UltimateNYG visits NY Giants training camp in Albany

Busy day for yours truly.  Went to Lanesboro, PA to cheer on some runners in an ultramarathon.  That is a 100 mile run… these people are crazy… imagine running 4 marathons consecutively?!!  But then again, they are probably no more crazy than us, who Bleed Blue 24/7/365.  Go Shannon!

After Lanesboro, drove to Albany to check out the NY Giants at practice last night from 610-810PM.  Here are the takeaways:

• Manningham was fine.
• Nicks, after an early drop, got everything else and generated the most consistent production of everyone
• Nicks was ACTIVE. Considering his ‘injury’ from earlier this week, this has to be a nice uptick, just seeing him very busy in thick of practice.  That he was also good was gravy.
• Manning looked fine. 
• Bomar looks better than Sorgi
• Koets took the 1st team snaps at center,  a rookie (Jim Cordle) took the second team snaps
• Cornerbacks were up at the line in press coverage some of the time, and then they were backed off.  An example of the latter “off” coverage was when (I believe it was Johnson) the CB was ~8 yds off Manningham at the snap, Manningham moves for an ‘in’ pattern, the CB is now biting and closing in, only to have Manningham’s next move back “out” result in great separation and a very pretty route and completion.  The “off” coverage is too passive here, as Manningham makes that route tree work too many ways.  The CB has to run so hard for the first move that it is impossible to respond to the new direction.
• Fewell’s defense had a lot less to celebrate, as I did not see a single turnover.  Terrell Thomas, Corey Webster and Aaron Ross all did ok, but Ross got beat on a bomb to Nicks.  In the real world, Ross would have (and should have) had support from a Safety, but none was there on this practice play.
• I paid a lot of attention to Keith Bulluck.  For what it is worth, so far Bulluck is not a factor.  This is PROBABLY BY DESIGN, as I would imagine he is simply not going to push himself too far too fast at this early juncture.  Let’s be fair to the Giants, Bulluck and ourselves- It is August 7th.  The Super Bowl is not won today, but it can be lost today.  So my inference is that he is not 100% partly because his not pushing his knee 100%.  He got beat by a TE (Bear Pascoe?) and was not happy about it.  Let’s see where he is at G3/G4 of preseason and we’ll go from there. 
• Linval Joseph made a nice stop in the backfield on some good penetration.  Garafolo singled him and Jason Pierre-Paul out for two of the best performances.  My best was from Nicks, who was ubiquitous in Steve Smith’s absence.
• Ramses Barden has too good a body not to deliver.  He battled on a comeback pass and for now we have to cling to that as evidence he will be working his way into this rotation.  I am eager to see what he looks like in the preseason contests.