Aug 3 There are some Giants officials who still can't believe that with the 31st selection in the first round, they were able to select Kenny Phillips - a player they had ranked in the top 15 of all college players regardless of position or need and whom they were zeroed in on with a rare draft-room consensus.That Phillips fell to the Giants may have been lucky for them; the first safety picked in the draft hadn't gone that low since 2000. But for Phillips, well, being taken with the last pick in the first round only means that almost every other team in the league had a shot at him but said no thanks.

In his first training camp with the Giants, defensive end Renaldo Wynn dutifully grants as many autograph requests as possible but finds he feels more and more sheepish when fans thrust Super Bowl paraphernalia in front of him. "I tell 'em I wasn't on the team," Wynn said. "I'm signing it but I wasn't a part of it. It feels strange, man. I want to be a part of that. You want to feel like you have some ownership of that when you sign that. It's almost like when I'm signing it I'm not able to look somebody in the eye, I'm looking away."

A judge in Virginia ruled against the Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier on Friday in the newspaper's lawsuit aimed at unsealing the records that would explain why Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw was sentenced to 60 days in jail. Giles County Circuit Court Judge Colin Gibb ruled that both the juvenile records regarding Bradshaw's original probation sentence and any records pertaining to his more recent violation of that probation would not become public record.

Scott Rodeo, in his ninth season as one of the team's associate physicians, was on the sideline when the Giants defeated the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. He is currently in Beijing, where he is a physician for the U.S. Olympic Swim Team. "It's been a pretty fun year," Rodeo said.

Former Giants
Poor Jeremy Shockey. No one truly grasps what a horrible, personal hell he endured during his six years in New York. He was treated so unfairly. His talent wasn't appreciated. He was treated more like a freak show than then the world-class athlete he is."After being in New York, this is the first time I've ever felt like just one of the guys," Shockey told Sports Illustrated last week at the Saints' training camp in Jackson, Miss., "not like an animal in a cage that everyone's come to see." Hearing that, it would be so easy to feel bad for Shockey, except for the fact that he's the one who turned Shockey World into a zoo.

Aug 2 It's been 12 days since the Giants traded Jeremy Shockey to the Saints. It only feels much longer. Maybe it's because the pace of training camp has a way of warping time. Maybe because those trade talks had been lingering for five months before the deal was struck. But mostly it's because Kevin Boss has given people no reason to think about Shockey. For the second time in eight months, Boss has stepped into a spot normally reserved for Shockey and quietly made the human aftershock an afterthought.

Sinorice Moss is as disappointed as anyone by the way his first two NFL seasons have gone. But he's not ready to give up on himself yet. And neither are the Giants. That's why the speedy 5-8 receiver is still at training camp at the University at Albany, despite the wealth of talent the Giants seem to have at his position. A 2006 second-round pick out of Miami, Moss is at best fourth on the depth chart, and feeling pressure from behind him. He knows this might be his last chance to earn a spot on the team.

When Dave Tollefson ran onto the field in place of Michael Strahan on the final drive of the Giants' playoff victory over the Cowboys in January, he had a huge grin on his face. "Osi (Umenyiora) was like, 'What are you smiling at?'" Tollefson recalled the other day. "I'm like, 'Are you kidding me, man? There's a minute and a half left in the NFC divisional playoff game and I'm in the game. This is great.'"
Tom Coughlin gave permission for Dave Tollefson to go home to be with his wife, Megan, for the birth of the couple's first child, a son they plan on naming Tucker. Megan is due on Aug. 15, but will be induced to accommodate Dave's football schedule. Coughlin never hesitated with this decision. "When we are in camp, the most important thing we do is prepare for football. However, the real world certainly continues to exist for all of us beyond this camp," he said. "The birth of a child is a special, once-in-a-lifetime experience."

The Giants huddle following yesterday's morning practice session looked and sounded different - Gen. Ray Odierno, not Tom Coughlin, addressed the team. Odierno, recently named to succeed Gen. David Petraeus as Commander of the U.S. Forces in Iraq, is a huge Giants fan from Rockaway, N.J., and not long ago completed a 30-month tour. He's going back to Iraq in September and decided to stop by training camp to get a look at his favorite team.
Many Giants expressed their gratitude after Odierno's speech. "[The players] realize what [the soldiers] are giving up so they can do what they're doing here," said Odierno, a Rockaway native and longtime Giants fan. "I send that message back to them."

He only has one kicker in camp, but Tom Coughlin still managed to stage a time-honored training camp tradition tonight: A kicking contest with the winning team enjoying a later curfew. Last year, Lawrence Tynes out-kicked Josh Huston to earn an extra hour of free time for the offense. This year, Tynes is the only kicker in camp, so Coughlin improvised by bringing punter Jeff Feagles into the mix.
Training camp - AM Highlights | PM Highlights

This offseason the Giants lost a key component of their 2007 championship run when linebacker Kawika Mitchell signed with the Buffalo Bills. Determined to find a replacement, GM Jerry Reese signed Danny Clark on March 13, 2008 in hopes of filling that void. Clark, who suffered through an injury plagued 2007 season with the Houston Texans, is now competing for the starting weakside linebacker job with Gerris Wilkinson, who came into camp on PUP due to a sore kneecap, and slew of youngsters looking to win a starting job.

Aug 1 Yesterday's Practice Report. The most exciting play was a bomb down the right sideline to Steve Smith (a somewhat healthy Steve Smith), who went up and made the catch. Problem was, so did Corey Webster. The two fell to the ground and continued rasslin' for the ball. I wouldn't have known which way to call it. Lucky for me, NFL field judge Eddy Powers was right there and made the call: First down, offense.

For Brandon London, it's the 53-man roster or bust. So far, he's making a good argument. The second-year player from the University of Massachusetts put on a show Wednesday night, making a handful of dazzling catches, using all of his lanky frame to reach high for some balls and showing clean hands. "I told coach Coughlin I'm not settling for the practice squad this year," he said.
It's a day-to-day existence on the practice squad and London said he took home about $3,400, after taxes, each week. When the season ends, his paychecks stop. But the Giants season was extended to the absolute limit, and that enabled London to cash more than a few extra checks. "We got paid for that bye week, too," London said yesterday. "I thank these guys all the time for that extra five weeks." Pardon London if he wants more, but he's not asking as much as he's doing. With Plaxico Burress Plaxico Burress , Amani Toomer, Steve Smith, David Tyree and rookie Mario Manningham all missing one or more days in training camp, London has benefited from increased work with inspired play.

David Tyree hasn't been on a football field since Super Bowl XLII, but he vowed Thursday to be back in time for opening night. The receiver, who made the most famous catch of the Giants' 17-14 win over the Patriots, said Thursday he has targeted a return in time for the Giants' game against the Redskins on Sept.4. At the moment, though, he's on the physically-unable-to-perform list as he recovers from offseason knee surgery. He's not yet sure when he'll return to the practice field.

WR Plaxico Burress' contract situation isn't likely to be resolved soon, according to someone informed of the progress of talks between the team and Burress' agent, Drew Rosenhaus. The person, who requested anonymity because talks are ongoing, said the negotiations might soon be broken off completely because no progress has been made and the sides remain far apart.

Sinorice Moss' first two NFL seasons were marked by a disconnect between his potential and his production. Blessed with speed, explosion, quickness and sure hands, Moss has only 26 receptions in 19 NFL games. But he remains confident that he has the ability to be a big-time NFL receiver. The Giants believe the third-year pro has the skills to be a big contributor in their passing game.

At this point last year, if someone had suggested a healthy Reuben Droughns would have the least productive season of the top five running backs in Giants camp, that person would have been considered as insane as the one predicting the Giants would win the Super Bowl thanks to a miracle catch by David Tyree. But that's exactly what happened, as Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw and Derrick Ward rushed the Giants to a title while Ryan Grant helped the Packers reach the NFC Championship Game.

The truth behind Ahmad Bradshaw's summer incarceration could be known today. The Giants running back, who emerged as a potent weapon late in his rookie year and wound up as the leading rusher in Super Bowl XLII, spent 28 days in a Virginia jail this summer for violating his probation. A report in the Bristol (Va.) Herald Courier yesterday suggested that Bradshaw received preferential treatment during his stay at the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail in Abingdon.
Citing sources, the Herald Courier stated Bradshaw was placed in a maximum-security wing and kept segregated from other inmates. During his time, Bradshaw autographed footballs for guards, received two food trays per meal instead of one and was allowed four hours of recreation time a day instead of the customary one, according to the sources. They also revealed that Bradshaw is scheduled to serve another 30 days after this season.
That was news to the Giants, who have oddly appeared to be in the dark about Bradshaw's case from the beginning. One team official said they received little warning when Bradshaw agreed to report to jail in June. And after practice at training camp Thursday, Tom Coughlin said he was unaware that Bradshaw still had 30 more days to serve.
So when Bradshaw gets his first carry in the Giants' nationally televised stand-alone opener against the Redskins on Sept. 4, it will be an embarrassing negative reflection on the NFL: Super Bowl champs with an explosive runner just out of jail and on his way back in. Not the image Roger Goodell, the law-and-order commissioner, wants to project.

