In the better late than never department, here are some notes from the actual on-field football action during Friday’s New York Giants OTA.
Lots of red zone work
Three of the four team periods the Giants held with offense and defense working against each other were red zone sessions.
Because of the lack of contact allowed at these practices, and also because head coach John Harbaugh has said clearly he does not want defensive backs competing at the catch point in these workouts, these are heavily skewed toward the offense.
Defensive backs can’t re-route receivers at all.
Alignment notes
- Andrew Thomas worked only during install periods. Marcus Mbow was at left tackle during team periods.
- Kayvon Thibodeaux worked exclusively with the second-team defense as Brian Burns and Abdul Carter took first-team reps.
- Greg Newsome took first-team reps at cornerback. Rookie Colton Hood, who did not work during the first OTA media had access to, took second-team reps.
- Undrafted rookie Ryan Schernecke was the second-team right tackle. Josh Ezeudu seemed to spend some time working on the side.
- Several groups of wide receivers got to work with Jaxson Dart during team periods.
- The starting defensive line was D.J. Reader, Darius Alexander, and Leki Fotu. Shelby Harris and Sam Roberts were not in attendance.
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Highlights
- Arvell Reese had a would-be sack of Dart when he looped around the end untouched. The athleticism and size of Reese was impressive.
- Reese gave up a 19-yard touchdown to Theo Johnson on a throw toward the back corner of the end zone in a 7-on-7 session. From where I stood, this looked like good coverage from Reese but a better throw from Dart.
- Johnson was a main target in the red zone sessions, catching several touchdown passes. The most impressive was a toe-tapping back of the end zone grab over Dru Phillips that created a hot debate over whether Johnson was in or out of bounds. No clear call ever actually seemed to be made.
- Phillips was beaten for a couple of touchdowns in the low red zone. Again, though, with no ability to put hands on re-route receivers the cornerbacks are at a disadvantage. Phillips did have a nice pass breakup on a Dart pass over the middle for wide receiver Ryan Miller.
- Rookie Malachi Fields had a 7-yard touchdown reception from Dart on an inside route, beating Newsome.
Kicking competition
Again this week, Ben Sauls and Jason Sanders were the kickers on the day media was able to watch. To be honest, neither was impressive, both going 3 of 5 on their attempts.
Sauls yanked a kick right, then a couple of kicks later missed one well left. He was working with snapper Zach Triner and holder Jordan Stout, and it is fair to wonder if that tandem is still adjusting to Sauls being left-footed. They took some extra reps on their own later in practice.
Sanders spent seven seasons kicking in good weather for the Miami Dolphins. Watching him kick Friday made me think about former Giants kicker Graham Gano telling me one time that Meadowlands winds make it important for kickers to learn to keep the trajectory of kicks as low as possible. Sanders kicks the ball very high. The wind caught one of his kicks and pushed it well left. On Sanders’ longest attempt (we were on the opposite end of the field and could not judge exact distance) the wind absolutely knocked the ball down as it clearly fell a couple of yards hsort.
