Ben McAdoo: Camp dust-up much ado about nothing.

It took until the New York Giants’ third training camp practice for things to turn chirpy.

Head coach Ben McAdoo, who put his team through wind sprints—or what he classified as “timed interval striders” which they threw in for conditioning purposes, saw two of his defensive players, cornerback Janoris Jenkins and linebacker/safety Eric Pinkins get into a slight dustup that began when Jenkins threw a haymaker at Pinkins at the end of a sprint. After Jenkins threw a punch at his teammate, the two were quickly separated.

The dustup was over as quickly as it started. And McAdoo seemed fine with what happened.

“You know how it is with family,” he said. “Sometimes you have some dust-ups. Some of the best dust-ups you’re ever in are with your family, so you learn from them and move on.”

Maybe so, but dustups like these can lead to injuries if they’re not nipped in the bud. So, it’s up to the “parents” to step in and put a stop to the family squabbles before they escalate.

Injury Report No changes to the PUP list, which has linebacker J.T. Thomas (knee) and running back Shaun Draughn (ankle) on it. Offensive lineman John Jerry, who appeared to be dinged yesterday, was back in action. And as noted in this article, rookie safety Jadar Johnson, who missed yesterday’s practice due to “illness,” has decided to retire from the NFL. Running back Shane Vereen was removed from practice midway due to “lower body soreness,” according to head coach Ben McAdoo. “He was sore and we were smart and held him. He could’ve gone back in, but we decided to hold him,” McAdoo said of Vereen.

Lineup Notes Josh Johnson took the reps with the second team offense. Johnson and Geno Smith, who took the reps in the backup battle yesterday, are taking turns during these first few days of camp. Defensive end Jordan Williams, who has worked some at defensive tackle, did some long snapping today during a special teams segment. What He Said “I can’t tell you all that, man. I can’t dive off that information. We’ve got to keep that vanilla for the preseason and then, you know. After Dallas, I’ll tell you.” –LB Jonathan Casillas on the changes he and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo worked on in the offseason

Getting His Kicks Kicker Aldrick Rosas went three of four on his firsts official field goal attempts of camp. His attempts ranged from 35 yards to 45 yards. His miss came from 45 yards, though from the sideline, the kick looked good. “I never second-guess officials, we know that.” said McAdoo. “So, I’m going to go in and look at the tape. I thought that one snuck in there, but we’ll look at it.” Otherwise McAdoo was pleased with what he saw from his first-year kicker, the lone competitor for the job in camp. “Aldrick did a nice job out there today. We kicked early in practice, I’ll have a chance to go look at the tape. I need to do that before I comment too much.” Rosas was relieved to get those first kicks in as well. “Yeah, you know, coming back with the team I’m anxious to get out there. Anxious to get out with Zak (DeOssie) and Brad (Wing). Get the whole operation down, get back to the confidence, the chemistry we had. It’s been exciting. I’ve been anxious to get out there.” he said. “Today I thought went really well. The whole team is looking really good and everyone is just out here working. I can’t wait to get out there when my time is called and do my job.” I had a chance to speak with Rosas after practice about the work he did out in San Diego with former NFL kicker John Carney, who runs a training center. Carney, who was with the Giants in 2008, has trained with former punter Steve Weatherford for years, so the two spent about a week with Rosas in trying to get him right. Rosas told me that he is also set to begin working with former kicker Lawrence Tynes probably in the next week. I’ll have more from my conversation with Rosas coming up.

Sleeper Pick to Watch

These last two days I’ve been keeping an eye on an undrafted free agent linebacker out of San Diego State by the name of Calvin Munson.

What initially caught my eye about Munson was his performance in agility drills. this is where players have to side step over pads without hitting them and then catch a pass thrown by the coach.

Munson’s footwork was about as smooth as any of his veteran teammates’ and his hands just as soft as he did a nice job of looking the ball in, extending and then cradling it.

Munson has also been receiving quite a bit of work on special teams, which is where he’d have to make his mark if he were to make the 53-man roster.

He’s been one of the most active players out there on specials, and has become someone I’m looking forward to seeing in a game.

Backup Quarterback Update

Today was Josh Johnson’s turn to work with the second team offense. Johnson was a little better today with not

holding onto the ball for dear life while waiting for someone to get open.

