By T. Wright for Inside Football
Today marked the final full practice scheduled for Albany. Receiver Plaxico Burress apparently suffered a setback, as he didn’t do any work today. He’s obviously not going to play on Monday night. Also out of action were receivers Amani Toomer (knee), Steve Smith (groin/hamstring), Mario Manningham (quad) and David Tyree (knee/PUP), linebackers Mathias Kiwanuka (groin) and Jonathan Goff (back), cornerbacks Sam Madison (sports hernia) and R.W. McQuarters (hip flexor) and kicker Lawrence Tynes.
Of the injured list, figure Burress, Toomer, Manningham, Tyree, Smith, Goff, Tynes, and Madison won’t play. Head coach Tom Coughlin mentioned during his post practice press conference that there are ten guys who will sit out on Monday, but wouldn’t confirm if the ten are the same ones who missed today’s workout. So draw your own conclusions.
Corners Terrell Thomas and Darren Barnett each had interceptions, each against Anthony Wright. Thomas picked off a ball intended for Michael Jennings while Barnett jumped the route against DJ Hall. Fellow cornerback Corey Webster came up with a pick against Woodson, who was trying to find Jennings in the end zone. And joining the pick fest was safety Kenny Phillips, who picked off André Woodson on a pass in the end zone.
TE Jerome Collins didn’t help his chances of making the roster when he dropped a pass from Anthony Wright.
Justin Tuck managed to pressure and sack David Carr, who threw the ball away. Then Dave Tollefson stuffed Reuben Droughns as he tried to turn the corner on a wide run.
FB Robert Douglas picked up a blitz on a passing play and looked like an old pro doing it. Douglas has quietly had a nice camp, but his chances of sticking around are slim considering he has Madison Hedgecock in front of him.
Speaking of Hedgecock, he received another rare carry on a short yardage situation, and took it right up the middle. Wonder if perhaps the coaches are considering him as a short yardage back?
Rookie DE Alex Morrow had a sack on QB André Woodson, who tried to get the ball out to Droughns. Later on, he limited Kay-Jay Harris on a run up the middle.
Sammy Knight had some nice nice plays. The first was a stop against Brandon Jacobs on a run up the gut. The second was his breakup of an Eli Manning pass intended for TE Michael Matthews. Later in the practice, he teamed up with LB Bryan Kehl to stop Danny Ware on a run to the right.
Michael Johnson is one fearless dude. He ran Kay-Jay Harris out of bounds and then on another play, braced himself for the steamroller known as Brandon Jacobs. Had it been live scrimmage, Jacobs might have flattened Johnson, but he tagged the runner for the stop and quickly got out of the way.
Eli Manning had a TD pass to DJ Hall on a fade, but Hall might have been guilty of pushing off the defender. Manning also did a nice job threading the needle on a pass to Domenik Hixon. On the play, Manning managed to get the ball between Kevin Dockery and Kenny Phillips.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned S Stuart Schweigert yet. He seems to have good instincts and a nose for the ball. Today he made two nice stops on runs by Harris and Danny Ware, both of which went for minimal gains. Schweigert took a nice angle on both and showed text book tackling skills.
Sinorice Moss dropped a short pass from André Woodson, but later made up for it by beating Kevin Dockery on a deep pattern. Then he caught a touchdown pass from Eli Manning before capping his day with a reception on a ball thrown by David Carr.
Nice play by S Craig Dahl to swat away a deep ball intended for DJ Hall and thrown by Woodson.
Temporary kicker Josh Huston was wide left on his first FG attempt, but made his next three. Huston, by the way, knows he’s only keeping the seat warm for Lawrence Tynes until he returns from injury.
“This is Lawrence’s job,” Huston said. “I’m here to service these guys and give Lawrence an opportunity to rest up and it’s a good opportunity for me to get out there, get some game film and hope that someone sees me.”
Tomorrow the players are scheduled to have a jog-thru and some final meetings before the procession of SUVs and luxury cars make their way down the New York State Thruway. Also tomorrow, Pat will have a preview of the upcoming Cleveland preseason game as well as an exclusive sit-down with André Woodson, who according to head coach Tom Coughlin, is going to see snaps in Monday’s game following Eli Manning and Anthony Wright.
On Monday, your regular IF team is back in action to bring you coverage of the Giants-Cleveland game, and then on Wednesday, when the team continues its training camp at Giants Stadium, Pat will resume providing updates.
It’s been fun! Hope to do it again next year!