A prominent voice in the locker room was lost when Michael Strahan finally decided to share his opinions with a television audience. But the Giants refuse to believe they need somebody to speak up and fill the void. The veterans on defense consider it to be little more than idle conversation. "I don't think anybody's behaved differently," said defensive end Justin Tuck, who's stepping in up front. "I think some guys have to become a little more vocal, but it all depends on what they're comfortable in doing." Most of the pep talks are coming from eighth-year linebacker Antonio Pierce.

Danny Clark's off-season visit with Tom Coughlin came three months prior to Renaldo Wynn's powwow with the Giants' head coach. The two, however, could have been in Coughlin's office at the same time. "Day and night," Clark said of the difference in the man he knew as coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the man he found sitting behind the desk at Giants Stadium. "Night and day," Wynn said of the same experience. "I talked to him more in those 30 minutes than I did in three seasons in Jacksonville," said Clark. "I called my wife after the meeting and told her, 'I just saw Coughlin's teeth. He smiled,' " added Wynn.

He may never completely escape the shadows of Archie and Peyton, but Eli Manning's new stature as a pro - and in the sibling dynamic - was in evidence at the family's annual QB camp. During one of their chalk talks last fall, Peyton and Eli lamented how many teams get conservative when they are trailing by three points in the fourth quarter, settling for field goals only to wind up losing in overtime. The brothers decided that it is better to be down by four points late in the fourth quarter than three, so no overcautious coach can get in the way. "Even when you're down three, you should go for the touchdown," Eli said then. "Go for the win." On the night of Feb. 3, the brothers flashed back to that very conversation. As Eli jogged back onto the field with 2:39 left in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl, his team trailed by four points.

July 31 There isn't likely to be an opportunity to unseat Eli Manning in training camp, so David Carr is working to amend his battered reputation. He's finally looking to settle down in the pocket. The former No. 1 pick came to the Giants in the offseason, signing a $1 million deal to spend a season backing up a Super Bowl hero. After being released each of the last two seasons, New York seemed a good place to see and be seen.
"I told Coach [Tom] Coughlin I want to help the team any way I can, and I'm looking for them to help me as well," a relaxed Carr said yesterday in between practice sessions at Giants training camp. "If we can both do that, it's going to be positive for everybody." This can be viewed as the last roundup for Carr, 29, who in 2002 was the No. 1 pick in the NFL Draft, a great honor that devolved into a great headache when he languished within the moribund offense that was the Houston Texans. Five years later, he was mercifully released, the best option for his body and mind, and last season struggled through an unsatisfying and unsuccessful one-and-done stay with the Panthers.
In five years with the Texans and last year with the Panthers, Carr became more known as a punching bag and a punchline, absorbing 262 sacks in 82 career games, including a record 76 in his rookie year of 2002. While he can laugh about that trauma - "You talk about a clock in your head, and when the clock hits zero before you take a snap, it's kind of tough," he said, adding that "It was survival, man, I was just trying to get back to my kids" - he's very serious about trying to help the Giants. Because in the end, helping them may be the only way he can help himself. Carr is out to prove that all those losing teams, all those bad offenses, all those things that haunt quarterbacks in this league weren't his fault alone. .
Right now, he's behind Anthony Wright, who has taken most of the snaps as the No. 2 quarterback. With rookie sixth-round pick Andre' Woodson likely to win the third spot, it's pretty clear what's going on for the next month: Wright vs. Carr for the backup job. After missing the first five practices at the University of Albany with a foot injury suffered before camp while running in sneakers he's had since high school, Carr has some catching up to do. Plus, he has to do it with limited reps and a bunch of rookies on the third-team offense around him.

And you thought Craig Dahl's training camp story last year was riveting? Wait until you see how this one turns out. An undrafted rookie safety from North Dakota State, Dahl wound up making the team as a long shot out of camp in 2007 and even found his way into the starting lineup for two games because of injuries in the secondary. But when he tore his ACL in the first quarter of the Giants' loss to the Patriots in Week 17, he was put on injured reserve. In February, after watching the team win the Super Bowl from the sideline, he was cut. Yesterday, Dahl was signed by the Giants and on the field again.
Zak DeOssie was relieved when Craig Dahl signed with the Giants yesterday. "My rent just got cut in half," said DeOssie, the Giants' second-year linebacker and Dahl's roommate since last summer. Did DeOssie pick up both halves when Dahl was out of a job from February to this week? "I'm not that good of a friend," DeOssie quipped. DeOssie was only joking about the player whom he feels "got the short end of the stick" when the Giants waived him in February because of a torn knee ligament suffered in Week 17 last season. Dahl was expected to be sidelined for six to nine months, but made a rapid recovery.
The injury could not have come at a worse time for Dahl who was playing in the season finale against the Patriots. Only a week away from his first ever postseason experience Dahl’s season came to a screeching halt. "The injury hurt like hell," said Dahl. "As soon as the team doctors came on the field they told me right then and there that I was done and my season was over. They told me right on the field." Not only did Dahl need season ending surgery, but he also missed out on the opportunity to be part of a historic Super Bowl run for the Giants.

The Wednesday evening practice was a sloppy one as far as the offense was concerned with some bad throws, dropped balls and even a couple of fumbles. DE Justin Tuck sat out with a sore foot but is expected back Thursday. Among the few offensive standouts were WRs Brandon London and Sinorice Moss, who are getting more reps because Steve Smith (groin) and Mario Manningham (thigh) have joined Plaxico Burress (ankle) on the sideline. London, the first-year man from UMass, has had a particularly impressive camp. But remember wideouts tend to shine in these practices when they know they aren't supposed to get waffled by the defensive backs.
Steve Smith will be reevaluated tomorrow morning and hopefully can return to the field for tomorrow's practice. Mario Manningham and DE Justin Tuck injuries are not serious and both are expected back tomorrow. Domenik Hixon's name is becoming a daily fixture in the day's recap as he yet again took advantage of his first team reps. Hixon made two phenomenal catches in the defensive back/wide receiver drills reeling in two touchdown receptions over Aaron Ross. What stood out was Hixon's ability to make the big play despite fantastic coverage by Ross.

Every time Osi Umenyiora landed at another military base in Iraq or Afghanistan, he witnessed the same scene. The troops would line up to greet him, file by one-by-one to shake his hand, ask for an autograph or take a picture. But when the 26-year-old Umenyiora looks back at his USO-sponsored tour to visit U.S. troops a few weeks ago, those aren't the lines he remembers most. The one that sticks was the line of battle-hardened troops standing in the hot sun on a 120-degree day in the middle of the desert, honoring their fallen friends one last time.

July 30 Veteran receiver Amani Toomer missed the Giants training camp practice Tuesday with swelling in his left leg. Coach Tom Coughlin did not seem concerned after a two-hour workout, the team's seventh practice in four days at the University at Albany. Fellow wide receiver Steve Smith also sat out the workout with general soreness, leaving the receiving corps without its top three players. Plaxico Burress remained sidelined with a problem with his right ankle.

Kenny Phillips understands these are non-contact drills, but that goes against his instincts. He's a heat-seeking missile in the Giants' secondary. He needs something to hit. So it has become a daily occurrence at Giants training camp to see the rookie safety lining up his prey and streaking toward a receiver, only to pull up at the very last second while his coaches and teammates cringe.
Several times in camp, Tom Coughlin has called Kenny Phillips over to remind his No. 1 draft pick this is just practice, and the people he’s lining up for killer hits are his teammates, not the enemy. Reeling himself in hasn’t been easy for the former Miami defensive back, who the Giants coveted and were able to select with the final pick in the first round of the April draft.
Phillips clocked running back Reuben Droughns on one play, sending Droughns to the grass. Phillips, realizing his overzealous mistake, immediately reached down to help up Droughns. A few of the veteran players on offense made sure Phillips knew he needed to tone it down a bit. A few minutes later, though, Phillips couldn't help himself when he popped receiver Brandon London in the chops after London made an over-the-shoulder catch on a lob from Anthony Wright.
One of the hardest parts about playing safety for Phillips is deciding whether to go for the big hit or to intercept the pass. The safer course, he insists, is making the hit. Miss the ball and the receiver has a chance of scoring. Hit the man and the worst that can happen is he catches the ball and thinks twice the next time about coming into your zone.

