I don’t know how you make proclamations like this when the first preseason game hasn’t even begun, but that’s never stopped lil’ ol’ opinionated me from making outlandish statements, so here goes.

Rookie safety Tyler Sash is going to be some kind of player.

Again, he hasn’t made a live tackle in the NFL yet and I’m already penciling him in as a 10-year veteran. I know, crazy talk. But I can’t help it. To see him be in the right place so often in a year where the rookies had no offseason workouts, OTAs or minicamps is quite remarkable.

And I think the coaching staff feels the same way because Sash got some first-team reps on Sunday night. At first, I thought Kenny Phillips was hurt or resting his knee, but he went back out there later on. Frankly, I think Sash was already being rewarded for some outstanding practices.

I've mentioned Sash's presence against the run so far, but he's also made a few plays against the pass, including a batted ball on Sunday. Keep an eye on any mentions of him moving forward here.

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INJURIES

DE Osi Umenyiora was inside getting treatment on his knee during practice. Why do I get the feeling this situation is about to go into hyper-drive?

DT Marvin Austin (hip flexor), S Brian Jackson (back), K Lawrence Tynes (quad), CB Joe Burnett (hamstring) were new additions to the injury report. OL Jim Cordle was sort of a new addition, as he finally sat out after hurting his knee in practice last week.

LB Spencer Paysinger (groin), WR Devin Thomas (finger) and S Cary Harris (shoulder) were out again.

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THE STARTERS

DE Justin Tuck was working as a stand-up rusher. I just don't know about him in that role. I think he's better suited coming out of a three-point stance. His technique seems to be a lot cleaner when he comes off the ground. When he does, he always seems to be lower in his rushes. When he stands up, he's too upright for my liking. Or maybe it's just the lingering thoughts of him down the field covering Antonio Gates two years ago or — sorry to bring this up again — him downfield on the Brent Celek play in the loss to the Eagles last year.

For TE Travis Beckum, the departure of TE Kevin Boss means his blocking will be watched more closely now than ever before. Sunday night, it wasn't so hot. He got schooled by Tuck on one play when Tuck gave him a quick club-shed combo that was over pretty quickly and he didn't really finish a block on DB Woodny Turenne on the edge. The initial contact was pretty good, but Beckum didn't use any arms on the block and there was no drive after the shoulder blow. Turenne, who was on his heels a bit, was able to recover and hold his ground, allowing him to contain RB Da'Rel Scott on the edge. Beckum probably could have finished that block with no problem, but he made things harder on himself and Scott.

Another thought on Tuck: he’s in mid-season form from a moping walk standpoint. He was bent at the waist in the huddle and had that swaying, rocking walk going, like he’d rather be sitting on the porch back in Kellyton, Ala., than take one more rep.

CB Corey Webster continues to get his hands on the ball. Sunday, it was a pass defensed down the field on a go route from QB Eli Manning to WR Mario Manningham.

And speaking of CBs, Terrell Thomas has been pretty good the past few years at baiting QBs to throw balls so he can try to pick them off. I remember him doing it very well in Kansas City two years ago and up the seam on a Sunday night game (the opponent escapes me right now), and his interception total reveals he's pretty good at it. He works on that aspect of his game in camp and Sunday he growled when he couldn't quite bait Manning into throwing a short out to WR Victor Cruz in the slot.

Manning completed a pass to himself. It was tipped by Tuck (I think) and deflected back to him. You should have seen all the blue jerseys start to head toward the red jersey as Manning ran up the middle before they realized they’d better not even come close to touching him.

One other note on Thomas: he continues to beat up on Beckum when he gets the chance. The other night, he kind of rubbed Beckum’s face into the grass after a PD and on Sunday, after knocking Beckum to the ground on a jam, he took an extra shot as Beckum was falling. You know, I wonder if the coaches watch both plays and want to see a little fight or anger from Beckum in those situations. Instead, he just kind of slowly got up and watched the rest of the play develop.

