Die Hard Giants Fan

The Giants had to go back to work today, unfortunately. Below you will find a bunch of notes and reports assembled by a variety of beat writers. The Giants play their first game on Thursday so make sure you watch it.

The Star-Ledger

• Since Plaxico Burress has been unable to practice, he is contributing as an adviser to the Giants’ young receivers. Plax is taking on the mentor role even if the young guys don’t ask for it.
• Mike Garafolo assembled an in-depth 8/3 morning practice report worth checking out. Below is a sample of the entire report. There’s much more where that came from so go check out the source.
  • DEs Justin Tuck (foot) and Osi Umenyiora (hip), WRs Plaxico Burress (ankle), Amani Toomer (leg), Mario Manningham (groin) and David Tyree (knee/PUP), LBs Zak DeOssie (back) and Gerris Wilkinson (knee/PUP), CB Sam Madison (sports hernia), RT Shane Olivea and S Craig Dahl (knee) did not practice.
  • There we go again: first play of team drills was a bomb. Again from QB Eli Manning to WR Domenik Hixon. Great tackle on the play by CB Aaron Ross. Too bad it was way before the ball got there. That’s a 40-yard pass interference penalty on Ross.
  • QB Anthony Wright and WR Michael Jennings hooked up for deep in.
  • WR Craphonso Thorpe got the crowd excited with a spinning, toe-tapping catch on a fade to the left side from Wright. Dockery was in coverage on the play.
  • Hall ran a nice route to catch a hook from QB Andre’ Woodson in front of Webster. Hall later went deep on Pope, but the ball from Wright was overthrown and out of bounds.
• Mike Garafolo assembled an in-depth 8/3 evening practice report also worth checking out. Below is a sample of the entire report. There’s much more where that came from so go check out the source.
  • WRs Plaxico Burress (ankle), Steve Smith (groin), David Tyree (knee/PUP) and Mario Manninghan (groin), LBs Gerris Wilkinson (knee/PUP) and Danny Clark (sports hernia), CB Sam Madison (sports hernia) and OT Shane Olivea (back) did not practice..
  • CB Corey Webster would have none of WR Domenik Hixon catching a fade on the left side. He stayed all over Hixon and knocked the ball away. Webster also stayed stride for stride on a go from QB David Carr to WR Sinorice Moss. Webster had such good position it almost looked like he was the intended receiver. Webster knocked it away for a PD.
  • Hixon ran a perfect comeback to get separation from CB R.W. McQuarters and make a diving catch. McQuarters bounced back with a PD a few plays later when WR Craphonso Thorpe ran the same pattern.
  • LB Chase Blackburn keeps making plays. I mean, this guy couldn’t get a job after the draft a few years ago and now he’s a steady backup in my mind. Tonight, he stayed with Boss on a post into the end zone and wrestled with him to grab a ball from Wright for an INT.
  • WR Brandon London made his first nice grab in a few days on a skinny post over CB Kevin Dockery. Not a bad ball at all from Woodson. London then did a great job of accelerating to at least get his hands on a deep incompletion from Manning. The ball was overcooked and I didn’t think London had a prayer of getting there, but he dove and almost made the catch after getting past CB Terrell Thomas.
• Plaxico Burress did some light running for the first time since training camp.

Big Blue Blog

• Paul Schwartz assembled his own morning practice notes. Below is a sample of his notes, but there are not too many more.
  • On Manning’s second pass, Ross made another aggressive play, storming in to bat away a pass in the flat. Unfortunately for Ross, the ball was picked out of the air by RB Derrick Ward for a completion.
  • David Carr could not have thrown a better pass on a deep toss to Sinorice Moss, who had a step on two rookies, S Kenny Phillips and CB Terrell Thomas. The ball floated down perfectly to Moss … who watched as it slid right through his arms and to the grass. Moss looked up to the sky in bewilderment.
  • TE Kevin Boss, who has caught virtually everything thus far in camp, could not make the grab on a lunging attempt from Manning over the middle.

Inside the Giants

• Tom Rock believes that Sinorice Moss is basically playing for his Giants career in this camp so he’s been under the microscope this first week and a half. That means every drop is written about, and to be fair, there have been a lot of them. Moss had a pretty good practice tonight.

The Blue Screen

• Mike Garafolo put together another morning report and another evening report.