Upon arriving at the players' dorms for the start of training camp, Michael Jennings wasn't blaring music out of his car windows as he had every other year. It was partly because his truck was in the shop and he was working with an inferior sound system. But it was also representative of a change in attitude for the amusing 28-year-old, who missed all of last season with a torn Achilles' tendon and is now facing an uphill battle to make the roster.

Tom Coughlin asked Renaldo Wynn what he thought about the Giants New York Giants ' training-camp set-up and how everything was going. "It wasn't even about football!" Wynn said yesterday, a look of wonderment on his face and an incredulous tone in his voice. Way back when, Wynn got used to another Coughlin. The same with linebacker Danny Clark. The two have a combined 21 years in the NFL with nine different teams and both were escorted into the league by Coughlin, who drafted Wynn (first round out of Notre Dame, 1997) and Clark (seventh round, Illinois, 2000) when he ran the show in Jacksonville.
When Danny Clark, a free agent last winter, came to visit the Giants, he did so expecting the firebrand. People, in Clark's experience, rarely change. All those stories about Coughlin going soft, they must be a myth. "I had one of my eyebrows up," Clark said of his skepticism during the visit. "I was like, 'Is he going to chew me out? Or chew someone else out?' I may be exaggerating a bit on how rough he was [in Jacksonville], but that was our impression." What he got was a relaxed chat with a man who had, in less than a year, reinvented himself.

July 29 Osi and Sam Madison took the morning off along with Zak DeOssie, but they're all on a one-a-day schedule and should be out there tonight. Danny Clark is a one-a-day guy too, but he practiced in the morning. Plaxico, of course, did not practice. No changes to the starting defense, other than Tollefson replacing Osi.
The Giants are still working on their deep passing game, but it appears they were emphasizing the run a little more this morning. You can't tell much about the run game, though, when there's no hitting going on. Did I say no hitting? Rookie S Kenny Phillips must have missed the memo. He leveled RB Reuben Droughns on one run up the middle. He also gave WR Brandon London a little-too-hard shove on a sideline route, though London managed to hold on to the ball.
Let's take a look at the evening practice, the first one in full pads. Yes, David Carr was removed from the PUP list and participated. Yes, he looked like a guy who, just hours earlier, was physically unable to perform. He's working through some mechanics problems, so we'll cut him some slack. He and Anthony Wright are in a competition for the No. 2 job (Woodson should -- should -- get the No. 3 position).
LB Chase Blackburn, who has been seeing a lot of reps on the weakside with Gerris Wilkinson (knee) out and Danny Clark (hernia) limited, made a nice blitz, then got way up in the air, and deflected away an Eli Manning pass. Blackburn is one of those guys that always seems to do something good when he's on the field, though he probably doesn't get on it as much as he should.

It's the same ankle, but not the same problem, and it's definitely not the contract. Got it? The world according to Plaxico Burress kept spinning yesterday, with new revelations revealed and old wounds explained. The big-play receiver missed his fifth and sixth consecutive practices but broke his training camp silence, admitting a new issue with his right ankle - and not a lingering resentment about his still-unresolved contract extension - is keeping him off the field. "You guys know me, if it was contract I wouldn't be here," Burress said between practice sessions.
Plaxico Burress insisted that his decision to sit out the first six practices of training camp had nothing to do with his contract. It might have been better for the Giants if it had. Instead, Burress confirmed Monday that his injured ankle is what's been keeping on the sidelines since camp opened at the University at Albany last week. He said it's the same right ankle that bothered him all last season, but it's actually a new injury - one that occurred while he was running routes a few weeks ago. And, much like last season when he rarely practiced, he has no idea when he'll be able to return.
Burress, meanwhile, remains engaged with the Giants in negotiations for a new contract. "I know I'm one of the best players at my position in this league," he said. "I know I can play. I'm just going to go out and keep doing what I'm doing and have the best year of my career. "I really didn't want it to get to that point," he continued. "It's sad that it did, but as a player and as a competitor, I am going to move on from that."

Team doctors examined Plaxico Burress over the weekend and told coach Tom Coughlin said the receiver might be ready to go by midweek. The coach described the injury as "structural." "He has a situation where he absolutely has to wear orthotics," Coughlin said. "He really has to wear them all the time. That's really going to help and hopefully the soreness will be gone so he can work this week." Burress said that he will wear the orthotics, provided his ankle feels better using them. "We're just trying different things with my shoes and cleats and things like that," Burress said. "When I heal up and get to 100 percent, I think everything is going to be OK."
Of course, even if Burress and the Giants solve this whole ankle thing, there's still the matter of a contract extension. Burress has three years and $10.5 million remaining on his current contract but would like to be paid an average of $9 million per season, the going rate for the league's elite receivers. He hinted at a holdout last month when he was protesting by sitting out minicamp practices then changed his tune within a few days to sound more optimistic. A few days before the start of camp, he indicated a deal wasn't close to being done but said he'd be here on time.

Shane Olivea went from the upslope of a promising NFL career to the unemployment line and the Betty Ford Center for substance abuse before landing on the Giants' third-string offensive line. And he couldn't be happier. "It was the best thing that's ever happened to me," the right tackle said yesterday during a break at training camp. "I have a new outlook on life, a new appreciation on life and every day is a present and a blessing."
Almost as soon as the suspension was lifted, Olivea agreed to terms on a one-year deal with the Giants, who love the experience they'll get from the 6-4, 312-pound four-year veteran. Olivea, meanwhile, is grateful for the opportunity the Giants have given him to prove to everyone that he's turned his life around.
Tom Coughlin was asked what was the attraction of (Shane) Olivea? "He is a veteran player who was a former starter. We wanted to see where he was. He came in and he was in excellent shape. The question was answered right away on that. We are just going to have to see how he does now. You know, it's a whole new system. He has been under another system and he has got a lot of things he has to learn. He has to learn them fast, so hopefully he will be able to do that."

It's on the Web. It's on ESPN, the NFL Network and in most newspapers, including those in their own city. The message is this: The Giants are a slightly better-than-average team that got hot late last season, managed to get to the Super Bowl and then handed New England its only loss of the season because the Patriots were overconfident. New England treats that game as if it never happened. "I think we do have a chip on our shoulder," said defensive end Justin Tuck. "You read the papers; we have no chance even in the NFC East.

July 28 It hasn't always been so smooth for Corey Webster. Injuries and inconsistent play plagued his first three seasons with the Giants, who drafted him in the second round in 2005. But late last season and into the playoffs it clicked for Webster, who had an interception return for a touchdown against the Bills in Week 16 and two interceptions in the postseason, including Brett Favre's final pass (for now).
He was the starter for the first three games last year before he looked terrible in giving up a long catch to Washington's Santana Moss that set up a Redskins touchdown in Week 3. He was immediately yanked from the first team and replaced by rookie Aaron Ross. Before he knew it, Webster had slipped so far he was even inactive for two games in November. But injuries forced him back into the Giants' plans, and after a slow restart he suddenly took off with that interception return for a touchdown in Buffalo.

Anyone who watched the Giants' first two days of training camp practices likely picked up four nuggets regarding the team's passing game: 1) The Giants are working on throwing the ball deep and are intent on improving that facet of their game. 2) Except for a couple of errant throws, Eli Manning's passes have been right on target. 3) Because the team has so much depth, the roster decisions at wide receiver will be particularly difficult to make. 4) Domenik Hixon figures into all of the above.
Domenik Hixon joined the Giants after the season began last year. He quickly had to get over the shock of being cut by the Broncos, grasp the Giants' playbook and deal with the demons of being the player who was involved in the near-fatal injury to Bills tight end Kevin Everett during a kickoff. It was a difficult time for him. Now he's a starting receiver for the defending Super Bowl champions. Sure, he's getting the opportunity only because Plaxico Burress is sidelined with an ankle injury, but Hixon said he is trying to take advantage of every chance he get.
When Burress was most hobbled by his ankle problem, from late in the game of Oct. 28 through Dec. 16, the Giants had just one completion of 40 yards or more. During that seven-game period, they averaged just 16.2 points and posted a 4-3 record. With Burress sidelined the first two days of camp, Coughlin has turned to waiver pickup Domenik Hixon as the replacement at split end. The former Bronco, who joined the team Oct. 4, is 3 inches taller than any of the draft picks at 6 feet 2 and has excellent speed, as demonstrated on his 74-yard kickoff return TD against New England in the regular-season finale.

