East Rutherford, N.J. —From day one, GM Joe Shoen and head coach Brian Daboll have been on the same page on rebuilding and changing the culture at MetLife
Throughout training camp you can definitely feel the difference in the practice regiments. There has been days that the Giants’ offense looked a little off and that because they are learning a new install offense from coordinator Mike Kafka. But that is what is expected when have a lot new faces and different concepts thrown at you.
Daboll insist that they are about process over results at this point in time as they figure out what will, and will not, work for them on the offensive side of the ball.
“That’s why we practice. We’re all about the process, so if you have a bad day, you regroup, you look at it, you talk about it,” Daboll said. “Obviously, you want to translate good things in practice to games. We’re evaluating players right now. We’re working through a lot of different schemes. That’s not much different than the last 22 years I’ve been around. But we want to perform well when it counts the most, which is on game day.”
Some players that stood out in Monday’s practice:
Julian Love had a busy offseason and the New Giants safety will be even busier patrolling the secondary since the departure of Logan Ryan.
Instead of worrying about flowers, cakes, honeymoon sites for his his high school sweetheart and now wife, Julia, Love is getting focused in Wink Martindale’s pressure defense.
Love moved into the starting lineup with the release Ryan is anxious and excited about his new role. With Love versatility at safety, he can played in the box, in the slot, blitzed and do all types of exotic things in Martindale’s defense.
“He’s pacing us right now,” Love said of Martindale’s aggressive approach. “He wants to show what we want to show in the preseason and we’re going to get to that eventually. But yeah, he has a plan and some are going to be more exotic.”
Also, wide receiver Collin Johnson has been making quite an impression on the coaching staff. Johnson has been impressive in training camp. In the preseason game against the Patriots, he caught 7 of 8 balls for 82 yards with an 11.7 yards per catch.
Johnson had another solid day on Monday, making some one handed grabs to turn some heads. He was a featured interview at the podium during Monday’s media session and this what he had to say.
“At the end of the day, you’ve just got to focus on being the best you can be. I feel like if you do that, when the opportunity comes, you’ll make it,” Johnson said. “I have full confidence that when I get an opportunity, I’ll make the play because I know the way I work every day. I’m definitely going to keep working and keep taking advantage of my opportunities.”
There was more motion and more quick game concepts called than we have witnessed since the early part of camp. The passing attack had a heavy dose of wide receiver screens and quick hitches to alleviate some of the defensive pressure.
Daniel Jones finished the session 8 of 11. He did throw one horrible interception, well behind Wan’Dale Robinson. The rookie tipped the ball and Darnay Holmes picked the ball off and took it to the house.
Daboll admitted on Monday that he had to get defensive coordinator Wink Martindale to dialed down with some of the pressure packages during the session.
“I think it’s (the pressure) good. I think it’s good for an offense, too, to have to deal with that. However many plays in a row, it’s still good. It makes you think. But I do think you want to do that at times where you say, ‘Hey, give me two or three so every play isn’t mental gymnastics of figuring out different things,’ “ Daboll said. “But I think it’s good to apply as much pressure because you’re going to deal with it at some point. Whether it’s 20 plays in a row, you never know about that, but it’s good for an offense to have to work through communication. And it’s really good to sit back after the practice and go through it and really talk about some things that are issues at times.”
Injury report:
The following Giants did not practice:
Jon Feliciano, Jihad Ward, Elerson Smith, Rodarius Williams, Leonard Williams, Shane Lemieux, Joshua Ezeudu, Jamil Douglas, Ricky Seals-Jones, Matt Breida, Gary Brightwell, Cor’Dale Flott, Dane Belton (broken collarbone), Andre Miller (broken forearm).
“We’re down a little bit. We’re certainly down a little bit,” said coach Brian Daboll. “We got two lines today offensively. So again, those aren’t long lasting deals. But it’s good for some of these other guys to get their chances too now.”