I mentioned Beckum not finishing his block. Well, FB Henry Hynoski did. There was initially a stalemate when he ran into Webster on a wide run, then Hynoski used his left arm to start moving Webster and open the edge. That's how you finish.

Here's another way to not finish: grabbing a player's jersey as he tries to get away and chase a running back who's already cleared him. OL Will Beatty did that to DE Jason Pierre-Paul. If that were to get flagged in a real game,

Tom Coughlin would be going nuts when Beatty got back to the sideline.

* * * *

THE BACKUPS

I liked what I saw from LB Phillip Dillard when he turned and ran with WR Darius Reynaud up the deep middle in a Cover-2 look. Dillard hasn't looked half-bad in his drops, so watch him in that department during the preseason. It's a key part of his game that must improve.

The pass of the night was QB Sage Rosenfels to WR Domenik Hixon up the left sideline. I can't tell you who the DB was because I was busy watching a great blitz pickup by RB Charles Scott on LB Kenny Ingram. Scott laid the wood to Ingram in the hole and actually pancaked him. Ingram also got eaten up by RB Andre Brown on a blitz later on.

DE Alex Hall hasn't looked bad at all. He's been around the ball a lot and has been okay on his rushes, too. But I'm not getting ahead of myself on this one. I want to see it in a game.

OT Stacy Andrews swallowed up Dillard on one blitz. Impressive pickup by Andrews, who gave up no ground. He's looked good.

Bad drop by WR Michael Clayton on a ball delivered by QB David Carr right into his chest.

* * * *

THE YOUNG GUYS

I spoke to Brown Sunday afternoon and at some point that will be turned around as a full story. In the meantime, I'll mention he told me his healthy Achilles is allowing him to once again do his patented move: a jump cut that allows him to move laterally much more quickly than when he stays low to the ground. Brown had it working on Sunday night with a couple of quick jump cuts that had defenders shaking their heads, fans oohing and offensive teammates yelling, "Who is that guy?" He also pulled away from DB Darnell Burks as he got into the secondary. It wasn't all sunshine and roses for Brown, as he fumbled on one carry, which is never a good thing in limited-contact drills with Coughlin watching. But still, he looks very, very sharp and there are signs he could finally be regaining his form here.

WR Duke Calhoun made a heads-up play to catch a ball on a deflection by S Jarrard Tarrant, had a well-run deep in cut in front of Webster and made a diving catch in front of Turenne. Good night for him, though CB Brian Witherspoon knocked away a ball for Calhoun on an in cut. I thought there might have been some excessive contact on the play, but there was no flag from the official nearby. Then again, there also wasn't a flag from the ref when WR Hakeem Nicks blatantly flinched at the line before the snap, so maybe they were just being lenient.

WR Jerrel Jernigan probably should have made a catch after a move inside, though the ball from Rosenfels was delivered a bit wide. I'll somewhat reluctantly call it a drop. And now, I'll take it off the board completely because he made the catch on a similar ball late in practice after beating Thomas.

I keep mentioning undrafted free-agent DE Justin Trattou and it's because he keeps showing up. He seems to be a good effort guy with decent skills who could be valuable as a practice squadder if he continues to flash.

LB Mark Herzlich looked really bad on one play when he came through the hole and tried to make the tackle with his head down. (Charles) Scott has proven to be pretty shifty so far in camp and he easily juked Herzlich, who was upset with himself even before defensive coordinator Perry Fewell yelled at him to keep his head up.

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Here's a name I haven't mentioned much: DT Ibrahim Abdulai. He'll get some mentions here, though, after a great practice that included a stop on Brown on a screen pass and a good fight inside OL Mitch Petrus on another play.

QB Ryan Perrilloux was high on a few rather easy throws before looking strong in the two-minute drill. He hit Clayton on an in cut to cap the impressive drill and practice.

For more Giants practice reports, check out the practice report page.

For more Giants coverage, follow Mike Garafolo on Twitter at twitter.com/MikeGarafolo

Mike Garafolo: mgarafolo@starledger.com