Last year, running back Brandon Jacobs filled a void left by former Giant Tiki Barber. Jacobs led the Giants with 1,009 rushing yards in only eleven games played, averaging five yards a carry, a career high. The offensive production by Jacobs was a career best and allowed fans and teammates to put their minds at ease. However, a glaring problem for Jacobs has been his inability to stay on the field throughout an entire 16 game season. Something the fourth year pro is looking to work on. Two other players who opened eyes last season were then-rookie Ahmad Bradshaw and Derrick Ward.

Former Giants
Gibril Wilson's 284 solo tackles since entering the NFL in 2004 are the most of any safety during that span. He had 70 tackles and a career-high four interceptions in 13 games for the Giants last season. The Raiders signed Wilson away from the Super Bowl champion New York Giants on the first day of free agency.
The Raiders made Wilson the highest-paid safety in the NFL with a six-year contract worth up to $39 million after he spent four seasons with the New York Giants. The Raiders would love if Wilson's championship residue rubbed off on his new teammates.

July 27 Coach Tom Coughlin, in a television interview Saturday evening, said Giants team doctor Russell Warren checked out WR Plaxico Burress and found there to be legitimacy to his ankle injury. Coughlin added that he had no timetable for Burress' return, but hoped to have him back on the practice field by midweek. The presence of agent Drew Rosenhaus on the Albany campus Friday spawned speculation that Burress' absence from practice was related to negotiations for a new contract.

Training Camp News
Manning hit Toomer for a big gain again, only this time it wouldn't have counted in a normal game. That's because Osi Umenyiora would have either splattered Manning on the turf for a sack or TE Michael Matthews would have been called for holding against Osi.
One of the most exciting plays of the practice was the almost catch, almost interception, catch by Michael Jennings on a crossing route in 11s.
For a team that focused so much on managing the passing game during last year's postseason run, the Giants sure are throwing a lot of deep balls in practice the first two days. As it turns out, that’s by design.
It certainly wasn't the best of the four practices for QB Eli Manning, who was picked off twice and had several other passes land in no-man’s land.
Several outstanding defensive plays highlighted the day's second practice. The unit picked off Eli Manning's first two passes in the workout’s initial team period.

The Giants last season completed six pass plays of 40 or more yards; 20 teams did better. Five of those were to Plaxico Burress. Of the 13 pass plays of 30 or more yards, nine went to Burress. Now you know why the club is willing to give him a raise even though he has three years remaining on his contract. Amani Toomer at this stage of his career is more of a possession receiver, and Steve Smith is developing into more of the same. Burress can't do it by himself and another weapon is needed. If Moss can't oblige, perhaps Domenik Hixon can, especially if Mario Manningham isn't ready to contribute as a rookie.
Of course, not everybody's sold on the need for more deep balls. Center Shaun O'Hara, among other linemen, would prefer longer, sustained drives. Those include more running plays that allow a lineman to attack his target, rather than sit back and "catch" an opposing rusher. Plus, that 16-play, 63-yard drive that took the first 9 minutes, 59 seconds off the clock in Super Bowl XLII did a good job of setting the tone for that game. So don't count O'Hara among those players who equate a more explosive offense with a better offense.
"I remember in 2006 when we came out and the first ball Eli threw (in camp) was a deep ball and everybody said the same thing," O'Hara said. "And we all know how that year turned out, so..." Still, O'Hara knows it's all a matter of perspective. While he and the linemen want one thing, the wide receivers probably want another. "They'd say, 'Throw it deep every time. I'm open every time,'" O'Hara said.

The question has come up over and over again, all offseason long, and general manager Jerry Reese still doesn't understand why he hears it. He's got a 27-year-old quarterback who's been to the playoffs three straight years and is the reigning Super Bowl MVP. So why are people still wondering if Eli Manning is for real? Why are they still asking if his remarkable postseason run is a sign that he's finally turned the corner in his career? The fifth-year quarterback had a remarkable run through the postseason last year and finished it off by becoming just the second quarterback in history to win a Super Bowl with a touchdown drive in the final minute of the game. His postseason numbers were outstanding - 72 of 119 (60.5%) for 854 yards, six touchdowns and just one interception, good for a passer rating of 123.2.

After two injury-filled and unproductive seasons, Sinorice Moss hasn't given the Giants anything near what they expected, and they will move on without him if he cannot become a consistent member of the attack. Moss is around to provide big plays. This is a team that won a Super Bowl without showing the quick-strike ability it desires. "There were not enough," Tom Coughlin said of big plays.

For linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka and running back Derrick Ward - two players who broke their legs during the 2007 regular season and then had to watch the playoff push - any bad feelings that came from a lack of direct involvement in Super Bowl XLII has been put aside. Replaced, not coincidentally, by a desire to play in Super Bowl XLIII. "It was hard. Growing up as a kid, you want to play in that big game, you want to play in the Super Bowl," said Ward, who went down with a busted fibula in a Week 13 win at Chicago. "It does add to the hunger. I want to play in the Super Bowl every year. Hopefully, we'll be able to get back this year."
After watching the Super Bowl run from afar -- just like Shockey -- Kiwanuka realizes the alienation an injured player feels. "Yeah, I understand how he got to that point because it stung a little bit that we couldn't be out there," the Giants' third-year linebacker, who suffered a broken fibula in November, said yesterday in between practices at training camp. "But it had nothing to do with the Super Bowl run; it had to do with the fact that we're men with jobs and we weren't able to produce and to contribute to the team. And that's a tough thing to (handle)."

When Jeremy Shockey got hurt in December, Kevin Boss stepped in at tight end and caught nine passes and scored two touchdowns to end the regular season, then broke off a 45-yard gain in the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl that led to a critical Giants touchdown. With Shockey now gone (in a trade to the New Orleans Saints), Boss arrived here for training camp last week as the Giants' No. 1 tight end. It doesn't sound right, but it is: Kevin Boss' recent stardom in professional football is almost directly related to his relative lack of stardom in high school basketball. Basketball was Boss' true love.

July 26 He stepped onto the field as their Perfect 10, the Super Bowl champion MVP quarterback of the Giants, and it took Eli Manning one pass to announce himself as an even better quarterback in 2008, a long bomb to a streaking Amani Toomer that titillated Big Blue Nation. "A lot of our scoring drives are 12-play drives," Eli Manning said. "Every once in a while it's kinda good to mix in a big play . . . it gives you an opportunity to be explosive."
Manning completed six of his seven passes in the morning full-team drills, the only misfire an attempt to Michael Jennings broken up by cornerback Aaron Ross. Manning this season wants to become more efficient in his downfield passing and he got off to a solid start. Later in the practice, he fired and connected on a deep ball to Sinorice Moss, who leaped and made the grab as cornerback Geoffrey Pope fell down.
"We didn't hit enough deep balls or 'go' routes last year," Manning said. "Deep balls are good because they allow you to get big chunks of yards." Manning was sharp in the morning practice, connecting with WR Sinorice Moss on another bomb in a seven-on-seven drill.

Wide receiver Plaxico Burress did not participate in Friday's two practices, and while the parties involved insist it was because of his ankle, speculation remains the inactivity has more to do with his contract. "He's got the foot and the ankle and we're being cautious about it," Giants general manager Jerry Reese said.
But was he standing on the sidelines because his ankle was bothering him again? Or were his unfinished contract negotiations bothering him, too? That wasn't clear when the defending champs returned to the football field without their No. 1 receiver. Burress' agent, Drew Rosenhaus, insisted the absence was "definitely not connected" to his contract. But Tom Coughlin didn't sound so sure. "I'm not sure what that issue is," the coach said after the morning practice. "Until I have more information, I am not commenting. I just said all I can say."
Of course, Rosenhaus pinning Burress' absence on a sore ankle contradicts what Burress said at minicamp last month, when he told reporters he was healthy enough to practice and was sitting out to protest the slow pace of negotiations. (That admission drew Burress $42,000 in fines, which is being appealed by the NFL Players Association.)
When Burress was going to work out was not yet decided when Tom Coughlin early in the morning walked onto the field. "We went to make that decision, and he felt that he couldn't go," Coughlin said. "He says his ankle is bothering him and he didn't feel like he could go." Asked if Burress would be ready by the second session, a slightly perturbed-sounding Coughlin said "I have no idea." This did not exactly jibe with Burress' contention back during the mid-June mini-camp that various maladies - ankle, knee, finger, shoulder - were all nearly 100 percent and that he was ready to go.
Rosenhaus said nothing was imminent on a new contract. Burress lags well behind some of the league's top receivers in terms of pay. Terrell Owens of Dallas and Randy Moss of New England recently signed three-year contracts for $27 million, while Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals got a four-year, $40 million contract with a $30 million guarantee. Burress has caught 209 passes as a Giant, leading the team in catches in two of his three seasons.

