E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer
for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he is one of
only four sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls.
Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

By DAVE KLEIN
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- It was the final day of the Giants' three-day, everybody-better-show-up minicamp (and they all did).

Head coach Tom Coughlin, merciful and kind, held only one practice in the morning and dismissed the 90-odd players after that. Wednesday and Thursday had involved two practices each day, with meetings before, in between and after.

So now it was time to get his reaction to the drills, the last time the team will be together until July 27, when they must report to summer training camp in Albany, N.Y., and believe it or not, Coach Tom was happy. He was even smiling.

"I am always glad when I get the players on the field," he said. "What I told them the other night is that the really important thing here, the key to it all, is that the work you do in the off-season, the personnel, the free agency period, the draft, the college free agency, the addition of players after that, the June 1 [and beyond] additions -- it's an opportunity for all of us to come together as a team.

"This is really the first time we have done that this year," he continued. "That is really significant to me and it is really important to me. We had a typical minicamp and really, training camp will be no different. On the one hand, you might have the offense do well one period or one morning and in the afternoon the defense comes back and does well. It kind of goes back and forth like that. Today was pretty spirited, the reaction you normally get because camp is over. But I do think the players have seen enough and sensed enough and they are excited. We threw a lot at them, and you see a rookie back go the wrong way and stuff like that. There is a lot of stuff that has been thrown at them and that's good because the number of times we can do that and then come back to it when we get to camp will give them a chance to understand what it is that we really want."

So the three-day protocol has ended. The morning was filled with off-the-cuff observations, since no one other than the players and team officials are able to get overly close to the action. There was an intriguing play during which quarterback Eli Manning takes the snap, wheels and throws no more than a yard or two to tight end Jeremy Shockey -- in the backfield -- and he cuts up underneath behind hoped-for blocks. It worked great.

There was free agent wide receiver (he might move to tight end) Anthony Mix, 6-4 and 235, flashing more speed than he should have and running crisp patterns. There was wide receiver-special teams star David Tyree running a deep route, beating his coverage and then having the ball sail just beyond his outstretched hands -- a nice play with a less than happy ending.

There were glimpses from rookie guard Guy Whimper, who can block from a low stance and get more power than you might expect with that first lunge. There was free agent corner Jason Shivers, picking off a pass thrown by Jared Lorenzen and taking it "to the house," as they say. There was free agent corner Brandon Williams making a difficult interception.

Oh, and there was offensive tackle Bob Whitfield, now entering his 15th NFL season, sporting a new number. He wore 71 last year. Now he's attired in number 70. Why? "It was my number for all those years in Atlanta," said the former Pro Bowl left tackle. "I had to wait to get it."

When defensive tackle Kendrick Clancy toddled off to Arizona as a veteran free agent, Whitfield's number became available. He feels better with it, as do so many players who have grown accustomed to one number.

Coughlin said he will definitely have to trim the roster that he takes to training camp, since the NFL mandates a maximum of 80 players (plus NFL-Europe returnees), and there were 90 during this minicamp.

Does he have an idea of which ones won't make the trek to Albany? "Yeah, I think so," he said. For some of the hopefuls, that wasn't good news.

EXTRA POINTS -- Coughlin said that all five quarterbacks in camp had a better than usual accuracy rating. "Eli [Manning] and Jared [Lorenzen] were one and two, I think," he said. "I think every one of them was above 50 percent, but I think Jared had a very good camp. He worked the secondary and the defense very well, and he has a very strong arm."

Lorenzen, listed at 6-3 and 285, seems to be in a size-wise rut. "He is going to have to be content with that always because he is just a big, big man," Coughlin noted. "But [his weight] is lower than he has ever been, and that's a good sign." Coughlin spoke to the team at the close of practice, noted that there were going to be six weeks of "freedom," and then cautioned them. "Just the usual stuff," he said. "I told them to be careful, to remember that this is not just a physical game but a mental one. Over the next period of time, they have to exercise commitment, self-denial and sacrifice, and that's just an entrance fee. That will give them an opportunity to compete against those teams that have also paid the price, and that's what this is all about."

Offensive tackle Kareem McKenzie was asked how he planned to spend the next six weeks. "Doing very little," he said, "but I am thinking about a yard of ale once in a while." Whitfield is going back to Los Angeles and then on vacation with his family, "and I don't want to think about football for six weeks, but I know I will, I know I can't help myself."

Check out Dave's website at E-GIANTS where you can subscribe to his newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here.
- Team Giants

NEW - Send a request to davesklein@aol.com for a free week's worth of news!

Stop in and visit "Mike's Keys to the Internet"
Links to every newspaper and magazine that's available on the net. 

Website by Mike