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There is a noticeable difference in atmosphere around the New York Giants this season, a year after a disastrous, controversy-filled 3-13 season that saw both the coach and GM get fired in-season.
Safety Landon Collins, speaking mostly about the defense on Monday, identified the biggest difference.
“The attitude. Everybody is hungrier. People wanting to play and the new staff is in here. They’re asking a lot more from players. Just asking to come out here and practice and play hard and earn your position,” Collins said.
“Just put in more work. Don’t be lackadaisical, basically. As we were kind of last year, everybody was kind of set in stone, everybody knew who was going to be playing. We ‘re looking for, like you say, accountability and knowing what you’re supposed to do, how you’re supposed to do it and when you’re supposed to do it. And come out here and play each and every down. And I know you all saw the practice today, everybody is still flying around and I don’t know how many practices we’ve had so far, but we’re getting close to the end and we’re still flying.”
Cornerbacks strut their stuff
Eli Apple with a pass defensed and Janoris Jenkins with a highlight reel interception had the defensive plays of the day at Monday’s OTA.
“It definitely gets competitive out there, especially when you are covering someone that likes to talk a lot like Shep,” Apple said after batting away what was nearly a long touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Sterling Shepard. “He is going to let you know if he got you on a play or he feels like he could have caught the ball. It is definitely some friendly competition.”
“It is good to show them what I got coming back from injury,” Jenkins said after blanketing Cody Latimer on a fade and intercepting a Manning pass. “It is just competing. I love to compete, anyway.”
Young players get their chance
The Giants not only announced roster moves on Thursday, but several young players got increased reps during practice. That was intentional.
“We had a real big personnel meeting last Thursday where we kind of just sat down and just talked organizationally about all of the players,” coach Pat Shurmur said. “I just felt like it was time to get a real good look at what we have with some of the younger players as we move forward. We were kind of at the halfway point at OTAs. We’re seeing a lot good things from our front line guys, but we felt like today was a good day to see what some of the younger, fresher-legged guys could do. We gave them 14 plays there and we did it in a setting where it was basically a scrimmage, so we could see how they would function getting in and out of the huddle, how they would line up on plays that weren’t scripted, and it will be a good tool for us to evaluate some of the young guys.”
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