Giants Training Camp Day 10: Best Day Of Camp For Offense | Blue Rush

The dog days of training camp are almost over. You can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Practice number nine, day ten. This is your Blue Rush post-practice report for the New York Post Sports. We have our NFL reporter here, Ryan Dunleavy, Brandon London. I'm ready to get back to Jersey. I need a haircut. I'm tired of these little bees that are very annoying. They're like gnats, but we got ourselves a job to do. We saw practice number nine. Practice tomorrow. You're leaving tonight. We need everything that you've seen so far about John Harbaugh's New York Giants. We'll start with the offense. That's where you got to start. It was the best day by far. It hasn't been a good camp for the offense. Today was the best day for the offense. Ball barely hit the ground from the one or the two quarterback, Jackson Dart. They threw a lot of blitzes at him. Not the same blitz. It looked like a different blitz every time. Jackson Dart got them in good place. Got a lot of check downs, moved the ball, found the right receiver. In the first couple days, it was like if something broke down, he just took off and ran. That's not what they want him to do. They want him to find the quick pass, find the quick hitter. He did that, and then they drove the field for a touchdown. Coolest part of the day, Brandon, by far. I'm sure you noticed. They got down to the three-yard line, and Harbaugh pulled off the first-team offense. The first-team offense fought to stay on the field. They're like, one more play. They called a timeout, they ran the play, and Darryl Slater called a touchdown. Nice grab in the end zone for him as well. When you say the offense hasn't looked as good or up to speed, what do you mean by that? Because I'm kind of looking at something different. I see a lot of situations within situational football that John Harbaugh is throwing at them. We see a lot of scripted plays. So when you say that, let's talk about that. I don't have the number, but Dart's thrown a lot of interceptions the first couple days. The first week, really, he's thrown a lot of interceptions. And look, they're trying different things. Those plays he throws tricks, they might not be in the playbook in the fall. But right now he's thrown a lot of interceptions. They do a drive-the-field period almost every day. They rarely get in the end zone. They got in the end zone today. I think that's why it was important. So I think those guys, and the penalties, Brandon. They've had a ton of pre-snap penalties on the offense. So I think that has really been cut down. Yeah, that's been cut down a lot from the course of the first week. And the first day of pads, which was in the rain. You're throwing everything at these guys. Guys were getting jumpy because it was the first day of pads. But you have seen that cut down. Let's talk about some positives. Who has stood out for you? Give us some names on who has stood out to you the most throughout the course of this 10 days so far on the offense. Calvin Austin. Yeah, he's really good. In the right spot all the time. This is just the total security blanket. Very shifty. Almost like Wondell Robinson for a lot less of the price. Greg Newsome has stood out in that. Offense, offense. Oh, offense first. Let's give a love to the defense. Offense first, who has stood out? Newsome, I would say. O'Dell. O'Dell had those two monster practices. He didn't do much today, but he had the two monster practices back to back. Isaiah Likely. That's where I should have started, dude. He is the number one. He is, without Malik neighbors on the field, he is Jackson Dart's number one playmaking receiver. He is as advertised. Austin might be the check down, I'm in a panic, where is he kind of thing. But when they need a play, they go to Isaiah Likely. I like Jalen Hyde. I think he's put together some pretty good days. It's going to be anxious. I'm anxious to see what he does on the special teams. He's going to have to make the team on the special teams. But he is catching the football, catching the football well. Tanner Conner fighting for a tight end spot. Dude, he seems like a guy that's catching the football very well. And I even said that he may can push for that tight end two position, but that may be a little bit too much. But Theo is making, he has been making plays. So I'm going to keep an eye on that if Tanner Conner can kind of crack his way or find a way to get up into this lineup. They'll keep four tight ends. Manhurts is the blocking guy. So who's the third guy? Is it Tanner Hudson? Tanner Conner. Tanner Hudson was here a couple years ago. Is it Tanner Conner? Is it Thomas Fedoni? I think the first two are set, and they're both going to play. Right now I would put Conner over Fedoni right now just by the volume of catches and plays that he's been able to make. Lastly, as we get off the offense, Malik Neighbors, we saw him for the first practice. We saw that first practice, him get out there, him move around. Everyone was surprised that he looked so good. Now today, again, jumping, landing. He looks very athletic. Where do you put Malik Neighbors right now, day 10? I want to see him in 11-on-11 or 7-on-7. I want to see him do – I get it, there's a plan. Training camp is long. But I've seen him now do the same kind of things for not long enough, this whole training camp. I think he took only one day off where I want to see what's next. I want to see him in the 7-on-7s. I want to see him in the 11-on-11s. Put a red jersey on him if you need to. But I want to see him move around through other bodies. All right, let's flip over to the defensive side of the ball. Defense always starts off training camp faster or ahead than the offense, easier to put in cover one, cover two, cover three, and play variations from that. But defense has been ramping it up. And let's start with the run defense. What are your thoughts, since the pads have come on, about the Giants' run defense so far? I think it's been better than the Giants' run offense. I think they've won the head-to-head battles, starting with the first day and then today the Giants couldn't run the ball. It was a good thing the ball wasn't hitting the ground from the passers because there were no running lanes today. Cam Scadaboo actually went down today, got injured. Harbaugh thinks he's okay. Schmitz got injured too. Burns rolled over. Harbaugh seems to think the Burns and Scadaboo are okay. But it sounded like Schmitz could be headed towards the concussion protocol. But back to your question, run defense, I think there's going to be a story on that in the Post on Saturday. I think somehow the Giants had a historically bad rushing defense last year, the worst in the NFL since 2014, and took away an all-pro defensive tackle from that group and might actually be better in the cliché of the sum is the sum of the whole. By committee, by committee. Run defense by committee. Braden Harris, a better Darius Alexander. Reader's a load out there. Looks really good. Edmonds and Reese are hitting the holes. They might actually be better because of the sum of the parts as a run defense. All right. Let's go to the secondary because everyone's talking about the rotation that Denar Wilson is doing with his corners. Tay Banks taking one reps. Paulson Adebo with the twos. Greg Newsom moves into the slot today into that nickel because Drew Phillips will be out for a little bit. Colton Hood looks like he's coming along. He looks physical in the run game. That's the word I would use. What do you think of the secondary right now compared to where it was last year? I think it's where you're seeing a meritocracy. That's one of John Harbaugh's buzzwords, and it's like where are you seeing it? You're seeing it in the secondary because Deontay Banks got a clean slate. If anybody else was here, Deontay Banks would be buried on the depth chart because of all the old baggage. He's playing well in camp. Okay, you get first team reps. Paulson Adebo has the $45 million contract. The last staff would have left him as the number one corner because he has the contract. He's taking some ones. He's taking some twos. He's not just being handed the job based on his contract. I like it. Absolutely love it. Lastly, final thoughts. I know you got to get on the road to get back to Jersey. Tell everybody in New York and New Jersey civilization. I said hello. Final thoughts. Wrap this up here, Ryan Dunleavy. The Greenbrier was super nice. The fields are awesome. Lots of places to eat. I'm in no hurry to ever come back. They may have you here next year. I'm in no hurry. Next year, I'm bringing clippers because these training camp greys are just killing me, aging me a little bit here. Ryan Dunleavy, Safe Travels, back to New York, New Jersey. This is your New York Post sports practice report. One more practice, ladies and gentlemen. The Giants head back to Jersey.