t no lie.
Dirt says:
July 28, 2012 at 4:22 PM
Dirty Camp Impressions:
I really only got to focus on the offense, but here goes.
The tweets are correct, for at least one day: Jernigan was unforgotten today. Looked crisp, balls were finding him, he was catching them. There might be a light at the end of the tunnel after all.
Eli and Cruz are On. The. Same. Page.
Wilson is going to be special. Special. We will see a screen game for the first time since 2006. He was doing things I’ve never seen a guy in blue do in traffic. I am amped for this guy. He’ll get the early redshirt maybe, but he won’t be kept off the field. Has all the makings of being a star.
The JPP of tight ends made a couple nice catches by me and looks pretty athletic, as advertised. Compare to Pascoe who almost fell over trying to catch a ball right in front of me. I hope they can hide this guy somehow.
The first team D caused a number of coverage sacks.
Bennett may hate everyone, but he walked by everyone to go directly to some fans in wheelchairs to start signing autographs. Nice on him. And he’s anything but fat. More like diesel.
Prince was doing tackling dummy drills with a bunch of crooked numbered linebackers while all the other established DBs were off doing something else. And I think Tryon got snaps over him again. I may have to retract my post from yesterday if it keeps up.
I may have missed some things, feel free to ask.
Yeah, Bennett is an absolute rock. And far from an ****. He made sure to sign autographs for the handicapped and soldiers first. I was extremely impressed by that.
Great stuff Dan, as usual. Although, I have to say after years of playing football myself, the first week of camp, the running game is usually behind the defense. Usually the defensive line is on a tear, while it takes the O-line to get angry to move guys. It takes time… I hope that’s the case.
Are you suggesting that Diehl isn’t a good offensive lineman? Shocking.
But even if Diehl is the good RT that we all hope he can be doesn’t he get beat by Tuck if he’s the borderline allpro we think he can be?
All who reported from practice today, great stuff and many thanks! I’m eating this stuff up. Can’t believe Giants are flying under the radar as much as it appears. Vegas has odds on them as a slightly above average team. Crazy.
Vegas odds are shaped greatly by betting. At first we were right up there as the 2nd or 3rd favorite but now as people bet on everyone else our odds have dropped.
Imagine where Cruz! would be if he wasn’t so distracted and worked out 5-6 times a week during the offseason. ;) I know it’s early into camp but I’m feeling a certain level of vindication regarding Cruz’s ability to be ready from a physical standpoint.
Excellent job Dan and Dirt too. I think the big picture keys so far are:
1) Beatty practiced both days. There was so much worry here about his back but if he’s practicing now there’s no concern about his back long term. Without him our OL is thrown into flux.
2) TT practiced and looked healthy both days. While I think we have enough quality depth to get by without TT his return to 100% or very close makes us a much better defense.
3) Wilson. While he may not begin the year at #2 if Bradshaw misses time as most of us expect he will we need solid help from Wilson. He can’t just come on late in the year like Bradshaw did his rookie year. We need help from him earl so it’s good to hear that he can be add a special element.
4) Jernigan. I had high hopes for him because I did see him play a few games a Troy and he was dynamic. Last year he basically did nothing besides a few kickoff reeturns. I think regardless if he wins the 3rd WR job or not he can be what Jermey Kirley was last year for the jets only more explosive. I really hope he can earn TC’s trust as a PR too because he can be dynamic in that role. I think he can be a dave meggett of WRs type for us as a player.
5) Tracy. it’s unfortunate when players get injured but it’s an opportunity for another player. Tracy with Trattou’s injury has a great chance to win the #4 DE job. I think as a pass rush DE who plays 10-15 snaps a game he could be extremely effective and possibly show enough to grow into Osi’s replacement.
6) Herzlich. I think while Blackburn was good enough last year and good enough this year our defense only has an opportunity to be special with a more talented player at MLB. Herzlich is just thatand I just have a gut feeling he will be our opening day MLB.
There’s been a number of quotes and articles around Giants land the last couple of days about how quiet it is.
There’s no competition at nearly every starting/core position (what’s open, LG and a LB, then depth?). No contract beefs. No coming off a disappointing season. Nothing but peace and quiet. It’s such a different experience, one just waits for some drama to talk about because that’s all we’re used to.
But I’m afraid if they stay relatively healthy, there will be no drama.
Nice write up guys.
Jernigan always struck me as a guy that has similar physical skills to Manningham. Obviously he’s shorter, but as far as quickness in and out of breaks. Jury is still out if he’s tough enough to play on sundays but nice to see he’s doing well so far.
And yes, of course Victor Cruz is doing well. The guy is a monster. There’s a reason why I put him number 1 on my little read “Top 5 Most underrated Giants” list.
I wont compare him to Nicks because they’re completely different players, but I guarantee you d backs prefer covering Nicks to Cruz.
Question:
Say, for the sake of argument, Jernigan continues his stellar play throughout camp and the preseason. What would his role then be come the regular season?
I believe the Giants originally drafted him to either back up or replace Steve Smith in the slot (at that point Cruz was nothing more than a one-game wonder who no one foresaw becoming one of the best slot receivers in the NFL)
Given Cruz’ emergence, it’s doubtful, then, that JJ will see much time in the slot. And at 5’8, he seems a bit too small for one of the outside receiver spots (Manningham, to whom Nosh compared Jernigan, is 4 inches taller)
I’m sure if JJ has a great preseason, the Giants will at least design some packages to take advantage of his skills. But aside from that, he looks to be a man without a clearly defined role on this team as things presently stand.
It depends. The coaches might feel that Cruz is just dynamic slot or not so playing him on the outside could be in play. Remember the one game wonder and Cruz’s first few big plays came on the outside. The coaches could feel Jernigan is closer to Cruz in the slot than any of the other WRs to Cruz on the outside. Also despite his stature maybe Jernigan can play outside though I doubt it.
I can’t get enough camp updates, keep them coming, and don’t skimp on the detail, no matter how minor.
I’m curious about just every battle across the roster (especially LB), so I won’t ramble on about them too much. That said, here’s hoping Brown, Scott, or even Martinek can finally force “Mediocrity-Unlimited”, Danny Ware from the roster….