Antonio Pierce knows who's going to be the leader of the Giants' defense this season. The same guy that has been playing that role the past few years. "The question to me is funny," Pierce said between practices at training camp yesterday. "What leader? I've been here for four years now. I thought I was doing a pretty good job, so obviously I need to pick it up more and show somebody something." That last part was full of sarcasm. It's what oozes from Pierce when he feels he has been slighted.
In three seasons with the Giants after four with the Redskins, Pierce has 373 tackles, 4 1/2 sacks, three forced fumbles, four fumble recoveries and four interceptions. Last year, as a captain, he led the team with 116 tackles and had 10 passes defensed. In the Super Bowl, he had a team-high 10 tackles. He is not only the middle linebacker but the middle of the defensive universe. He directs the traffic, makes the adjustments and, this year, will have a headset in his helmet to hear the plays from the sideline. In other words, everything the Giants do on defense will filter through Pierce. Umenyiora said moving on without Strahan won't be as troubling as some outsiders are making it out to be.

Amani Toomer hasn't seen it all, but he has seen more in a Giants uniform than any other current player. Now preparing for his 13th season, Toomer became the Giants' longest-tenured player when Michael Strahan retired last month. That long journey has taken Toomer to some peaks (last year's Super Bowl triumph and five other playoff appearances) and valleys (five losing seasons, including a 4-12 clunker in 2003).

July 25 Brandon Jacobs is finished talking to the Giants about a new contract. From now on he plans to do all his negotiating on the field. The big running back Thursday said he has cut off all dealings with his team and plans to play out the final year of his pact. He said the Giants offered him an extension that he considered "OK," but he intends to prove to them that he's worth much more.
Brandon Jacobs last season rushed for 1,009 yards despite playing just 11 games. "If I can play 16, I'll lead the league," Jacobs said yesterday as the Giants reported for training camp. "I'm coming in to prove I can play 16 games." Determining Jacobs' worth is not easy. Jacobs, who is entering the final year of his deal and will be paid $927,000, wants a new contract. The Giants want to do the deal and negotiations have been ongoing, but the sides cannot agree on a fair price.
Plaxico Burress may have stated his case for a new contract. The Giants wide receiver arrived at training camp Thursday with "matching luggage," a pair of green plastic bags. One even sprung a leak as he carried it toward his dorm room at the University at Albany. Two pairs of undergarments plopped to the muddy ground. At least Burress lived up to his word and did report, even though he has not received a new contract. With the wide receiver checked in and No. 1 draft pick Kenny Phillips officially signed, the Giants are at full strength as they try to match the ultimate success of last season.

Super Bowl hero David Tyree was placed on the physically unable to perform list by the New York Giants on Thursday because of lingering problems recovering from surgery on his right knee. Tyree, whose one-handed catch of a pass against his helmet led to the game-winning touchdown against the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl, is uncertain how long it will take to recover from his surgery in April.

Giants.com - Video - Players arrive to camp!

Tom Coughlin isn't quite sure when the memorable sayings - the ones from Confucius to Lincoln to Lombardi - became a part of his coaching lexicon. The seeds probably were planted when he was growing up playing football and became a star wingback at Syracuse University. Once he got into coaching, he realized words sometimes could have as profound an impact on players as blocking and tackling. "When I became a coach, I paid more attention to these sayings."
Shaun O'Hara was trying to get it straight. "Talk is cheap, play the game," he said, alluding to one of the many slogan-based T-shirts Tom Coughlin has outfitted for the Giants. "Together we are one," O'Hara said, listing another. "What other T-shirts do we have, Peter?" On cue, Peter John-Baptiste, the director of media relations, said, "Prove it." O'Hara nodded. "Prove it," he said. "There we go. Same shirts, just change to '08."
The Super Bowl champion Giants reported to training camp a little miffed Thursday, knowing everyone is after them and that few expect them to repeat, let alone win the NFC East. "I think we do have a chip on our shoulders," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "You read the papers. We have no chance, even in the NFC. It really doesn't matter what people say. As long as these 53 guys that we are taking into every game believe in ourselves and we go out there and play Giants football, we will be fine."

The Giants are a bit perturbed, not only that nobody is picking them to repeat as Super Bowl winners or even get back to the Super Bowl, but that every time they look up, somebody else is calling for the Cowboys to win the NFC East even though the Giants went into Texas Stadium in January and eliminated Dallas from the playoffs. "Maybe it's because Dallas tried to buy a Super Bowl this year," Giants defensive end Justin Tuck said right after reporting to camp Thursday. Can you buy the Super Bowl? "I don't think so," Tuck said.
When the Giants tell you they aren't satisfied with holding one Lombardi Trophy to the heavens, they aren't kidding. I tell Justin Tuck outside the dormitories that will house the next sweet dream that Giants fans want to know how realistic is it for this most improbable champion to repeat. "Very realistic," he said. "How realistic was it for us to win last year? Not very realistic. I feel like the sky's the limit for this football team - we're young, our veterans are still kinda wide-eyed and bushy-tailed, and the fact that no one is satisfied. I could tell that our first day of workouts this season. Nobody was talking about last year. "I mean, nobody wants to be a one-year wonder. "We want to make a dynasty out of this thing. I think our focus is definitely going in that direction."

Question for Bob Papa: "Do you think the Giants made the right move trading Shockey?"
"I thought eventually he would come around once he got back to training camp with his teammates. It seems to me he wanted out. The way he acted during minicamp, you started thinking, 'Wow, this thing is ugly.' But the Giants proved they could win a Super Bowl without him, and who needs the headache? I think he has a lot of misplaced anger and I know the Giants would have loved to have brought him back, but he made it nearly impossible."

Jeremy Shockey's fiery attitude, once considered his strength, quickly was painted as his weakness and his downfall when he arrived for minicamp and immediately began ranting and screaming his way through the team's headquarters. It's also why the Giants decided to trade him instead of inviting even more distractions to training camp and into the regular season. Boss, meanwhile, continues to speak so softly that one had better lean in to catch every word. Thrust into the spotlight, he still appears to be the shy kid who said his friends "would tell you that I'm pretty quiet and reserved, definitely not wild and crazy. Far from that."
Kevin Boss arrived here last year as an accomplished pass-catcher. But he was relatively inexperienced as a blocker, especially against the large and ultra-strong defenders he faces in the NFL. Boss spent considerable offseason time in the weight room and now packs 270 pounds on his 6-foot-6 frame. Tutorials with tight ends coach Michael Pope and Shockey, as well as his own work ethic and determination, have sharply improved Boss' blocking.

Jeremy Shockey reiterated that he "never said anything in the paper" about being unhappy with the Giants. In fact, in his press conference yesterday, he didn't say anything negative about the Giants at all. "I don't have any personal vendetta against the Giants," he insisted. Still, he said, the trade happened because "(Saints GM) Mickey (Loomis) and Sean (Payton, the Saints head coach) wanted me more than New York." "It's a very good situation," Shockey added.
Tiki Barber, who played for Sean Payton and beside Jeremy Shockey, said the then-New York Giants offensive coordinator and then-New York Giants tight end had tangible simpatico. "It was great," said Barber of Payton's working relationship with Shockey, traded to the Saints on Monday. "Sean has an ability (to find) the strengths of his players." "He made me a star, basically, by saying, 'Don't put Tiki between the tackles. Let's do some misdirection so he can get outside and trick some people.' With Jeremy, it's, 'What's he good at? He's fast, so he's a mismatch for a linebacker. He's strong and big, so he's a mismatch for a safety. So let's put him in the slot and let him run some routes every now and then.' He thrived in (Payton's) offense.""

July 24 Every syllable, word and sentence of the poignant theme Tom Coughlin presented yesterday as he arrived at Giants training camp made crystal clear that in order for this team to learn the lessons of its Super Bowl triumph, Jeremy Shockey had to go. The former Giants tight end was shipped this week to New Orleans, not because he's no longer a viable player but because the franchise - from the front office to some in the coaching staff to many of his teammates - grew tired by his diva act.
Yesterday, the news of Shockey's departure still hung over the Giants as the organization opened training camp. And it doesn't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon -- despite coach Tom Coughlin's assertion that camp will have a "team first" theme to it. Today, when the players arrive at the University of Albany, Shockey will continue to be a major topic of discussion.
Both offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride and Mike Pope had high praise for Shockey. Pope said. "That is what he did, he helped these young players a great deal and he would correct them sometimes before I could run out there and correct them. That is the thing that is going to be missed and the thing that will be difficult to replace and so, yeah it would have be nice if that had worked out (and Shockey had stayed)."
Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride said that there certainly would be some changes in the way the Giants play offense. "What do we do? Do we move it? Do we play less two tights? Do we have certain restrictions in certain players?" he asked. "I really don't know the answer but I'm excited about seeing our young guys. We'll all kind of see together as camp is unfolding."

