Here are a few notes from the afternoon practice session during Day 1 of New York Giants training camp.
- Ramses Barden continued to impress. After a terrific morning session, Barden caught several more balls this afternoon. He could be a real weapon in the short passing game.
- Eli Manning threw the ball much better this afternoon than he had in the morning session. He had one pass intercepted by Kevin Dockery, but that was purely Sinorice Moss' fault. He dropped a ball that hit him right in the numbers, batting it right to Dockery.
- Love watching Jeff Feagles work, even if he did drop a snap during punt drills. He punted this afternoon, and worked the ball sideline to sideline, consistently pinning returners outside the hash marks. Nobody does that better than he does.
- Speaking of special teams, Ahmad Bradshaw had camp's first muffed punt.
- Watched Zak DeOssie snap for field goals before practice had officially started. Every snap was perfect, and I'm hoping to see DeOssie do all the snapping this season. Conversely, I watched Jay Alford 'try' to snap for punts. It wasn't pretty. Out of maybe five snaps one was a total ground ball and another was a one-hopper to Feagles. Pray to God you never see Alford lined up to punt snap during a real game.
- Steve Smith had a nice afternoon. A good sideline catch on a throw from Eli, and a long touchdown reception when he blew past Aaron Ross to catch a ball from Eli.
- Andre Woodson threw the ball well this afternoon. Funny moment on a long ball from Woodson to Moss for a TD. Smith was also wide open deep on the sideline nearest to me, having smoked Terrell Thomas (a theme all day). When he realized he was open by 5 yards and still wasn't getting the ball he said "Oh my God." Moss, incidentally, had run right by Dockery.
- Smith later showed he can get deep when he beat Aaron Ross down the left side to catch a touchdown throw from Eli.
- Danny Clark and Corey Webster made the defensive plays of the afternoon. Clark was beaten down the seam by Lee Vickers, but slapped away Eli's pass at the last instant. Same for Webster, who was beaten deep by Smith but recovered to tip the ball away.
- By the way, I can't point to one spectacular play, but Mario Manningham was impressive all day. No matter who he lined up against he seemed to get separation, and he caught everything.
That's it for me. Time to collapse for the evening.