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As soon as John Mara and Steve Tisch sent out the original letter regarding PSLs to the season ticket holders, it has become the biggest story about the Giants of the summer. I’ve checked our site’s stats, and the posts about PSLs have gotten plenty of traffic. Also, those posts have had a few comments attached to each post. The feedback from Giants fans has been very bitter and deservedly so. We went on to bash the organization for wanting to implement PSLs in two posts. Then we wrote a post about the upside to PSLs, which was based on articles that we’ve come across.

The Jets keep postponing the date when they plan on informing their season ticket holders about the PSL pricing plan. However, Rich Cimini of the New York Daily News reported that Woody Johnson said the pricing plan may include a system for Jets and Giants PSL owners to “alternate events as they come along during the year - concerts, a tractor pull, whatever we have.” Johnson is clearly doing this to try to diminish the amount of heat he is going to receive when he sends the letter to the Jets’ season ticket holders. The thing that caught my attention is that Woody mentioned that this would possibly be offered to ‘Jets and Giants PSL owners’. The Giants never mentioned this before, but I’m sure that Johnson, Mara, and Tisch are all on the same page because they are sharing the stadium. This small benefit must have been a topic of discussion which is why he mentioned it. However, the article stated that “The Giants had no comment on how non-football events will be handled.”  I guess we’ll have to wait and see how the Giants will handle it…if they even do.

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Aaron Ross’s fiancée, Sanya Richards, will be spending the next month in Beijing, according to Joshua Robinson of the New York Times. Richards is one of the fastest 400-meter sprinters in the world and among the favorites to win a gold medal at the Olympics, but Ross will not be able attend like she attended Super Bowl XLII. Ross said he would be recording every heat she raced on his laptop so he could immediately watch it because, with a 12-hour time difference, he could not be up all hours of the night during camp. Ross also said, “My training is pretty easy compared to hers.” Aaron and Sanya are able to split time together between their homes in Austin, TX and Secaucus, NJ because their schedules are conveniently interlocking, and they plan to marry in 2010. Richards said, “He has already got his Super Bowl championship, and he really wants me to get this Olympic gold. So he told me just stay relaxed, stay calm and execute, and I will be headed to Beijing.”

I knew that Ross’s fiancée was a pretty good collegiate track star, but I had no idea that she was competing at the Olympic level. On top of that, she’s one of the favorites to win the gold medal which is very impressive. If she wins a Gold, Silver, or Bronze then that’s quite a year for a couple where her fiancée already won the Super Bowl. We need to keep track of how she’s doing in Beijing, and we wish much success.

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ProFootballTalk.com assembled their 2008 All-Time, All-Turd Team. I love these types of things because they’re pretty funny. I summed the amount of players who ended up playing for teams in the NFC East. The Cowboys had 8 turds (This does not include T.O. because I added him to the Eagles since he was a bigger problem there), the Redskins had 5 turds, the Eagles had 4 turds, and the Giants had 2 turds. The players for each team are listed below along with the reason why they made PFT’s list.

Dallas Cowboys

• Michael Irvin, WR, Cowboys - “No one can dispute his talent or performance, but off the field the guy was King Turd. Drugs, adultery, etc. Irvin pleaded no contest to felony cocaine possession charges in July 1996. Sure, he’s in the Hall of Fame now. But even Irvin realizes that his non-football exploits arguably make him unfit for that honor.”
• Lance Rentzel, WR, Vikings, Cowboys, Rams - “Arrested for exposing himself to a 10-year-old girl. Even worse, he married Joey Heatherton.”
• Nate Newton, G, Cowboys - “Arrested for marijuana possession. 213 pounds of it. Five weeks later, he got busted again with “only” 175 pounds.”
• Duane Thomas, RB, Cowboys - “Piss-poor attitude and drug use killed a promising career. Thomas once said of the Super Bowl, “If it’s the ultimate [game], how come they play it every year?“”
• Leon Lett, DE, Cowboys - “Suspended for a year for violation of the substance abuse policy, Lett is best known for two of the most memorable blunders in league history — a premature celebration on a fumble return for a touchdown in the Super Bowl and the dumb-assed decision to try to recover a blocked field goal on the snow-covered Texas Stadium green cement that gave the Fins another chance at the kick, sealing his team’s fate.”
• Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson, LB, Cowboys, Oilers, 49ers - “The original LT, Henderson’s cocaine craze ended his career not long after it started. In 2000, he won $28 million in the lottery.”
• Adam “Pacman” Jones, CB, Titans, Cowboys - “Through a string of brushes with the law and a failure to seem to understand the connection between his behavior and its consequences, Jones became the poster boy for bad behavior in the NFL.”
• Rafael Septien, K, Cowboys - “Pleaded guilty in 1987 to charges of indecency with a 10-year-old girl.”

