It was back to work this morning at UAlbany for the New York Giants as they prep for this weekend's second exhibition game.
Let me start today by getting up on my soapbox. The NFL has handed the Giants the most ill-conceived training camp schedule possible. Because of league rules governing how many practices a team can have before its first exhibition game, the Giants were the last team in the league to start camp -- meaning they will actually get in fewer practices than any other team.
Now, after playing Monday night the Giants have to turn around and be in Chicago for their second game just five days later. That means they have today and tomorrow for practice, and a quick walk-thru Friday morning. Hardly the way a team wants to conduct training camp and get ready for a regular season that isn't that far off.
Coach Tom Coughlin expressed his feeling about the situation this morning after practice. Especially since the Giants will be doing some game planning for the Bears game.
"Let's put it this way. I wouldn't design it that way," Coughlin said. "I think what we did this morning was a good positive step for our players. To call it pre-season, it's not pre-season when you're doing things like this and it's really not conducive to the growth that you normally get between the first and second games. But you do the best you can with it. We'll use it as a challenge and our guys will have to respond."
Injury Notes
- Free-agent defensive tackle Rocky Bernard practiced for the first time, and took some snaps during 11-on-11 drills. "It was good to get him out there," Coughlin said, although he admitted Bernard will be "very limited" for now.
- The news is not as good on Chris Canty, whom Coughlin said still has some swelling in his knee.
- Corey Webster, Aaron Ross and Steve Smith all returned to practice this morning.
Practice Notes
- David Tyree still seems unlikely to make the 53-man roster, but he won't go down without a fight. Tyree made the play of the morning, catching a deep ball from David Carr that drew the biggest cheer of the practice from the small crowd in attendance.
- Sinorice Moss also hauled in a long ball from Carr.
- The bad news about both of those plays was that the defender victimized on both was cornerback Bruce Johnson, who followed up a good game Monday with a bad practice.
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Mario Manningham made a couple of plays Monday, but there was also some discussion of a couple of mental errors the second-year wide receiver made. He made another one this morning, lining up on the wrong side of the field during a two-minute drill. Eli Manning corrected him.
Other Stuff
- Coughlin admitted he was not happy with the play of the backup offensive lineman Monday night.
"Quite frankly we have to get better play out of that second offensive line before anybody's gonna do anything," Coughlin said.
- Coughlin was asked to assess Danny Ware, who is likely to be part of the running back rotation.
"Danny Ware is a good football player," Coughlin said. "He's just gotta show us that he can do it consistently, and do all the things we ask him to do."
- Coughlin was also asked to assess the uneven play play of backup quarterback Andre Woodson Monday night.
"I'm disappointed in the interception, yeah," Coughlin said. "I certainly would have wanted to see more."