Hot potato on first day of Giants camp
Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell observes practice during Day Two of the NFL team's three day minicamp held at the team's training facility named the Timex Performance Center. (June 16, 2010) Credit: James A. Escher
ALBANY - If anyone had any doubt that Perry Fewell would bring energy and enthusiasm to the Giants' defense, all they needed to do was watch Sha'reff Rashad and Mathias Kiwanuka tip the ball back and forth to each other with the rest of the unit surrounding them and cheering them on.
Yes, those were the New York Giants, the Big Blue, many of them multimillionaires . . . playing a game of hot potato.
That definitely was not a drill left over from Bill Sheridan's playbook.
Rashad ultimately won the contest, which began at position level, with the winners from each position advancing to the final round. It looked (and sounded) more like an 8-year-old's birthday party than an NFL training camp. All that was missing was the piñata.
But it certainly embodied the new spirit on defense. That included Fewell's constant shouting on the field, push-ups by players who made mistakes (Terrell Thomas dropped for 10 quick ones after dropping an interception), and even the new coordinator getting facedown for a few push-ups at one point.
But hot potato? On an NFL field? Had Tom Coughlin even been a part of a team that played that game?
"Well," he said with an approving smile, "I had a Little League team once . . . "
Boss is back
One of the players coming off surgery who showed hardly any setback was Kevin Boss. The tight end had his ankle cleaned up in the spring but ran in the conditioning test in the morning and participated in the workout in the afternoon.
"He's a little behind because of the conditioning he missed when he was rehabbing, but they've done a great job with him and he wants to do everything," tight ends coach Michael Pope said. "That's good."
Giant steps
All 76 players who took the conditioning test passed it. The only ones to skip it were Kenny Phillips and Kevin Boothe (both on PUP) and Ahmad Bradshaw (ankle, feet) and Keith Bulluck (knee). The latter two participated in the practice . . . RB Gartrell Johnson seemed to struggle more than anyone in completing the conditioning test. Coughlin said it "looked like rigor mortis had set in" when he was running his sprints across the field . . . The Giants are wearing new T-shirts this camp with a slogan that says: "Talent Wins 9 Games, Discipline Wins 11 Games, Leadership = World Champions."
