Good morning, New York Giants fans! It is Wednesday, and with the Giants playing on the road Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers that means today is a travel day for the Giants. Here are some notes for you from Tuesday's media availability.
Marvin Austin was all dressed up for his first NFL action Sunday, but all he got to do was wear his uniform. The 2011 second-round pick never got on the field.
"It's hard in uniform. Right there, you got on the body armor, but you can't go into battle. It's tough, but the one thing I do know is it'll happen sooner or later and that's all I can do is be prepared for my opportunity," Austin said. "Nobody thought Andre was going in the game. You never know. He went out there, was prepared for his opportunity and now this week he's the starting running back for the New York Football Giants. You never know what's going to happen whenever you get your chance and your opportunity to take advantage." [Full transcript]
The Giants were still talking about the final play of the Tampa Bay game on Sunday. At least Justin Tuck was, when he was asked about it.
"I'm trying to be political, but I'm just going to go out and say it, I thought it was a classless play. I thought it had no place in the NFL, and that's how you get guys hurt. I've been in the league for eight years, that's the first time that I've ever seen that. There are guys who have been in the league a lot longer than I have, and that's the first time they've seen it," Tuck said. "So, if that's how he wants to play it, he can do that to them, and everybody else. It's not going to be an issue, until somebody blows their knee out. Or gets some prime guy hurt on national TV. Like I said, it's not illegal. Not at all. I don't agree with it. That's not me being biased because it's my teammates. That's me saying if Perry Fewell told me to dive at a guy's knees when we're losing, I would say ‘no.' That's just a man on man talk." [Full transcript]
Giants' defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said he knew the first time he saw Cam Newton play in the NFL that the Carolina Panthers' quarterback would be a star.
"Well we played him in our first preseason game last year. We opened up with them, and after that game I said he was a franchise quarterback. The reason I said that was because I thought he had great poise for a rookie quarterback. We pressured him a lot in that first preseason game, and he seemed to handle it, and he seemed like if he missed the pass, he knew what his read was, he knew where to go with the football, he just missed the throw. He was determined that he was going to make it right," Fewell said. "I felt like this guy has a lot of poise. Just with some experience and some time, he's going to be a really nice player. I think offensively they're doing some really good things to enhance his athletic ability. I think the sky is the limit for this guy." [Full transcript]
Fewell has been impressed by rookie cornerback Jayron Hosley, a third-round pick who made his first start against the Buccaneers.
"He had some good plays on the outside last week, he had a play or two that weren't so good. I like his poise; I like his confidence. The game is not too big for Jayron. That's what I really like about him," Fewell said. "He's gotten better each week in practice. We're asking him to do a lot. He plays on the inside sub package, he plays outside in the base package, and that's a lot of mental gymnastics for him right now, and he's been able to handle that so far. I think you'll see him improve each and every week. I just like the way he focuses in practice as well as in games."
Eli Manning talked Tuesday about the bizarre Wednesday-Sunday-Thursday schedule of the Giants' first three games.
"It's been different. I thought the guys have adjusted well so far, and Coach Coughlin makes everything feel... Today felt like a Thursday, it felt like a normal day, I guess it really should feel like a Friday," Manning said. "I thought we had a good practice, good preparation. Tomorrow will be a little bit mixed, like a Friday and a Saturday combined, and off we go. I think guys had good preparation, good understanding of what we need to do to get extra work in, to get prepared." [Full transcript]
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