It is no surprise that the Cowboys have more than the rest of the division. Good thing I’m not a fan of the Raiders, there’s probably dozens. So 2 Cowboys showed their package to 10-year-old girls. It’s strange because both underage girls are the same age. Most of these guys are on here because of drugs. I was most shocked by Thomas “Hollywood” Henderson who won $28 million in the lottery.

Washington Redskins

• Michael Westbrook, WR, Redskins - “One of the all-time first-round receiver busts whose most memorable moment was beating the crap out of Stephen Davis in 1997.”
• Albert Connell, WR, Redskins, Saints - “Re-defined rookie hazing as “stealing the dude’s money.””
• Kenyatta Jones, OT, Patriots, Redskins - “Busted in college for “displaying a firearm” inside a night club, Jones broke from the same-old rap sheet entries by throwing boiling water on his roommate while said roommate was on the toilet. More recently, he was busted for peeing on a dance floor at a night club.”
• Darrell Russell, DT, Raiders, Redskins, Buccaneers - “A promising career was ruined by drug use and allegations of videotaping his friends having sex with a drugged woman. Russell died in a car crash last year after a failed comeback attempt.”
• Daryl Gardener, DT, Dolphins, Redskins, Broncos - “Known for going turdish whenever he got paid big money, Gardener busted his hand in a fight outside a Denver-area IHOP after receiving a huge deal from the Broncos and never was the same again.”

Philadelphia Eagles

• Terrell Owens, WR, 49ers, Eagles, Cowboys - “Single-handedly turned a Super Bowl contender into an also-ran with his selfishness, narcissism, and greed.”
• Bill Romanowski, LB, 49ers, Eagles, Broncos, Raiders - “Walking pharmacy who spit in J.J. Stokes’ face, ended Marcus Williams’ career with a practice field sucker punch, and intentionally broke Dave Meggett’s finger during a pile up. Admitted to steroid use only to sell a book about it.”
• Buddy Ryan, Coach, Vikings, Bears, Eagles, Oilers, Cardinals - “Though we respect Ryan for cutting Cris Carter without exposing (at the time) Carter’s struggles with drugs, this guy was a train wreck as a head coach. Too loud. Too brash. Too reckless. Too impulsive. In other words, the perfect guy to lead our All-Time collection of All-Turds to a Super Bowl.”
• Leonard Tose, Owner - “Gambling and booze caused him to lose the Eagles, and his fortune. Among other things, he once sued a casino for plying him with drinks in order to get him to keep losing money. (Ain’t that standard operating procedure at casinos?)”

New York Giants

• Lawrence Taylor, LB, Giants - “One of the best defensive players in league history, we wonder how effective he might have been if he hadn’t been so preoccupied with drugs, booze, and sex.”
• Bill Belichick, Coach, Colts, Lions, Broncos, Giants, Browns, Patriots, Jets - “He knew that the NFL and other teams were onto his videotaping scam, and yet he continued to do it. His actions created a mess that overshadowed the entire 2007 season and much of the 2008 offseason.”

When a team has an Owner like Wellington Mara for so long, it’s no surprise that there are barely any turds on the All-Time, All-Turd Team. Go Giants!!!

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If you want see what the media is saying about our boys in blue while they are at Training Camp up in Albany then take a look below:

Newsday

• Tom Rock of Newsday stated that Kevin Boss is making the most of taking Jeremy Shockey’s place. Boss caught just about every pass that came his way during the first week of training camp, and he’s working on his blocking.
• The first fight of training camp took place yesterday. It was between Rich Seubert and Danny Clark, but he said that it, “was more a dance while holding on to each other’s face mask than a brawl.”
• MIA from practice: S Kenny Phillips did not participate in either practice with a sore hamstring, Plaxico Burress (ankle), Amani Toomer (leg), and Mario Manningham (quadricep).
• Players worth Noting: WR Domenik Hixon had another outstanding practice in the morning, though it came at the expense of CB Corey Webster, who covered Hixon most of the session … Undrafted rookie S Nehemiah Warrick had a second straight practice with an interception in the morning, playing with the second unit in place of Phillips.

