The intensity was turned up -- way up -- during Thursday morning's practice session at New York Giants training camp.
The Giants went with shoulder pads for the first time, and there was some intense hitting.
Coach Tom Coughlin was still not happy with his offense, even though it looked a little better.
"The defense played well this morning. The quickness of our front was obvious ... saw some strong penetrating moves on the part of three or four different guys.
I'm disappointed in the fact that when we put the pads on it's time to put the pads on and you don't expect people to come clean ... but, it'll pick up. It's always that way early. Defense has been playing well, and the offense has gotta get in tune with it and catch up."
Here are some highlights.
- Linebacker Kenny Ingram laid the first big hit of camp on rookie running back Andre Brown, most definitely signaling that things were getting serious. Ingram introduced himself to Brown again later in the camp with another nasty open-field hit.
- Brown had a nice practice, popping through a couple of holes, including a nice bounce outside on one run. Not to be outdone, Danny Ware also ran the ball well this morning, including a nifty cut back run on a pitch out. NIce little competition between the two of them developing.
Here are some other defensive highlights.
- Kenny Phillips made a couple of excellent run stops.
- Chris Canty stuffed Ahmad Bradshaw on a run up the middle.
- Aaron Ross came clean on a corner blitz and would have destroyed Eli Manning in live action.
- Zak DeOssie had a couple of nice plays, including a highlight stop when he straightened up tackle Cliff Louis, and stopped Brown in the backfield.
Here are a few other offensive highlights.
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Sinorice Moss caught the one long ball of the day from Manning, getting behind Aaron Ross. The Giants also ran a reverse to Moss that looked like it could have gained a good chunk of yardage. Someone on the sidelines yelled 'Mr. August' when Moss hauled in the ball.
- Pretty good morning for Hakeem Nicks, who made a couple of good catches over the middle in traffic. Nicks missed a chance for a couple of big plays downfield, though. On one, he was behind his defender and Andre Woodson overthrew him. On another, Woodson badly underthrew him and Nicks attempted to adjust but could not haul in the ball. That one was in the end zone.
- The other rookie receivers -- Ramses Barden and Travis Beckum -- each caught a handful of balls this morning.
Couple of lowlights.
- These would, of course, involved center to quarterback exchanges. Kevin Boothe and Andre Woodson messed up one, it looked like Adam Koets and David Carr messed up another. There was also a third, but I couldn't see who snapped it. Veteran Tutan Reyes ended up taking a few turns at center. Who woulda thought Grey Reugamer would be the biggest off-season loss on this team? My guess is the backup center is someone who is not currently on the roster because right now if Shaun O'Hara is injured the Giants are in a world of hurt.
- The other lowlight was a dropped pass by Brandon Jacobs. Please, please Kevin Gilbride -- do not call plays where Jacobs has to catch the ball.
An off-beat note.
- Ever wonder what a placekicker does to keep himself busy during practice? Well, both Tuesday and today Lawrence Tynes took turns running pass routes during some defensive positioning drills. Tynes also took some turns playing quarterback during another set of cornerback drills. He can throw a little bit, by the way. Oh, the one disconcerting thing? The assistant coaches call Tynes 'LT.' Umm ... fellas, that's wrong.