That’s a wrap! The Giants went through their final summer practice at U Albany this year (perhaps for good?), and by the time you read this, most if not all of the team will be in their cars headed down the NY State Thruway back to New Jersey, where they’ll get settled for the remainder of their summer camp back at the Timex Performance Center (TPC). Starting tomorrow, team officials will probably pay closer attention as to how well the logistics work at the TPC concerning housing the rookies, meetings, etc. and use that information to make a decision about the future of their training camp site.
Giants COO John Mara, who’s had some preliminary discussions with head coach Tom Coughlin about next year’s site, has already said that it will be a few weeks yet before they come to a decision. The smart money though is on the giant having camp in the TPC for numerous reason, most notably if there is inclement weather, they have a place to go. In addition, as we have said before, with a labor disruption looming on the horizon for 2011, logic would dictate that teams would look to save money rather than to spend it, and if the Giants were to hold camp at TPC, they would save on expenses such as trucking their equipment back and forth to Albany, amongst other expenses.
Coughlin, meanwhile, refused to share his thoughts with reporters about the future of camp. “You’re not going to get me into the politics of this. It’s beyond me. We’ve indicated things that we really think are important for coming back. I just talked to President (George) Philip and he’s working hard to resolve all of those. I know Mayor (Jerry) Jennings is doing the same thing. Obviously we’ve had an exceptional weather camp. We missed our conditioning run and that’s all. That hasn’t been the case in other years. As you know, when we do have rain we have no place to go. That was a major issue for me. The weather has been exceptional and the idea of us being all together and being in a camp-type setting – that’s a really positive thing.”
INJURIES
DTs Chris Canty (hamstring) and Jay Alford (knee) did not work. Canty, who went to the city yesterday for further evaluation, was back for the final day of camp at Albany, wearing a baseball cap. Coughlin said that Canty had some stuff done to help expedite the healing process.
LBs Danny Clark and LB Antonio Pierce (foot) remained out of practice, as were OL Orrin Thompson (thigh) and LB Michael Boley (hip)
CB Stoney Woodson (ankle) did individuals.
More bad news for Aaron Ross (hamstring). He’s been trying to slowly work his way back into football shape, but he came up limp while running on the second play of team drills, grabbed the back of his left leg, and let out a frustrating yell. He had to be helped off the field. He later was able to gingerly walk along the sidelines under his own power before being carted off for further medical evaluation. It’s probably safe to say that he won’t be making any more preseason practice or game appearances this year.
“It felt like someone shot me,” Ross said after practice. “It was cramping in three different places.”
Ross is hopeful that he’ll be ready to go by the season opener, which is 19 days away.
After practice, Coughlin said that Ross’ injury is a reoccurrence of his original hamstring ailment, and that the original one “wasn’t as bad as (Chris) Canty’s” (meaning that it wasn’t torn. However, they’ll probably send Ross for tests now to see if he made the injury any worse.
PRACTICE HIGHLIGHTS
* A day after throwing three interceptions, QB Eli Manning was back on track, connecting with Domenik Hixon over the middle for a beautiful pass. Hixon easily beat Corey Webster to make the catch. For those concerned that the Giants receivers are unable to separate, buy the way, we’ve seen them do it in the practices and we think that if the quarterbacks have time to throw in the games, you’ll see that transfer over.
* On the opposite end of the spectrum, WR Hakeem Nicks, who turned in his best practice of the summer yesterday, dropped three balls. The first went right off his hands. The second went through his fingertips. The third was a deep left post thrown by David Carr that landed in his hands but somehow squired out.
Nicks did try to make up for his mistakes later on as he caught a touchdown pass on a go route in the two minute offense, beating safety CC Brown in coverage.
* TE Darcy Johnson, who is fighting for a roster spot, made a nice grab of a David Carr pass thrown over the middle.
* And speaking of the competition at tight end, Michael Matthews, whom to date hasn’t been consistent with his pass receiving skills, made a highlight reel, one-handed catch in seven-on-sevens in which he leaped high into the air and fell backwards as he came down with the ball.
* Terrell Thomas nearly came up with the defense’s 31st interception of camp, but he was out of bounds. Still, Thomas has been really taking advantage of his opportunities with Ross sidelined.
* As expected, once practice ended and the players heard what head coach Tom Coughlin had to say, they dashed off the field quicker than you could say, “Gentlemen, start your engines!” Best guess is the players will shower and hop into their pre-packed vehicles to commence the Albany 500 back to New Jersey.
ADDITIONAL NOTES
According to Giants VP of Communications Pat Hanlon, COO John Mara, a member of the NFL’s Competition Committee, met with P Jeff Feagles to discuss the upcoming Competition Committee conference call regarding the hanging scoreboard at the Cowboys’ new stadium. Mara apparently wanted to get Feagles’ take on whether the 160-foot video screen was legitimately a problem. The Competition Committee is scheduled to discuss the matter in an emergency call later today.
According to the Giants, they have set a new training camp attendance record with 46,960 attendees spread over 26 practices. Not bad, but we wonder if it will be enough to persuade the team to return here next year?
COMING UP
The Giants will be back home at the Meadowlands tomorrow and Thursday where Pat Traina will bring you the updates. Practices at the TPC, by the way, will be closed to the public. There is no media access on Friday, and then of course on Sunday, Pat T. will bring you game coverage of the annual Giants-Jets summer clash.
-- Reported by Jim Murphy
