When I tell you who I thought was the most impressive player on the field during Tuesday afternoon's workout during New York Giants training camp, you might rub your eyes, read it a couple of times and wonder, 'who the heck is that and what is Ed talking about? Maybe the sun has fried his brain.'
The best player on the field was safety Vince Anderson. Yes, Vince Anderson. Yes, the Vince Anderson who was signed as an undrafted free agent cornerback out of tiny Webber International, a school I had never heard of.
Anderson, 6-foot-2, 205 pounds has been moved to safety by the Giants. Anderson made a pair of interceptions Tuesday afternoon on poorly thrown balls by Rhett Bomar (yes, my fav Rhett). He also tipped away a long ball from David Carr that seemed destined to become Hakeem Nicks' first huge play of camp.
The Giants have three safeties they know they can depend on. Michael Johnson, Kenny Phillips and C.C. Brown will see most of the playing time.
There is a nice little battle shaping up for the fourth safety slot between Travonti Johnson, undrafted free agent Sha'reef Rashad and Anderson. Who knows? Anderson might not do a thing the rest of camp, but Tuesday afternoon he stamped himself as a contender for that last safety spot.
- The other most notable thing about Tuesday afternoon's session was Tom Coughlin's foul mood. After expressing plenty of unhappiness with his offense in his morning press briefing, TC let his offense have it most of the afternoon. During the first set of 11-on-11 drills there were quite a few unprintable TC explosions when mistakes were made. To say the least the head coach is not happy with what he is seeing from his offense thus far.
- Steve Smith rebounded from a sub-par morning with an excellent afternoon. Smith's highlight play was the first pass of the day, when he beat Aaron Ross deep and hauled in what would have been an 80-yard touchdown catch.
- By the way, before I forget to mention it, the wind conditions at UAlbany this afternoon were good practice for Eli when it comes to handling Giants Stadium winds in December. It was very blustery, and Eli tossed a couple of wobblers. For the most part, though, he delivered the ball well.
- Rookie receivers Hakeem Nicks and Ramses Barden both made a couple of nice grabs. The more I watch Barden the more I wonder how he got all the way to the tail end of the third round. With his size and strength he looks like one of those guys you can complete passes to even when you know he isn't open.
- Bryan Kehl had an interception for the second straight day. He picked off Eli on a pass intended for Kevin Boss. Pretty obvious Eli never saw him. It's also pretty obvious to these eyes that Kehl is a better player than Gerris Wilkinson. Which leads to the question -- why is Wilkinson working with the first unit and Kehl the second?
- Watched Lawrence Tynes kick off four times and nail three into the end zone. Of course, he did have the wind at his back. Tynes did not miss a field goal toward the end of practice, making something like 8-10 in a row (I stupidly didn't bother to count).
- By the way, both Jay Alford and Zak DeOssie snapped during field goal drills. Every Alford snap was high, and Jeff Feagles had to pull it down. Every DeOssie snap was perfect. I am going to continue to ask. Why isn't DeOssie handling ALL of the snapping during games?
- By the way, what does it tell you that Eli was the first non-kicker or snapper on the field this afternoon? By a wide margin. And yes, that means yours truly was the first reporter there -- early enough to notice.