With the New York Giants players in full pads Thursday night for the first time, the hitting and speed of practice picked up.
It also led to my first "Oh, s---" moment of the week.
We were on the farthest practice field last night, which I believe they call Field 4. It has the tightest sideline in terms of space from the field to the retaining fence of any of the fields. Anyway, I'm standing there in the media box during 11-on-11 drills when Eli decides to throw a wheel route to Brandon Jacobs. Cool, except, Jacobs is on the sideline 10-12 feet front of me, out of control and heading full speed right in my direction.
Thank God -- and thank you, Brandon -- that he was able to put on the brakes before I ended up "Laron'd" on the sideline. I would probably still be there!
I had another moment Thursday night where I had to make a decision. During punt drills Jeff Feagles sent a ball out of bounds headed within a step or two of me. I thought "I can catch that," which I could have by moving two steps to my left. Then I thought, "Man, there must be a thousand people right behind me. If I drop it, I'm gonna get killed."
I just let it bounce away.
- I know you guys are enjoying the practice reports. What's killing me, though, is reading the reports from Mike Garafolo and Ralph Vacchiano. Every time I do that, I find stuff in there that I forgot to mention. I am out of practice, I guess. Garafolo, by the way, has a great eye for the hard things to follow, like interior line play. I don't know how he picks out some of the details he sees.
- Let me finish with a quick memo to Garafolo, Tom Rock and the other beat writers. Next time you guys decide to play 18 holes, I want in.