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 five sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls.
Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

By DAVE KLEIN
ALBANY, N.Y. - Jeremy Shockey set the tone for the Giants' scrimmages with the New York Jets Saturday morning and afternoon, but it was rookie running back Brandon Jacobs who raised the bar.

Considerably.

On the first play of the morning practice (the temptation is to say scrimmage but that would imply hitting and contact; but on the other hand we might as well considering what happened) the Giants' tight end took offense at Jets' safety Oliver Celestin, who hit him from behind.

He turned and offered a few suggestions, mostly punctuated with his hands. Then Jets' linebacker Jonathan Vilma (a teammate of Shockey's down at Hurricane University) and free safety Erik Coleman drove into Shockey - again from behind.

That turned into a full-fledged brawl, and about seven more Jets entered the fray, since they were closer than the Giants. Let's see, 10 Jets against Shockey? That sounds about right.

Fair, too.

It didn't take long before the rest of the Giants exercised their best times in the 40-yard dash, as did the rest of the Jets, to land in the same spot at the same time. Most of them were there to pull teammates off guys from the other team, and it took about five minutes to clear the area and get back to good, old-fashioned, non-contact (yeah, right) football practice.

After that, the 6-4, 260-pound Jacobs began to prove that the other 31 teams in the NFL need to revise their scouting departments and that the Giants' scouting department cannot expect to survive on blind luck alone.

Jacobs was a relentless force. On one play, having caught a pass of about 15 yards from Eli Manning, he crashed full speed into Jets' cornerback Pete Hunter, recently acquired in a trade with Dallas. The 6-2, 210-pound Hunter must have been wishing for old, kindly Bill Parcells again. He was lifted off his feet and fell on his seating apparatus about five yards later.

Jacobs had one of the most chilling comments ever uttered by a 260-pound running back: "I could have gone around him, but it was cut-and-dried for me right there. It was a nice little run. I didn't want to waste any energy going around him. Hitting a guy head-on kind of saves energy."

Indeed.

Jacobs was the hit of the practices. In addition to plowing over Hunter, he crashed through cornerback Ray Mickens, busted up the middle two or three times and had defenders bouncing off him. "It's how I play football," Jacobs said. "It how I like to play football."

Guaranteed, the crowd of 6,200 (predominantly Giant fans) were picturing all those third-and-two, third-and-one, fourth-and-one plays of the last few seasons, and then picturing this mountain of a man with 4.39 speed keeping the drives alive or road-grading himself into the end zone.

The Shockey incident was not surprising, considering the short fuse he exhibits when he plays. "I was blocking someone and someone else shoved me from the back and the next thing I knew everyone was fighting," he said. "Things like that are going to happen, but there is no bad blood. That is just how football is. You have two teams practicing and you know you are not going to get kicked out of a game so you might as well do it now and get it over with rather than during the season when you get a penalty or a fine."

There was a lot of trash-talking and a handful of other skirmishes - but nothing like this Australian Rules Football donnybrook - during the rest of the 9-on-7 drill, but no repeats of the feistiness evidenced in the afternoon practices.

The dual practices were held on different fields, the UAlbany Stadium field and an adjacent practice field, so head coach Tom Coughlin didn't get to see all of either morning set, or the afternoon sets, either.

"I was going back and forth," he said later. "I saw enough to be pleased with a lot of what was happening. But I didn’t like the fighting. We don't want that. We came to practice and that's what we were supposed to be doing."

There was a brief conversation between Coughlin and Jets" defensive coordinator Donnie Henderson at the end of the morning set, but neither man would elaborate on what was said. "We don't practice like that," Coughlin said. "That's not what we teach."

PRACTICE NOTES = Wide receiver-kickoff returner Willie Ponder suffered a bruised chest and rib cage when he was double-teamed by two Jets as he was making a catch. ... Wide receiver Amani Toomer took exception to a hit from behind by Jets' linebacker Erik Barton and shoved him as he got up, but it didn't lead to another brawl. ... Jacobs, incidentally, led the Giants onto the field and it was obvious that his size and reputation had preceded him, as several of the Jets stopped their warm-ups and stared, following him with their eyes.

Coughlin said he wasn't on the lower field long enough to have a clear-cut impression (yeah, right). ... "When I was down there I thought he did well," he said. "He obviously has a physical presence (yeah, ask Hunter). Assignment-wise, we have to look at the tape and see but it looked to me like he enjoyed playing (but who will enjoy playing against him?)."

Outstanding receptions were recorded by wide receivers Plaxico Burress, David Tyree, Tim Carter, Mark Jones and Amani Toomer, and Shockey hauled in two or three keepers as well. ... Among those who became charter members of the "I Bounced Off Brandon Jacobs" club, not counting Hunter, were Jets' safety Jon McGraw and Mickens. ... There will be more members this season, perhaps a lot of them.

Celestine, on starting the Shockey fight: "Maybe the Giants were cranky. That's how we practice every day. It was nothing personal."

Henderson on the chaos his defense attempts to create: "It's intensity," he said. "It's how we practice. We use a different tempo than they [the Giants] do. I don't think we stepped over the line."

INJURY REPORT - In addition to Ponder, the Giants held cornerback Will Allen (slight groin pull) out of the practices. ... Others who did not participate included safety Curry Burns (concussion), rookie defensive end Eric Moore (sprained knee, out three weeks), wide receiver Jamaar Taylor (strained hip flexor), tight end Visanthe Shiancoe (knee), offensive guard-center Wayne Lucier (strained calf) and rookie running back Ryan Grant (sprained ankle).

Shockey, Ponder, linebackers Nick Greisen and T.J. Hollowell and running back Derrick Ward did not practice in the afternoon. ... Ward is limited to one workout a day following off-season knee surgery.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: "They practice differently than we do. We try to keep our players healthy and I guess they don’t."

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

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