New York Daily News

• Ralph Vacchiano of the New York Daily News says Sinorice Moss is as disappointed as anyone by the way his first two NFL seasons have gone. He suffered a few injuries, but he’s not ready to give up on himself yet. And neither are the Giants.

New York Post

• According Paul Schwartz of the New York Post, “Tom Coughlin gave permission for [Dave] Tollefson to go home to be with his wife, Megan, for the birth of the couple’s first child, a son they plan on naming Tucker. Megan is due on Aug. 15, but will be induced to accommodate Dave’s football schedule. A day or two later, Tollefson will return to camp and hopes to continue his development at defensive end.

The Star-Ledger

• Dave Tollefson cherishes each moment he is on the field.
• Mike Garafolo compiled some notes about Giants training camp.
• Tom Coughlin is still going to be kind and gentle in 2008.
• Mike Garafolo assembled an in-depth 8/1 evening practice report worth checking out.

Sports Illustrated

• Ben Reiter, a writer at Sports Illustrated, recently provided a Giants camp rundown at SI.com. In Reiters “Three Observations”, he writes this of the secondary:
  • I spent several moments observing what I assumed to be the Giants’ linebacking corps huddled up next to the practice field — until I realized the group was actually the team’s secondary. These guys are monsters (only cornerback Sam Madison is under 6 feet), but the most physically impressive of them all is safety Kenny Phillips, the team’s first-round pick out of Miami.

The good news is that everything mentioned about Big Blue is positive. That’s not the norm so enjoy it while it lasts. As mentioned above, Dave Tollefson’s wife is expected to give birth on August 15 so we wish them a healthy child.

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So last year Umenyiora was the only player selected to the Pro-Bowl from the Giants, but many are saying it was due to Strahan. Will this season be a repeat for Osi?

Here’s the 411, Osi has become known for his sacking ability (especially that game against McNabb) but was this really because Strahan was getting a lot of the attention? Probably. This still doesn’t take away from the fact that he can get to the quarterback and throughout his intentions he’s bound to get to the QB. Strahan was a major concern for offensive linemen. They would practice before game time a strategy based on his reading ability. Running plays were mostly concentrated on the opposite side to avoid loses and quarterbacks would move in the pocket towards the opposite side to also avoid complications from Strahan. Truth is, during the season they had both become a concern to opponents and plays were now based on their rushing attacks. Justin Tuck will now be the next beast on the line and he’ll be another worry for the guards. Tuck, like my man Keith mentioned to me over the phone, is a well rounded player. He has great containment coverage so it’s not all about sacks for these defensive ends. Umenyiora will benefit greatly from this figure and will most likely maintain his aggresive streak of sacks due to another main concern (which is Justin Tuck). Who will appear in the 3rd spot for these defensive ends? Will it be the rookies Alex Morrow and Robert Henderson? Dave Tollefson? who we have seen very little of due to Tuck being able to take charge of the 3rd string spot for his great contributions; or can it be Renaldo Wynn? who we’re yet to see him in action.

The defensive end spot will be supervised closely to make sure we don’t lose our reputation of attack. I’m sure defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo will find the best mode of attack for each player and use them to our benefit during the season.

The battle is on and my New York Giants are ready to prove that we have what it takes at the defensive end spot. We might not be full of pro-bowlers but I can assure you it will be them who fear the most their opposing shadow when it comes to playing my Giants.

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Big Blue Interactive (BBI) presented the “BBI Player of the Year” trophy to WR Plaxico Burress for his play during the 2007 NFL regular and post-seasons after the evening practice yesterday. BBI is one of the most popular Giants fansites out there.

Burress was determined to be the award recipient by a BBI fan vote that occurred earlier in the offseason. For more information on the ceremony, see the Daily News’ Giants Blog update Burress Named BBI Giant of the Year. Pictures of the ceremony are available in The Corner Forum.

Personally, I would not have given my top vote to Burress. I would have given it to somebody on defense or to the Steve Spagnuolo, but Plax is not a bad choice at all so we at Die Hard Giants Fan tip our cap to him for winning the award over at BBI.

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ESPN.com found out that Michael Strahan visited the Cowboys‘ training camp yesterday. The article explicitly stated that Strahan was there as “an observer” for his new role as part of Fox’s NFL pregame show. Michael had this to say about his visit…

It’s good to be back at training camp where I don’t have to participate. For about 30 seconds, I was like, ‘Um, I kind of miss it.’ I had my Favre moment, then realized that I’m not going to do that. I’m done.