The spotlight and the pressure will officially be turned on to Kevin Boss Friday morning when he begins the task of trying to replace Jeremy Shockey. But that's nothing compared to the pressure the 24-year-old faced six months ago. "I feel like I've faced as much pressure as I'm going to face in my career trying to replace him in the Super Bowl," Boss told the Daily News Wednesday. "And I felt like I played well there." Boss' play in the Super Bowl and during the entire postseason was a big reason why the Giants felt comfortable enough to trade the disgruntled Shockey to New Orleans on Monday, and why they seem so optimistic about the post-Shockey era.
"Team first" was the running theme of Giants coach Tom Coughlin's opening of training camp news conference yesterday. After getting the players to buy into that concept last season, it's quite possible Coughlin could make it happen again, especially since "Mr. Me First" (Jeremy Shockey) is now with the Saints. With the trade of Shockey, the retirement of Michael Strahan, last year's retirement of Tiki Barber and the emergence of Eli Manning as a team leader with Super Bowl cache, the Giants have quickly become a team made to fit Coughlin's mold: Hard-working, understated and confident in their coach and each other. Will this formula continue to bring success?
Of the 41 previous Super Bowl winners, 12 did not make the playoffs the following season, most recently the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2006. That includes the Giants in 1987 (when they were 6-9 in a strike-gutted season) and 1991 (8-8 in Ray Handley's first year as head coach), the seasons after they won their first two Super Bowls. In addition, the Giants slumped to 7-9 in 2001, the year after their most recent Super Bowl appearance. "I know all the numbers and that will be the first lecture," Tom Coughlin said.

When the Giants begin practicing Friday, they'll be doing it without Super Bowl hero David Tyree. Tyree, who had surgery in April to repair damage in his right knee, has apparently not recovered as quickly as he hoped and he will likely be placed on the physically unable to perform (PUP) list. That could be the precursor to placing him on the PUP/reserve list at the start of the regular season, which would force him to miss the first six to 12 weeks of the season.
Things could get sticky for Tyree if his injury lingers long into the summer, because the competition at receiver will be considerable. Others coming off surgeries - cornerback Sam Madison Sam Madison and linebacker Danny Clark (sports hernias) and linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka and running back Derrick Ward (broken legs) - will be evaluated when they arrive and take the conditioning run. All are expected to practice right away, but some or all likely will be limited to one-a-day workouts.

Eli Manning's birth certificate says he will always be Peyton's little brother, but at least now all the condescending comparisons and questions have finally stopped. Eli won a Super Bowl in his fourth season with the Giants, less than half the time it took Peyton to win his Super Bowl with the Colts, which came in his ninth season. Peyton was named Super Bowl MVP. Twelve months later, Eli took home the same trophy."

July 23 For the third consecutive year, the Giants will have all their rookies under contract for the first practice of training camp. Safety Kenny Phillips, the team's first-round pick in April's draft, agreed to terms yesterday, according to his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, who has had a busy few days conducting business with the Giants.

For the first time in years - and the first time in Tom Coughlin's tenure as Giants coach - the team will start a season with a question mark at tight end. That's because the Giants just traded their exclamation point. Jeremy Shockey, a four-time Pro Bowler, was traded to the Saints on Monday as the Giants unloaded a package that included as much talent as tumult. Now, with training camp about to open and players expected to report tomorrow, they must find a replacement for his production.
Shortly after news broke of the Jeremy Shockey trade yesterday, I started thinking about the guys who would replace him. Yes, that's right, I said guys, as in plural, as in two of them: Kevin Boss AND Darcy Johnson. Just think: If Johnson hadn't gotten hurt, it might have been him replacing Shockey late last year. It might have been him catching that big 45-yard seam against the Pats that changed SB XLII. And it might have been him we'd be talking about right now as Shockey's replacement.
Kevin Boss will likely take over the starting job from Shockey, with Darcy Johnson and Michael Matthews filling the second tight end role. But Steve Smith could end up picking up the majority of the catches Shockey left behind. Shockey's absence also could create more of a need for a fourth receiver, such as rookie Mario Manningham or third-year pro Sinorice Moss.

Can last year's rookies build on success? All but one of the Giants' eight 2007 draft picks became significant contributors during the team's stunning Super Bowl run. Training camp will be a vital proving ground for those players to show that they are ready to play at their playoff level for an entire season.
Tom Coughlin sounded as if he couldn't get to Albany fast enough yesterday to begin defending his Super Bowl championship, the sights and sounds from the Canyon of Heroes, from the ring ceremony at Tiffany's, from visits to Walter Reed Hospital and the White House suddenly in his rear view mirror. Full speed ahead, to a new season, and a new challenge, and the same old naysayers who will argue that the Super Bowl XLII Giants were a fluke. What would the only Giants head coach not named Bill Parcells to win a Super Bowl championship say to them? "What I would say is, 'That's a lot of garbage,' " Coughlin said swiftly in a telephone interview with The Post.

July 22 Repeating as Super Bowl champions is nearly impossible, but the Giants' chances dramatically improved Monday when they dumped Shockey, an All-Pro distraction, on the Saints. It just won't be the same without Jeremy Shockey around to throw a fit after Eli Manning bounced one at his feet or sailed one over his head or didn't feed his ego by throwing him the ball 10 times a game.
The Giants, a proven winner without Shockey in the lineup, cut ties with a player who provided plenty of excitement on the field and plenty of distractions off it -- once throwing a cup of ice in the stands during a playoff game in San Francisco, criticizing Giants fans for leaving a game early, blaming Giants coach Tom Coughlin's staff for a loss in 2006 or skipping voluntary team workouts in favor an offseason program run by his agent. The Giants also unload the remainder of a five-year, $31.2 million contract extension that Shockey signed in 2005.

So now there is a new Boss in town, a guy so un-Shockey-like that he told Newsday Giants beat writer Tom Rock this spring that he was frustrated by his inability to watch the Suns in the NBA playoffs. Why? Because they were on past his bedtime. Shockey, for his part, has been liberated from what he saw as blocking drudgery under Tom Coughlin, reunited with old pal Sean Payton, who might well get another few productive seasons out of him. Good for Shockey, and good for Jerry Reese, Coughlin, Manning, Boss and the Giants.
Shockey, the Giants all-time leading receiver among tight ends with 371 catches, had his best year as a rookie in 2002 when he caught 74 balls for 894 yards -- when Payton was the Giants' offensive coordinator. "I have had a relationship with Coach Payton and I appreciate what he has done as a head coach," Shockey said in a statement released by the Saints. "The Saints have a lot of weapons, starting with [quarterback] Drew Brees, and I look forward to joining my teammates at training camp. This will be a fun year."

To those of you who shout "Good riddance!" to an unhappy camper who threatened to be a divisive headache for Tom Coughlin and the Super Bowl Giants, I say this: The Giants were a better team WITH Jeremy Shockey. Addition by subtraction? Never on Sunday. Chad Johnson is more of a royal pain in the butt than Shockey ever was, and still the Bengals called his bluff and refused all trade offers for him. Sometimes the best trades are the ones you don't make. Repeat? Repeat after me: The Cowboys, Eagles and Redskins just got better.
Asked on Sporting News Radio what impact the loss of Shockey means, DE Justin Tuck said, "He was more than just a tight end, he was definitely an offensive weapon. Teams definitely have to scout for him and put in packages just for him. Obviously we don't have that now, but it's a team thing. We got guys that are ready to step up and fill the shoes." Do they?

The Giants didn't want to trade Jeremy Shockey. But in the end, they felt they had no choice. "He was just begging to be traded," said one team official. "He just didn't want to be here. It's sad because he could've had it all. He could've finished his career here. But he just didn't want to do it."
Clearly, the Giants realized keeping Shockey was going to lead to trouble. No one knows if he had any intention of reporting to camp on Thursday and even if he did, his attitude would not have been conducive to team harmony. Reports surfaced that the Giants tried to deal Shockey in a three-team trade that would have landed them Dolphins defensive end Jason Taylor, who instead landed with the Redskins.