He did have a botched snap with center Brett Jones and a tipped pass that was picked off by safety Nat Berhe, but otherwise Johnson was more decisive and more accurate today than he had been yesterday in working with the third-string offense.

Geno Smith, in his second practice, continue to throw a strong ball, but again, his accuracy has been an issue.

He missed wide-open tight end Matt LaCosse on a seam pass and struggled to connect with his receivers in the 11-on-11 part of practice, overthrowing one receiver while throwing another pass to the outside and out of reach by his receiver.

And for what it’s worth, rookie Davis Webb was held just to the 7-on-7 drills, one of his passes hitting Mark Herzlich, who switched to tight end for that sequence in practice.

From the Fans

For each training camp practice report I write, I’ll incorporate a fan question or two. If you want your question answered, you MUST tag them #askPat. It’s the only way I’m going to find them (I get a lot of mentions during practice and sadly, I don’t always get the chance to go back and read every mention.)

If you really want to make sure I see them, submit them here.

@Patricia_Traina what about David Webb ‘a practice?Is Bisnowaty ready ti be a starter? #giants #askPat — Matteo Ometti (@MatteMebo) July 30, 2017

Matteo, so far Davis Webb’s training camp work has been limited to 7-on-7 drills. He has a tremendous arm–he threw one pass with authority despite not having his feet set.

On that throw, he had scrambled to his right and read the play well, but his accuracy was off. He’s a work in progress and I would say at this point, we’re probably not going to see a lot of him in the 11-on-11 stuff, at least not in the upcoming few practices.

And no, Adam Bisnowaty isn’t ready to be a starter. I keep saying we need to see them with the pads on, which we haven’t, but I’m certain that the coaches want to ride with Bobby Hart at right tackle for the season.

Quick Hits

Matt LaCosse continues to look smooth as a receiver. He caught a pass from Josh Johnson and then ducked down to avoid a tackle attempt by Landon Collins.

Collins had himself a strong day, breaking up a couple of Manning passes and flying around all over the field. Collins’ confidence now is sky-high as he looks to build on last year’s amazing season.

Dwayne Harris made cornerback Valentino Blake look silly on a pass play in which Harris put a move on Blake and darted around him.

Mykkele Thompson, getting some work as the slot cornerback, did a nice job recovering from a play in which he was initially beaten. He stuck his hand out at the last minute to swat away a Davis Webb pass attempt to I think, Kevin Norwood (couldn’t see the number).

Ereck Flowers was beaten around the edge by Romeo Okwara on one play, and resorted to holding. Okwara bent Flowers backwards in such a way that I could feel it. I also saw a couple other times when Flowers not only got his hands outside of his man’s framework, he grabbed a fistful of jersey. It looks to me like Flowers is still trying to find a comfort level in what he’s doing, one he better finds soon for the sake of his quarterback.

Cornerback Eli Apple not only looks more comfortable out there, he’s also playing faster. He’s been matching up against Odell Beckham Jr. a lot and he’s held his own. Apple hasn’t been afraid to get physical with his teammate, and has done a nice job of staying with Beckham on the deep balls thrown down the sideline. Apple also broke up a deep Manning pass intended for Tavarres King early in the practice. At times, Apple does get grabby–he did so yesterday and was so again today when he drew a penalty–but he’s really getting some great experience so far this summer in going against the best.

Defensive end Evan Schwan, who I’ve mentioned about quite a bit since the spring, did it again, this time embarrassing left tackle Michael Bowie in a race around the edge. This isn’t the first time I’ve seen Schwan beat Bowie since camp open—he did so yesterday as well.

I meant to write this yesterday, but the Giants’ offensive players are being coached to deploy the same ball stripping methods the defensive coaches teach their players. So when Nat Berhe had his interception, there were several Giants offensive players trying to poke the ball out of his grasp.

Running back Wayne Gallman continued to do well with running and catching the ball, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the coaches are trying to get him to be a bit more compact. Right now, Gallman is running too straight up, which makes him a bigger target for defenders to bring down.

Public Practice Schedule

Subject to change. Please call 201-935-9385 on the day you plan to attend training camp to verify nothing has changed.

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