New York Giants Are 30 Days Away From Day 1

July 2, 2010

The New York Giants are now officially 30 days away from the first day of training camp. The 2010 training camp dates for Big Blue are August 1, 2010 – August 20, 2010 and will be held at the University of Albany once again. This is going to be a particularly exciting off season with some incredible battles expected on the defensive side of the ball. There will be a brawl at the linebacker position between ten guys looking to start. There still isn’t a clear leader in the middle linebacker group. This is one of the most important jobs on the team and a slot that most thought would have been filled already by a free agent at this point in the year.

I would not be surprised if our readers saw another article from us by the end of the day, discussing a new free agent pick up or player signing.

The defensive end position will be next on the list with four quality (three proven) defensive ends and only two starting roles. Giants DC Perry Fewell has been experimenting with four down defensive ends and I applaud him for it. I would not use that as a standard formation but it might not be a bad idea to mix it into both, first and third down situations. Great start versus drive killer. We have seen this before with Coach Spags back in the day and it works. Both equally good elements to throw into the game and the G-men certainly have the talent to use this set up.

The defensive tackles are solid players and getting DT Jay Alford back this year will bolster an already strong group. The rookie DT Linval Joseph might contribute right away I’ve heard and  I’m anxious to see him on the field. I talked a lot of junk at this point last year about the Giants defensive line having the talent to be the best in the NFL. The team as a whole performed below expectations and I was wrong about the d-line. That was mostly due to the injuries the team had to endure. In 2010, I think this group can perform beyond the bar I set for them in 2009. The Giants defense is stacked.

The defensive backs are going to have their own little skirmish going on back there. The Giants prize signing of 2010, Antrel Rolle, will be a starting safety but who will be the other? Michael Johnson and Deon Grant will be battling it out for that role now that rookie safety Chad Jones is out for the year. If safety Kenny Phillips is healthy, all bets are off and he gets the starting role but questions still remain about his health. We all hope that Phillips can start but nobody knows for now. CB Aaron Ross participated in minicamp on a limited basis and will be returning from an injury plagued year that had him sidelined for almost all of 2009. It would not surprise me to see Giants GM Jerry Reese sign a cornerback, safety or linebacker within the next week or two. Possibly even tonight. What do you think?

Will you be attending any of the 2010 New York Giants training camp practices? Which position do you think will have the biggest battle?

RD – nygreporter.com

THE NYG REPORTER WISHES EVERYONE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY 4TH OF JULY WEEKEND!!


New York Giants: Voluntary Workouts Going Well

March 27, 2010

The New York Giants have been back in the stadium for about a week now getting ready for next season. They have been attending the voluntary off season workouts (I use the term voluntary loosely here) in preparation for the 2010 campaign. The official site of the New York Giants had a bunch of videos recently posted there showing brief interviews with players. Everyone seemed very up beat and happy to get back to work. There was a great sense of pride on behalf of the players, who were interviews in the new facilities. The new locker room caught my attention on more then one occasion because it is so much of an upgrade from the old Giants stadium locker room (I had the pleasure of checking out the old locker room before they tore down the old stadium).

The best news I heard from all of the interviews, was the fact that the running backs seem to be doing much better. We talked about the Running back situation a little bit in our previous story called New York Giants: Danny Ware are you? Hearing that kind of positivity straight from the mouths of the players helped me relax. Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw in particular, seemed to be ready to get going, almost eager to start the season. These guys play with a lot of pride and you could almost see the enormous chip on their shoulders as they spoke to the reporters. I like that, in fact I think the whole team will be playing with a chip on their shoulders this season. Last year was an embarrassment to the team and something they will surely rectify in 2010.

Did you get a chance to watch the short videos on Giants.com? What did you think about them?

RD – NYGReporter.com