[Note by Ed Valentine, 08/19/10 10:12 PM EDT : Coach Tom Coughlin said in his post-practice presser that both Kenny Phillips and Keith Bulluck will play Saturday night against Pittsburgh.]
New York Giants Training Camp at the University at Albany concludes with a brief walk-thru Friday morning. Thus, this will be your final practice report for this year.
To be honest, not a lot of highlights today. The Giants did a lot of 'scout team' type stuff in preparation for Saturday night's preseason game against Pittsburgh. But, hey, nobody got hurt. Regardless, here are a few notes from the workout.
- Eli Manning, baseball cap and all, did a little bit -- a very little bit -- of work during practice. He threw a handful of passes during offensive drills and did some individual work. Just enough to loosen up that valuable right arm.
- New quarterback Dominic Randolph took a handful of snaps. To be honest, he looked like a guy who the Giants just yanked off the street who had not thrown a pass in several months. Randolph was, understandably, unsure of what he was supposed to do at times. When he did throw the ball he was all over the place, leading one sideline observer to say "what is this, a defensive back drill?"
- Ramses Barden, Jim Sorgi, Jerome Johnson, Chris Snee and Michael Johnson did not practice. In fact, Snee was nowhere to be found. Makes you wonder if he has already been given permission to return to New Jersey.
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Matt Dodge had probably his best afternoon of the entire camp, booming punts all over the UAlbany facility. Dodge kicked twice during the practice. In the first session he boomed seven straight kicks of more than 50 yards before shanking a 'directional' kick. In his second session Dodge hit his first four kicks 50 yards or more (two for 60 yards), then hit a handful of 'directional' kicks. Some were successful, others were not. The most interesting thing about those is watching the vastly different way Jeff Feagles has taught Dodge to drop the ball on his 'directional' kicks, a method that often results in a total end over end kick.
- Lawrence Tynes made four straight field goals during an abbreviated kicking session. The last, impressively, was from 52 yards. Tynes also did some kicking off, and as far as I could tell every ball he hit reached the 5-yard line or deeper. Media can't go past the 35-yard line, so it's tough to judge exact distance, but he was striking the ball well.
- It had to be an encouraging day for undrafted rookie free agent wide receiver Tim Brown. He made a fabulous, leaping, twisting catch between defenders on a ball thrown by Randolph during red zone drills. Brown also was catching both punts and kickoffs during special teams drills, the first time he has been used to return kickoffs.
- On the flip side, a discouraging drop for Sinorice Moss on a crossing route where he got both hands on the ball, only to miss it and watch Michael Greco come up with an easy interception off the deflection.
- Will Beatty worked exclusively with the first unit at left tackle, with David Diehl inside at left guard. Rich Seubert worked with the second and third units.
Remember to give 'New York Giants Talk' a listen tonight at 8 p.m. ET.