There are those who say that while Shockey's methods of conveying his irritation with Coughlin's schemes aren't necessarily the best, his message was nonetheless reasonable: Use me in a way that allows me to show my skills. Truthfully, the current Giants regime hadn't done that. They decided that they wanted a blocking tight end, not one who goes down the field to catch passes, and since Shockey was their tight end, blocking is what he would do.
It didn't matter that Shockey made a name for himself as a receiving tight end at Miami, or that he'd been productive in that role early in his career (under former Giants coach Jim Fassel). They had determined that blocking was what they wanted Shockey to do, so that's what they called. It was the Giants' right to do that, their absolute right, and Shockey handled his displeasure with that decision about as well as Alex Rodriguez handles October.

Even though the Giants apparently have done exactly what Jeremy Shockey asked them to do - trade him to the Saints - the tight end previously told reporters from Newsday's Kidsday in a video interview that he will be looking for revenge when he takes the field against his old team. "If the team trades me, I promise you I'm going to make them pay," Shockey told the youngsters during a promotional appearance in Queens in early June. "If I ever get a chance to play against a team that trades me, it's not going to be a pretty sight."

Shockey's departure represents a new era for the franchise. The team's three biggest stars from just two seasons ago - Tiki Barber, Michael Strahan and Shockey - are all gone. "I had a couple of long conversations with Jeremy this spring and summer," Mara said in a statement. "From those conversations, it was apparent to me that a fresh start was the best thing for us and for Jeremy."
One of Shockey's best friends in the Giants' locker room immediately said the trade should have been completed sooner. "Why not? Why not have everybody go into a situation where they know what's what?" wide receiver Plaxico Burress, who trains with Shockey each offseason in Miami, told The Star-Ledger yesterday by phone. "He could have been in New Orleans learning the playbook and things like that. "And for us, three days before training camp starts, you're trading an All-Pro tight end? Imagine how we feel."

Michael Strahan has retired and Jeremy Shockey has been shipped to New Orleans. That makes two of three items checked off the Giants' list of potential training-camp headaches. Actually, Plaxico Burress said they can scratch his name off there as well. "I'm going to be at camp. I'm going to get out and practice," Burress, who had threatened to hold out if he didn't get a new contract, told The Star-Ledger yesterday. "I said that I may not have, but the smarter thing for me to do is to show up and show my teammates I'm ready to play football."

Jeremy's Catches and Drops - His best moments and his worst | Jeremy Shockey Photos.

July 21 UPDATE - The Super Bowl Giants today unveiled their own version of a summer blockbuster, trading tight end Jeremy Shockey to New Orleans in exchange for the Saints' second and fifth-round draft choices in 2009. The trade is contingent upon Shockey passing a physical exam. Shockey's departure leaves the Giants with five tight ends, including second-year pro Kevin Boss, who started the final six games in 2007, including all four playoff contests. The other contenders are Michael Matthews, Darcy Johnson, Jerome Collins and rookie Eric Butler. "We have five young kids who are all vying for the position," Coughlin said. "The tight end position will be a very competitive position in training camp."
Before the Giants traded Jeremy Shockey to the New Orleans Saints they discussed trading him to the Miami Dolphins for defensive end Jason Taylor. According to a source familiar with the discussions, the Giants and Dolphins discussed a Shockey-for-Taylor swap within the last week, but "the talks never got very far," a source said. Taylor, of course, ended up getting shipped to the Washington Redskins instead for a second-round pick in 2009 and a sixth-round pick in 2010.
Jeremy Shockey and Plaxico Burress both made power plays at last month's minicamp. And both players have been asked to pay for their actions. Shockey and Burress were fined by the Giants -- different amounts and for different stated reasons -- according to someone who has seen the paperwork. The person requested anonymity because both the Giants and the NFLPA have not discussed the matter publicly. The person said Shockey was fined $25,000 for "conduct detrimental to the team."
Antonio Pierce was on SIRIUS NFL Radio today with Pat Kirwin and Tim Ryan and spoke about the Shockey trade. He seems pretty bummed. "Here's a guy, spent six years here [and] did everything. I mean, he was a Pro Bowler. His numbers speak for themselves. He even helped us this year. Everyone wants to put the blame on him or pick on him a little bit saying we were better without him. That's not the case. We were 9-5 with Shockey. Shockey wasn't happy. Obviously, the Giants, the front office people upstairs weren't happy. You wish he could still be a New York Giant but that's not what either one of the parties wanted. He wanted to get away. The Giants finally dealt him."

Last season the Giants offense finished in the top five in the two rushing categories that really matter: rushing yards and yards per carry. 4.6 yards per carry put them tied for third in the league, and 2,148 total rushing yards ranked them fourth. Rankings like that usually indicate that a team had one dominant running back with a good complimentary back (Vikings), or two good backs splitting carries (Jaguars). The Giants fell into neither category last year, starting three different backs (Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, and Reuben Droughns), all totaling more than 75 carries, 250 yards and three touchdowns each.

July 21 There is no word on whether Jeremy Shockey will be with the Giants when opening kickoff rolls around on Sept. 4. Giants GM Jerry Reese believes that after a somewhat rocky offseason, the Giants will be a happy and determined group in time for their opener on Sept. 4. But will that group include the unhappy Jeremy Shockey? That apparently remains to be seen, even as the start of training camp looms in just three days. Reese would not say if he expects his enigmatic tight end to report to camp at the University at Albany with the rest of his teammates on Thursday morning. And he appeared to leave open the possibility that Shockey won't be part of the Giants at all.

Bill Parcells traded Jason Taylor, the NFL defensive player of the year in 2006, to the Redskins Sunday night, taking advantage of Washington losing starting end Phillip Daniels to a season-ending knee injury in its first training camp practice Sunday morning. Parcells got his price from a desperate team: a second-round pick in 2009 and sixth-round pick in 2010. Redskins owner Daniel Snyder picks up the two years remaining on Taylor's contract: $8 million this year and $8.5 million next year. Taylor's first game for the Redskins will be against the Super Bowl champion Giants in the Sept. 4 opener at Giants Stadium.

July 20 Never before have the Giants arrived on the campus of the University at Albany as Super Bowl champions, and they've been heading upstate for training camp since 1996. As the start of a new preseason arrives, what, pray tell, can the Giants do for an encore? "Let's get better," Eli Manning said.

There are numerous obstacles for the Giants on the road to Super Bowl XLIII in Tampa. Don't forget they failed to make the playoffs in the seasons following their three previous Super Bowl appearances. Here are the top 10 challengers to a Super Bowl repeat: 1. Cowboys 2. Patriots 3. Jaguars 4. Chargers 5. Colts 6. Steelers 7. Eagles 8. Browns 9. Packers 10. Saints
If you pay attention to the jibber-jabber, the Giants will be lucky to make the playoffs. In fact, when the Giants were discussed at all during the offseason, it was to write off their upset over the Patriots as a fluke and dismiss them for 2008. A few folks were nice enough to "rank" them sixth or so among 32 teams in May and another had them 10th. ESPN's "official" televised preview dismissed them as the third-best team in the NFC East behind Dallas and Philadelphia. That's enough incentive in itself for the Giants.

So where do they start their 2008 season? Not even as favorites to win their division. They won rings, but there was no offseason ceremony during which the Giants were presented with the respect of the league. What more do the Giants need to do? Well, winning it all again would be a good start. And that's apparently fine with the team that can't seem to shake its underdog status.
They've already heard predictions that they won't even win their division this season, and they've seen the power rankings that have them somewhere below the upper echelon of the league. "I'm not surprised," said running back Brandon Jacobs. "But if we haven't shut up a lot of doubters yet, we can still shut them up next year."
Plaxico Burress: "I want to win another just as bad. When you get one, you want to do it again. That's what we play for, and when you put that ring on, it's a daily reminder of all the hard work you put in to get to that point. I think we're going to be better than we were last year, and I expect us to win it again."

The Star-Ledger's NY Giants preview by Mike Garafolo
WHAT'S DIFFERENT? - WHAT'S THE SAME? - NEW NAMES - FAMILIAR FACES.

Shockey's a good teammate? - from Steve Serby's Q and A with Michael Strahan.
"He's a great teammate. There's not a guy in that locker room who would say, "I don't like Jeremy Shockey. He's a jerk." If you want to learn how to work hard, if you want to learn how to be intense, if you want to learn to believe that you're the best and work for it, if you want to learn how to always require and demand the best out of yourself, you watch Jeremy Shockey."
Are the Cowboys the Team to Beat? "No, the Giants are The Team to Beat. If you're the champ, how can you not be the one to beat?"

