A First Look At A Giant Repeat
By mlav70
So the first preseason game of the 2012 NY Giants campaign is over and it wasn’t the prettiest ending to a game. I know it’s preseason and the games don’t count, but you have to think Coughlin is probably not thrilled to give up such a big lead, even if it was the back ups who gave it up. But let’s look at the bright spots.
The new TE Martellus Bennett looked very good. He made some tough catches Including a 12 yd TD over the middle and showed he may be able to be the piece the offense was looking for. Although he needs to keep it up and still has more to prove.
There were some good moments from the WR’s as the coaches look to solidify the third wideout spot. Rueban Randle showed he is talented with two catches for 27 yds including a TD and could be the answer, but he is a rookie and will most likely have some growing pains. I thought Ramses Barden showed a lot of promise and a few big blocks down field.
The biggest bright spot was in the running game. The spot to back up Bradshaw is being tightly contested. Rookie RB David Wilson looked very good and lead the team in rushing on 7 rushes for 43 yds and had a nice catch and run in the final possession. Both DJ Ware and Andre Brown ran the ball hard and had a combined 12 rushes for 55 yds. I look forward to watching this battle throughout the rest of camp and should make all three better.
The starting Defense looked dominating as it should. They had a few sacks and some forced fumbles. The secondary looked extremely good and I even saw a few CB blitzes, one for a sack by Hosley, thats something the D had been lacking in recent years. Mark Herzlich looked very good and he will add depth at ILB and could help in pass coverage over the middle.
Special teams was a big problem with both Hosley and Jerrigan muffing a punt. Considering how important ball security is I believe this area will get a lot of attention and I wouldn’t be surprised to see some new faces back there fielding punts.
After the first look it appears that the areas of preseason concern may have been addressed, but it is still to early to tell. And there is still a lot of work to do for the Giants to make it back to the promised land.