Giants' Mathias Kiwanuka Wiser After Motorcycle Accident

There was media access to Monday's New York Giants' OTA. Reporters (not including yours truly, who was a little busy launching some other site), were able to watch practice and speak with players afterwards. Lots of good stuff, and here are some of the highlights.

Mathias Kiwanuka said he is "done" with motorcycles following the recent crash that seriously injured his brother.

"I won’t be riding motorcycles anytime soon," Kiwanuka said today [Monday], in his first interview since the accident. "It was definitely tough to see. It was an experience that I never want to be a part of again."

"You go through something like that and you realize how much of a gift life is and how short it can be," Kiwanuka said. "It’s enough to wake you up to realize there’s better ways to have fun."

This is good news, in a lot of ways. First, it is good news that Mathias is back on the field and that his brother is on the road to recovery. This could have turned out much worse. Secondly, it is good news that Kiwanuka seems to have learned some things about what is and is not important from this event.

Good friend of Big Blue View and outstanding Giants' beat writer Ralph Vacchiano tweeted some interesting stuff about Perry Fewell and what type of defense the new defensive coordinator will be running. From Ralph's Twitter page.

Merritt: "That’s the last thing you’re going to see us out there playing, is the Tampa 2, because that’s not what he is."

Still wondering what D new #NYG coordinator Perry Fewell is going to run? Not a Tampa 2, says safeties coach Dave Merritt ...

More Merritt: "I would label Coach Fewell as a multiple front, multiple-multiple coverage defensive coordinator."

Mike Garafolo has even more on the style of play to expect from the secondary. Here is defensive backs coach Peter Giunta.

Giunta expects his cornerbacks to play more zone-like techniques this season with the man-to-man matchups coming "later in the down than earlier" in press coverage.

"We used to match up on the snap of the ball," Giunta said. "Now, in certain coverages, we’ll drop to our area and then pick up people as they come through our zone." Of course, this raises a flag when it comes to players such as Webster, who struggled in playing "off" coverage under Tim Lewis only to be rejuvenated when Steve Spagnuolo arrived with his more aggressive coverage schemes.

But Giunta said there will be plenty of opportunities for Webster and the equally-long Terrell Thomas to play closer to the receiver. "They’ll be able to use their tools. They’ll be able to mix in the press, mix in the bail, mix in the off coverage with them," Giunta said. "We’ll give them the tools and, based on the guys they have to play, they’ll be able to mix those as much as they can. We’ll obviously give them some guidance and direction, but hopefully they’re going to be able to say, ‘Hey, this is how we’re going to play it.’

"(Fewell) gives them a lot of leeway. We have to develop that trust factor with the players. Once that trust factor’s there, it’s going to be very, very exciting."

Vacchiano also said that it looks like Fewell may turn back the clock to the Steve Spagnuolo 'Four Aces' type alignment at times to get his pass-rushing defensive ends on the field. Listen to Justin Tuck, one of those defensive ends.

That’s the benefit of having this much talent, I guess. That’s a dangerous word, but we do have a lot of talent on the line, not just at the defensive end position. We’re able to put a lot of people in different situations and show different defenses to the offense. It’s hard to get a beat on what they want to do against us if they don’t know where we’re going to line up."

Another good friend of the blog, my 'New York Giants Talk' co-host Pat Traina, had some interesting insight after watching Monday's practice. The biggest thing I do not understand is Pat's report that Guy Whimper is splitting left guard snaps with Rich Seubert, while William Beatty is not getting any first-team reps at either of the tackle spots. 

Giants' coaches know way more about football, and their personnel, than I do. But, I am not going to pretend that I can even begin to comprehend that.