T-Rock's Take on the Giants

Let's bring you up to speed on what's been happening here on Day Two of the three-day minicamp. This morning's practice is in the books (three down, two to go). Jeremy Shockey was not on the field. Plaxico Burress was, but did not participate. You can look at the post below for Shaun O'Hara's take on the situation.

Coughlin seemed more ruffled at being asked numerous questions about Plax and Shockey than he was angry at the players, but he still had some strong words for them. "Of course not," he said when asked if if Shockey staying inside was OK with him. He also said there have been "many discussions" with the unhappy players.

"Naturally I want everybody on the field," he said. "We anticipated the camp being the camp. We want everybody out here. The quarterback wants everybody out here. The quarterback wants to throw to people, he wants to work with people. That is what a minicamp is for. That is why there is one mandatory minicamp."

Coughlin also said he was unaware of Plaxico's stance when he spoke yesterday morning and said that the receiver was being held out with a knee injury. "I said what I knew," he said. "I wasn't aware of (his position)."

Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Antonio Pierce were also inactive (though in uniform and standing off to the side as they did last night). Coughlin said Pierce is having back troubles, Tuck has soreness in his foot, and Osi is, well, a little more complicated. "In camp sometimes we were able to go just one day once with him, that is what we are doing here," Coughlin said. Osi did say he would be on the field this afternoon for the second practice. We'll see in about an hour.

As for the practice, the defense spent most of the early part working on blitz timing and fits. Renaldo Wynn and Dave Tollefson were the starting ends with Osi and Tuck spectating, and Chase Blackburn, who had been playing weakside LB with the starters, moved to the middle to replace Pierce. That left Bryan Kehl to play the weakside with the starters.

I'll post all of the 11-on-11 plays from this morning's practice below once again, but make a few quick observations here:

The quarterbacks were throwing into a lot of traffic today, much more than they were yesterday. In some cases it worked out -- TE Darcy Johnson made a nice catch on a pass from Jared Lorenzen -- and sometimes it didn't -- Sammy Knight picked a pass by Andre Woodson that was thrown off-balance and intended for Kevin Boss, though from our angle it was hard to tell if Knight came down inbounds.

The tight ends are looking good. Well, the ones on the field are. Darcy Johnson called the system a "tight-end friendly offense," which elicited some muffled chuckles from some reporters. We'll have to ask Shockey exactly how friendly it is if/when we get him to speak. It's looking more and more like that won't happen this minicamp. But apparently Shockey is being pretty vocal in the position meetings. Both Johnson and Kevin Boss said he is teaching them in those gatherings, helping them work on technique and understanding coverages and such. "He's like an extra coach for us," Boss said.

Click below for the 11-on-11 snaps.You'll notice that the guys who are vying for the QB spots in Albany aren't exactly getting a ton of reps. Of all of them so far, I'd have to say that Wright looks the best. And I'm still a little unsure of Carr. How someone can look frazzled in the pocket during 7-on-7 drills is a bit alarming, but maybe he still has some flinches to get out of his system from his tough time in Houston.