I enjoy waking up when I want to. I enjoy saying, ‘Do I feel like working out? Nah.’ This is going a lot better or just as well as I expected. You can’t beat winning the Super Bowl and playing the way that we played. There is just value in the way that we ended.

I won the ring, that’s good enough. I’m not going to push my luck. That was the toughest team [Cowboys] and the best team in the league that we played. After that game, we did feel like we could win it all. That was the real challenge for us, playing against the Cowboys. And I let Jerry [Jones] know that.

The article also mentioned that Strahan left his Super Bowl ring at home, but I think he should have brought it so he could rub in the face of T.O., Romo, and Jerry Jones. That would’ve been another priceless Kodak moment. Two Cowboys had something to say about Michael’s visit. Tight End Jason Witten said half-jokingly, “It makes me sick looking at him. At least he didn’t wear his Super Bowl ring out here. I told him I didn’t know if I’d let him in here. He’s still got buddies over there.” Wide Receiver Terrell Owens said, “Every time I looked over, he had a lot of people around him. That’s just the perks of being a Super Bowl champion. He’s taken on a new role being part of the media, so I don’t really talk to the media that much.” Bow down to the Ring Cowgirls.

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The Giants were blessed with the presence of Lieutenant Colonel Greg Gadson in 2007. Gadson was with Big Blue throughout the season, during the Playoffs, and during the Super Bowl. He was also named the Honorary Co-Captain in the NFC Championship game.

Up in Albany, Lieutenant General Ray Odierno visited the G-MEN and delivered a special message to them today. Odierno is a lifelong Giants fan from Rockaway, NJ and more importantly he was recently named to succeed General David Patraeus as the commander of U.S. Forces in Iraq. Odierno, who previously served as Petraeus’ deputy in the war, will be promoted to full general and return in September to Iraq, where he recently completed a 30-month tour. Below is Ordierno’s message…

The only other thing that I would say to you is that I kind of thought a lot about this team, being a big Giants fan. I’m very proud of what you all accomplished last year. About 18 months ago, when I took over as commander in Iraq, nobody gave us a chance to do well. There are still a lot of non-believers out there who don’t believe that we’ve done a good job over there, and my guess is that there are still a lot of non-believers about this team. They don’t think that you’re worthy of what you’ve accomplished and I would just tell you to stick together, work your (butt) off, and shove it up their (butt). What makes this group so special is that you’re a team first, you care about each other first, and if you do that, you will always be successful. So, good luck to you, God bless you, it has been an honor to be out here with you today.

Tom Coughlin was asked by the media to comment on General Ray Ordierno’s message…

Basically, team first; we do it for each other. He used the analogy of the soldiers for when our guys are struggling out here and think it is hot. It is 120 degrees in Iraq and they are wearing a hundred pounds worth of gear. They are out there for four and five hours at a time. I’m sure that analogy struck home with the guys. You are talking about the end of that long first week of camp. So the legs are a little heavy and weary. But the troops are staying out there and hanging in there. We make small gains every day, and in football we need everybody to be on the same page. We still have some mental errors that are going on that have got to be corrected. That will come around.

The article contains comments made by various players if you would like to check it out at Giants.com. Since General Ray Ordierno is going to Iraq at the end of September for 30 months, he will not be around the whole year to inspire our boys in blue.

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Rotoworld.com released a statement made by Adam Schefter of the NFL Network, “The league has determined that Ahmad Bradshaw is not in violation of the personal conduct policy. He will not be suspended.”  The NFL investigated the situation and concluded the crime pre-dated his NFL career.  That’s the good news, and there is some bad news also.  Bradshaw must serve another 30 days when the 2008 season is over.  That’s new news to some like the Giants organization.  According to Ralph Vacchiano over at The Blue Screen, “Tom Coughlin said he wasn’t aware of that, and other team officials have indicated the same thing.”

As a Giants fan, it’s a good thing that he doesn’t have to serve his sentence until the season is over.  However, I believe that these athletes shouldn’t get special treatment in the judicial system.  If atheletes get special treatment then the common man should get special treatment also.  Why should a judge have to work around the NBA schedule when Kobe Bryant rapes a woman?  How come the judge doesn’t revolove around the work schedule of a man who rapes a woman in Central Park?  I’m just saying…

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