New Giants OL Andrews criticizes Eagles
Shawn Andrews says the Eagles let him go earlier this year without giving him a chance to prove he was healthy. Credit: AP, 2009
Before Shawn Andrews took his first steps on the field Monday with his new team, he took a few shots at his old one.
Andrews had his first practice with the Giants, getting a couple of reps per drill with the second-unit offensive line at left guard. He made it clear that the Eagles cut him in March without having him undergo tests to see if his twice-surgically repaired back could hold up.
"I was out in Clover City, Calif., rehabbing, and I guess they got tired of me and let me go," Andrews said. "I had surgery in December and Dr. [Robert] Watkins told me it was going to be a six-month, or maybe more, rehab process. I just started doing therapy after a little setback in the middle of February . . . I didn't really have a chance to get into the therapy and see."
Andrews missed all of 2009 and played two games in 2008 after three straight Pro Bowl selections at right guard. The Giants signed him Friday morning after he worked out in Albany. They moved him to the left side because of the uncertainty about guard Rich Seubert's broken left hand. Chris Snee is entrenched at right guard.
Tom Coughlin said Andrews will practice at left guard and left tackle, although Monday his limited work was at guard.
"The coaches have been working with him since Friday. He's starting to be spoon-fed the offense, which is foreign to him," Coughlin said. "He's been working at it, so hopefully it will come quickly."
Perhaps not quickly enough for Andrews to play Saturday against the Ravens in Baltimore, but ideally it will be quick enough so he can push Seubert, who hasn't played a preseason game this year.
"Dave [Diehl] at tackle, me at guard - that's my plan," Seubert said. "I miss being out there with those guys playing. It's not fun to see the game from the sidelines."
Andrews never wanted that, either, and is still miffed by the leaks out of the Eagles' camp the past two seasons that his heart was not always in the game. He battled depression during the 2008 training camp before his back surgeries.
"I don't want to go through [surgery and depression] again. I'm here for a reason. I'm a competitor," he said. "The fact that people are telling me that I don't want to play football anymore, that I don't have a love for the game, that speaks for itself.
"I had a back injury, I had depression. Those are things from the past. Everybody has trials in life, and all the people that point fingers, they have something going on as well. I pray for them. That's what I do."
