from insidefootball.com

June 13, 2008

Mini Camp 2008: Rewind

Ok, one last piece on the mini camp just because we’re in for a long six-week break and I figured the mini camp reports needed closure.

The High Points. Where do I start? Enough guys had a very strong showing this pas t week, so I’ll just mention some of the ones I thought stood out.

Kevin Boss/Darcy Johnson. Both youngsters looked mighty impressive in pass catching drills. Who knows? If number 80 continues to be unhappy, then perhaps a future in which Boss, Johnson and Matthews are the tight ends is not so crazy.

Amani Toomer. Does that man ever age? Seriously.

Danny Ware. The Giants just might have something special brewing with this young lad. Can’t wait to see more of him when the pads go on.

Sammy Knight. Ok, I had my doubts, but I have to say he looked pretty good and active in coverage, picking off a couple of passes and breaking up a handful more. Sure he might not be the fastest guy out there, but I’m starting to think he’ll do just fine holding down the fort until Kenny Phillips is ready.

Chase Blackburn. With Antonio Pierce sidelined for most of the camp, Blackburn made the most of his opportunities, which included double duty at Mike with the ones and WILL with the twos.

Domenik Hixon. Keep your eye on this kid as well. He could emerge as a surprise dual threat at receiver and as kickoff returner.

Kenny Phillips. Last month the coaches were raving about how quickly Phillips is learning the system. He’s shown that to be true as already you can see a huge difference in his play today vs. from the rookie mini camp.


The Low Points: Not too many, which is a good thing. Here are the ones that stood out.

David Carr: Maybe he’s still learning the offense, so perhaps I’m being a bit harsh. But Carr looked extremely unsettled at quarterback, holding onto the ball too long, missing receivers like crazy and not making the right reads. We’ll see how he looks come training camp – assuming he makes it to training camp.

Sinorice Moss. I keep waiting for him to show inconsistency. I guess I’ll have to wait at least another six weeks considering it wasn’t there this week.

The Plaxico Situation. The Giants will tell you it’s not a distraction, but how can it not be? When your quarterback doesn’t have one of his top receivers working with him, that’s not good. Further, when you see guys out there doing their jobs and then one decides he doesn’t want to practice because he feels underpaid, what kind of message does that send to everyone else? You think Chris Snee or Brandon Jacobs feel for Burress?

The Jeremy Shockey Situation. Why do I get the feeling that with each passing day the Giants are going to regret not jumping all over New Orleans’ trade offer for the mercurial tight end? Yes, I know what he brings to the table, but I have a gut feeling that this is only the tip of the iceberg and that it’s going to really get ugly in the weeks to come. And now we get word courtesy of the Bergen Record that Shockey got into a shouting match with GM Jerry Reese earlier in the week. So much for Shockey’s sentiment a few years ago following his new contract when he said he wanted to be a Giant for life. At the rate he’s going, he’ll be lucky if he’s a Giant by September.

Say What? I have a great deal of respect for Shaun O’Hara and I typically take everything he says at face value. But with all due respect to my fellow Scarlet Knight alumnus, I’m not sure I buy his explanation today that he was speaking in general terms the other day when the rest of the world thought he was being critical about Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Shockey.

I’ve gone back and played the tape of both interviews and I see where O’Hara has the wiggle room to say he wasn't specifically calling anyone out. However, I find it somewhat surprising that he would claim that he was speaking in general terms especially when the questions about Burress and Shockey were flying as fast and furious as the spring pollen. Did O'Hara think the media was questioning him about Cincinnati receiver Chad Johnson? I mean, come on now.

Best Interview. Mario Manningham. I had the good fortune of sitting with him for a one-on-one earlier this week and he was fantastic and very forthcoming about a lot of things. I’ll be working on that story plus my exclusive with Danny Ware over the break, and will probably post them on a slow day.

Thanks Pete.
I'm confused on the Sinorice Moss tidbit though. I heard Moss was dropping passes left and right and showed inconsistency. Maybe it was just a typo on the editors part.

Admin wrote:Thanks Pete.
I'm confused on the Sinorice Moss tidbit though. I heard Moss was dropping passes left and right and showed inconsistency. Maybe it was just a typo on the editors part.

I suspect he was waiting for Moss to show consistency


It is interesting about Toomer, thats great to hear

Hixon is intriguing

If the Plax situation isn't resolved...
Could Amani be a solid #1 WR?
With guys like Steve Smith, Sinorice Moss, Mario Manningham, Domenik Hixon, David Tyree and DJ Hall there seems to be plenty of talent at WR..

Kevin Boss, Darcy Johnson and Michael Matthews could probably get the job done if the Shockey issue isn't resolved.

Great to hear about Phillips, it is also noticable that Spags commented on him as well

Kiwi seems to be going great guns at SLB

it will be an interesting training camp and a very long 6 weeks until it starts (with the Shockey/Plax dramas)

The Amani Toomer news sounds very good to hear. I hope he has a big year and proves that age is just another number. I'm confident that he will.
Ideally, you still want Plax as your number 1 but I don't think we just throw in the towel without him. There's some decent young talent in the waiting.

Admin wrote:The Amani Toomer news sounds very good to hear. I hope he has a big year and proves that age is just another number. I'm confident that he will.
Ideally, you still want Plax as your number 1 but I don't think we just throw in the towel without him. There's some decent young talent in the waiting.

Of course we want Plax as our #1 if at all possible.

But if it isn't possible, we have a group of guys, I am confident would get the job done


It is obviously early, but the teams is looking pretty good heading into training camp