Here's a stretch: Giants' health solid in Week 5
Giants linebacker Jon Beason looks on during practice at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center in East Rutherford, N.J. on July 24, 2014. Credit: Newsday / J. Conrad Williams, Jr.
Tom Coughlin was not happy when he had to halt his training camp practices, bring his team into the field house, and watch them stretch for 20-30 minutes when the could have been on the field working.
"I'm doing the best I can about it," he groused in July when the "recovery stretches" first became a part of the team's schedule.
Now that it's Week 5 of the regular season, though, Coughlin is starting to see the benefits.
At a time when most teams are starting to wear down with soft tissue injuries, the Giants are a remarkably healthy squad. Every one of their active players was able to participate in practice on Wednesday, the first time that's happened since the start of camp on July 22. Only four players -- Odell Beckham Jr., Jon Beason, Devon Kennard and Steve Weatherford -- even appear on the injury report this week.
"We're getting these people on the field and getting started integrating them back into the system," Coughlin said.
The Giants have continued with the intense stretching program during the regular season, usually on Mondays after games. Has that contributed to the Giants' relative lack of injuries this season?
"I'm sure it has," said Coughlin, who couldn't quite distance himself from his old-school philosophies in the face of new-age ideas. "Other than rubbing a little dirt on it."
