Giants training camp takeaways, 8/18: Saquon Barkley’s running style, Daniel Jones’ neck, more

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Thursday was an interesting, news-filled day at New York Giants camp. Saquon Barkley blasted critics of his running style. Daniel Jones said the scar on his neck is from “non-football related” surgery. Wink Martindale had some fun at Bill Belichick’s expense. We learned more than we wanted to know about Tyrod Taylor’s hygiene. And, the Giants may have suffered another significant injury.

That’s just some of what went down on a busy day at Quest Diagnostics Training Center. Let’s get to some of the takeaways.

Injury report — Ben Bredeson goes down

• Ben Bredeson, who has been functioning as the first-team center with Jon Feliciano limited and Shane Lemieux and Jamil Douglas already out of action, left practice with a large wrap on his right elbow.
• Wide receiver Sterling Shepard, still on the Physically Unable to Perform (PUP) list as he rehabs from a torn Achilles, was running routes at full speed and catching passes on a side field during the workout. Best guess is we may see Shepard come off the PUP list after Sunday’s preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
• Cornerback Cor’Dale Flott, edge defender Jihad Ward, and Douglas were running on that same side field during practice.
• Wide receiver Kadarius Toney ran routes and went through receiver drills during the individual portion of practice, but did not participate in team periods.
• Others who did not practice included: Dane Belton, Andre Miller, Elerson Smith, Ricky Seals-Jones, Rodarius Williams.

Good Golladay

Thursday was a positive day for the oft-criticized Kenny Golladay.

Golladay and Daniel Jones hooked up on a deep completion. Golladay beat safety Julian Love to make the grab. The play was also the longest completion I have seen by Jones during training camp.

Golladay also beat Adoree’ Jackson on back-to-back plays during a full-field drill, one over the middle and one where he made a leaping grab on a quick out. Golladay had, by my count, four catches Thursday during team periods.

“He made some plays today,” Jones said of Golladay. “I think he’s had a good camp.”

Jones added that the deep ball was “a big-time play” by Golladay.

Quotes of the day

Giants defensive coordinator Wink Martindale on Bill Belichick being unahppy about the amount of blitzing the Giants did in the first preseason game:

— Saquon Barkley, when asked what he has learned about backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor. Here is Barkley’s full quote on Taylor:

Saquon ‘fed up’ with critics

Barkley hit back at critics of his running style, calling them “All-Pros with clickers in their hand.” [Full story]

Quarterback stats

On a day when the Giants’ defense backed off on some of the blitzing Martindale is famous for, quarterbacks had pretty good days.

• Jones went 9 of 14 by my unofficial count, including drops by Barkley and Antonio Williams. I have him with touchdown throws to Collin Johnson and David Sills, plus the long ball to Golladay.
• Tyrod Taylor went 9 of 9, with pretty touchdown throws to Darius Slayton and Johnson.
• Davis Webb was 8 of 16 by my unofficial count.

Jones admitted after practiced that he has “had good days and bad days” during this training camp.”

“I feel like I’ve made progress,” Jones said. “Learned a lot in this system, and will continue to do so.

‘Run and cover’

The Giants gave up a 30-yard punt return and a pair of 25-yard kickoff returns against the Patriots in the first preseason game. Special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey seemed unfazed.

“Well, you never want to give up anything. But it’s the first game of the year and schematically we’re not doing certain things on purpose because we want to see who can run and cover,” McGaughey said. “There are some things that we can help ourselves out with in coverage and we will moving forward. There are some things that we needed to see. We’ll continue to work on those things. Guys have got to show up and make plays when they get opportunities.”