Giants Practice Report 8/20

Yesterday, the Giants had their second to last practice that will be open to the public at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, NJ.

Aug 20, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Giants fans attending the second to last open practice of training camp.

Mishaps & Miscues

• Third year wide-out, Jerrel Jernigan, had himself a poor practice.  In punting drills he dropped two punts.  He also had another drop or two during full team drills.  At this point it looks like Jernigan has an uphill climb at making the 53-man roster.
  

  Aug 20, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Eli watching Eli practice.

• One woman screamed that Eli Manning was the reason she gets up in the morning and Eli seemed to shake his head at the comment. He also gave a few smiles to the crowd after some footballing on your phone jokes.
• Jayron Hosley dropped what should have been an easy interception as David Carr threw the ball directly to him.
• At one point during team drills I had a slight heart attack as David Wilson ran into the back of David Diehl and fell down awkwardly.  As if Diehl almost getting Eli killed multiple times a game isn’t bad enough, he almost took out Wilson in practice. This guy can’t do anything right anymore.

Thought & Observations

Aug 20, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Reuben Randle running routes at practice.

• I thought that Eli looked sharp for most of the day, whether it was in full team drills or side drills.  He had a couple of nice deep sideline connections with Reuben Randle who looked like an absolute stud today.  The more I watch Randle, the more he reminds me of Hakeem Nicks when he first came into the league.
• Ryan Nassib looked uncomfortable again and after a couple of dropped passes (not his fault) and bad passes (his fault) he seemed to get a bit frustrated.
• Eli was able to get Brandon Myers involved in a couple of plays and hit Bear Pascoe down the seam on another.  The tight ends have been quiet so far in the pre-season, but they need to start stepping up for the Giants offense to click on all cylinders.
• On the topic of tight ends, Adrien Robinson, looked to run a wrong route at one point and received an earful from Kevin Gilbride.  In the two practices I saw, Robinson didn’t look good at all.
  

  Aug 20, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Terrell Thomas talks with his teammates at practice.

• Terrell Thomas was working at nickel corner with the starting defense and Dan Connor was working at middle linebacker.
• David Wilson looks to move at a different speed then everybody else on the field. He is just incredible to watch and it is fairly obvious he has some special physical tools. The Giants even split him out wide on some plays to try to get him the ball in open space.
• I got my first look at Giants third round pick Cooper Taylor.  He absolutely towered over the other defensive backs.
• Now, we get to the most disturbing part of practice, at least to me, redzone drills.  The first team offense started and the series went like this: incompletion, toss play that would have gone for a couple of yards, and short completion to Nicks.  In a live game the Giants would have had to settle for a field goal.  Obviously, they practice exactly how they play in games.
  

  Aug 20, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Giants fifth round draft pick Cooper Taylor.

Throughout the day the offense seemed to have the defenses’ number.  The pass coverage was especially disappointing, although it is hard to judge when they aren’t hitting.  The redzone is still a major issue for the offense.  However, I did think the Giants seemed to practice with a bit more purpose than they did on Friday.

If you want more updates and analysis from me then don’t forget to follow @bigbluebloggers on Twitter!

Aug 20, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; Giants practicing.