Tom Coughlin, like most coaches, is reluctant to admit that anyone has a starting job secured as camp opens. Of course, he'd have trouble finding believers if he suggested someone other than Eli Manning will play quarterback or Antonio Pierce will line up at middle linebacker. And the offensive line - David Diehl, Rich Seubert, Shaun O'Hara, Chris Snee and Kareem McKenzie - returns intact with no one in apparent danger of losing his job. Although the team enters camp with a deep cast of wide receivers, Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer are expected to be the starting tandem for the fourth consecutive season. But Coughlin said everyone must prove himself every time the team takes the practice field.

NFL News
After two ear-scratching seasons of listening to Bryant Gumbel as the voice on the league's eponymous network, the ill-fated experiment is mercifully over. And with the recent announcement that Bob Papa has been hired to replace Gumbel in the booth, pairing with Cris Collinsworth for the series of Thursday night games, we can only cheer about how the NFL got this one exactly right.
Bob Papa said the NFL Network job would not interfere with his Giants schedule, although he will have to scramble back from Texas the night of Dec. 20 for a 1 o'clock game at Giants Stadium Dec. 21. "All you have to do is spend five minutes with the guy to understand he's all in for the game of football and the National Football League," Cris Collinsworth said. "He studies it. He lives it. He breathes it."

July 18 Breakdown of PSL fees for new Giants stadium    PSL ZONES Chart / Diagram
A breakdown of the seating locations for the new stadium, the corresponding seats in the current Giants stadium, the new PSL fee and price per ticket in 2010.  Mara Tisch Letter   Pricing plan available Monday.

* Coaches Club, (110-112), $20,000, $700.
* Field 1, (130-132), $20,000, $160.
* Field 2, (107-109, 113-115, 127-129, 133-135), $10,000, $140.
* Field 3, (101-105, 137-140, 117-125), $5,000, $120.
* Mezzanine Club A, (209-213, 229-233), $12,500, $500.
* Mezzanine Club B, (206-208, 214-216, 226-228, 234-236), $7,500, $400.
* Mezzanine, (201-205, 237-240, 217-225), $4,000, $120.
* Loge, (first four rows of 306-316, 326-336), $5,000, $105.
* Terrace 1, (306-316, 326-336), $1,000, $95.
* Terrace 2, (301-305, 337-340, 317-325), $1,000, $85.

Since the day the Giants announced that they would be selling personal seat licenses for their new stadium, John Mara has received plenty of complaints from Giants fans. Some of the letters were blunt, telling him his late father would never have allowed this to happen. Said Mara: "We're going to try to work very hard to make sure that we find a solution for everybody and that we keep everybody in the building that wants to stay in the building."
Mara said the team did a lot of research before setting all the prices. He asks that the ticket holders be patient. The Giants will be sending the information brochures out in groups of 5,000 over the course of the next seven months. No seat allocations will be made until everyone his responded with their requests. Mara said people will be asked for four choices. The seat allocations will be based on the season-ticket holder's current location in Giants Stadium, how long the person has been a season-ticket holder and their preference in the new place. The luxury suites remain separate from the PSL process. They're running from $250,000 to $1 million-plus.
Those who choose not to pay will forfeit their tickets - and the rights will go to the next in line on the 130,000-person waiting list. Fans who occupy 26,179 seats - all located in the upper bowl - will have to shell out $1,000 a seat. PSL prices for seats in the lower bowl and mezzanine will span in price between $10,000 and $4,000. Fewer than 5,000 club and field level seats will have a PSL price of $20,000. Season-ticket holders have their best shot at getting their preferred seats based on locations approximately close to the one located at the current Giants Stadium,

Dave Kmetz of West Harrison was told that the six seats he has shared with friends, seats for which he has paid since 1961, when the Giants played at the old Yankee Stadium, seats currently behind the Giants bench on the lower level, were going to now be called "Coach's Club" seats. They will come with many amenities. They will also come with a price of $700 per seat per game, 10 games in all, including preseason. And, oh yeah, a $20,000 PSL per ticket for the right to buy them. Kmetz, 64, was aghast. "Are you serious?" he said. There is no way he can afford that. He will likely downgrade his tickets to the upper deck, where for a $1,000 PSL he can buy tickets for $95 or $85 a game for the 2010 season.
Realizing that current longtime season ticket holders who are sitting in some of the best seats cannot afford the top PSL prices, Mara said the team is offering 10 PSL plans, ranging from the top fee of $20,000 to a low of $1,000. One-third of the 78,448 seats covered under the PSL plan will have $1,000 licenses. All of those seats will be in the upper bowl of the new stadium, which is being built adjacent to the current Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands sports complex. Other licenses will cost $4,000; $5,000; $7,500; $10,000; $12,000; or $20,000, depending on location.
The top Giants PSL price in the new Meadowlands facility --$20,000 per seat -- is for 4,162 seats in the lower level, closest to the 50-yard line. About 15,000 Giants fans will have to pay at least a $10,000 PSL fee. The 9,000 premium "club" seats, which will have access to plush lounges, will sell for $400 to $700 per game. PSLs for those seats start at $7,500. As for ticket prices, most upper-deck tickets will cost $85 and $95. On one side of the field, 2,113 seats -- which will have access to an exclusive lounge behind the Giants' bench and other perks -- come with a $700-per-game ticket price. Similar seats directly across the field, but without such perks, will sell for $160.

There isn't much doubt as to who the Giants' two starting wide receivers will be on Thursday night September 4th against the Washington Redskins. Assuming Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer are both healthy and available, they will be lining up wide with the starting unit. Who the first two guys off the bench will be in three and four receiver packages remains a very open question.

July 17 The New York Giants took home the Vince Lombardi trophy for winning the Super Bowl and they can add some ESPYs to their trophy case as well. At the 16th annual celebration of the year's best sports stories, the Giants won in three categories: Best Game, Best Upset and Best Play. The latter came for David Tyree's acrobatic catch of an Eli Manning pass that kept the game-winning drive alive in the Super Bowl. The ESPYs, which were hosted by Justin Timberlake at Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, will be televised on Sunday at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN.

All but one of the Giants' eight 2007 draft picks became significant contributors during the team's stunning Super Bowl run. Training camp will be a vital proving ground for those players to show that they are ready to play at their playoff level for an entire season.

NFL.com interview with Giants center Shaun O'Hara.

NFC East News
Cowboys - There will be ample distractions at training camp, but the Cowboys will need to stay focused if they hope to meet expectations.
Eagles - They need for some of their players to take another step forward as they enter training camp.
Redskins - New coach Jim Zorn has plenty to decipher at training camp as he figures out what his rookie class is capable of this season.

July 16 Wide receiver Mario Manningham, the Giants' third-round draft pick, signed a four-year contract yesterday. He's the fifth pick the team has signed and will join his teammates when they report to training camp in Albany a week from tomorrow. "The wide receiver position for a rookie is probably one of the most difficult to learn, so we all felt it was important for him not to miss training camp," Don Yee, Manningham's agent, told the Associated Press.

July 15 Ahmad Bradshaw is out of jail, but his punishment might not be over. Bradshaw, the Giants' 22-year-old running back, was released from the Southwest Virginia Regional Jail on Sunday after serving nearly all of a 30-day sentence for an undisclosed probation violation. However, the NFL is still investigating whether the violation was also a breach of the league's personal conduct policy. If it was, Bradshaw could be fined or even suspended for the start of the 2008 season. The Giants organization could be punished as well.
Back in 2006, Bradshaw, while at Marshall University, was convicted of petty larceny for stealing a video game from another student and received two years probation. That caused his draft status to plummet, and the Giants took a chance on him in the seventh round. He rushed for 190 yards and averaged 8.3 yards per carry during the regular season and then led the Giants in the postseason with 163 rushing yards, including a team-high 45 yards in the 17-14 upset victory over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

Since becoming the Giants starting quarterback in 2004, Eli Manning hasn't missed a game. He has started 57 consecutive games, and the team hopes that will continue for as long as Eli plays. In fact, the Giants hope they never actually find out whether or not they chose the right backup quarterback in training camp. Anthony Wright, David Carr and Andre Woodson will battle for two roster spots in training camp. Woodson, drafted in the 6th round out of Kentucky, is considered a developmental quarterback that will likely slide into that third quarterback slot Jared Lorenzen held the second half of last season. NFL franchises normally prefer to have one of their backups be a veteran, and the other a young player they can groom. It's doubtful the Giants would put an unproven 6th round pick in a spot where he would have to lead the franchise if Eli Manning goes down with an injury.

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