WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — At the end of practice, head coach John Harbaugh likes to put the New York Giants in “win or lose the game” situations. Tuesday’s situation had the offense trailing by six points, :42 left on the clock, and the ball at roughly the opponent’s 20-yard line.
The offense had just gone through a difficult red zone period where the first team had three possessions from the 10-yard line or inside that. They ran 11 plays and failed to score.
In this situation, on third-and-goal
from the 3-yard line, Jaxson Dart waited, waited, and waited some more. He finally scrambled in for a touchdown. That led to some jawing, and to Dart throwing the ball at cornerback Greg Newsome.
That resulted in a 15-yard penalty that forced Ben Sauls to kick the “game-winning” field goal, which he made, from 48 yards.
Harbaugh issued a controlled response when asked about the play, but was clearly not pleased.
“I think it’s a 15-yard penalty for taunting, so we backed up the extra point and had to do it again. Did you see that? That’s how we handled it,” Harbaugh said.
The coach didn’t say much to Dart on the field.
“I think he understands that for the game-winning extra point, we don’t want it to be a 50-yard extra point,” Harbaugh said. “Do you think I need to say anything in that case? Pretty clear cut, right?”
Winners
Jarrod Gray — Surprised to see the Aussie rugby star signed by the Giants through the International Pathway Program mentioned here? So, here is why I had to mention him. I looked over to a corner of the field at one point and Gray, who has little football experience, was working one-on-one with a coach, learning NFL blocking techniques. A peek through my binoculars revealed that coach to be former Giant star Chris Snee, now part of the team’s front office. Any day an offensive lineman can get solo instruction from Snee makes that a winnng day.
Colton Hood — The rookie cornerback made a pair of excellent plays on Wednesday. In run support, Hood stepped to a wide run to his side and stopped Eric Gray for what appeared to be a short loss. In pass defense, Hood denied Beaux Collins a touchdown on a red zone fade, ripping away a throw from Jameis Winston for an incompletion.
Ben Sauls — The second-year kicker did push two kicks to the left, which was his bug-a-boo during spring practices, but he made 10 of 12 kicks overall. That’s a pretty good day.
Jermaine Eluemunor — The Giants did 1-on-1 pass blocking drills for the first time in this camp. Eluemunor took two reps. He guided Abdul Carter around the pocket on one rep. On his next rep, he accepted a power rush from Brian Burns and stoned him. That was a pretty good day’s work.
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Losers
Jameis Winston — I am not trying to count passes attempted and completed during this camp. I have always felt that was pretty much pointless, and this time around I am not bothering with it.
Still, Winston had a terrible day on Monday. He followed that on Tuesday with another day where he was largely off-target. His worst throw of the day was probably a ball that was picked off in the end zone, I believe by Jason Pinnock. Winston threw the ball right to him.
Some boxed lunch recipients — The Greenbrier is providing media with boxed lunches prior to practice. Well, my apologies to any of my media cohorts who grabbed a boxed lunch expecting there to be chocolate chip cookies inside only to find them missing. I won’t name names, but a certain reporter known for “quirky” eating habits raided several of the boxes and took away the cookies. So, sorry.
Education of a rookie
During those 1-on-1 passing drills, rookie right guard Sisi Mauigoa lined up against Abdul Carter on back-to-back snaps. On the first, Carter tried to bully Mauigoa and got stopped in his tracks. Players never go back-to-back in this drill, so I suspect Carter asked for the do-over. On the second rep, Carter faked to the outside, swiped across Mauigoa, and blasted past the helpless rookie.
Injury updates
- Malik Nabers continued his routine of working briefly at the start of practice. As usual, he participated in position drills, caught some passes, then called it a day.
- Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster missed practice with what Harbaugh called “a little knee swelling.”
Remaining Greenbrier practice schedule
- Wednesday, August 5 — 1:30-4 p.m. (Open to the public)
- Thursday, August 6 — 1:30-4 p.m. (Open to the public)
- Friday, August 7 — 1:30-4 p.m. (Open to the public)
- Saturday, August 8 — 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
