Practice report: Pugh returns, Damonster is mashed, Barden needs just one hand

Well, the big news of the day was Antrel Rolle going down with an ankle injury, the severity of which has yet to be determined. But practice went on without him once he was carted off and the flow of injured players returning to the field and those leaving it continued.

Let’s start with the ones who returned to action. Chris Snee (hip) was taking pretty much all of the first-team reps at right guard after easing back into things last week. And Terrell Thomas (knee/hamstring) took a good deal of team reps as the starting nickel. Coughlin said Thomas had been cleared to increase his snap count.

Also returning were Justin Tuck from a back injury (although he was limited) and Justin Pugh and Ryan Torain (concussions). Pugh was playing left tackle with the second unit after spending most of the early parts of camp competing at right tackle. In fact, he’d progressed to the point where he was taking some first-team snaps on the right side the day he suffered his concussion.

So who wasn’t practicing? Corey Webster sat out with what Coughlin called “soreness,” although it was unclear if it was soreness in the groin that was bugging him last week or overall general soreness from playing in a preseason game. With Webster on the sideline, Aaron Ross moved from the nickel to the outside, which opened the spot for Thomas to play in the slot (in case you were wondering).

And after an impressive debut in his first preseason game, DE Damontre Moore sat out practice due to a shoulder contusion. Coughlin said he is day-to-day. Matt Broha moved up to second-team defensive end in Moore’s place.

Also missing practice were Brandon Collins (hamstring), Jerrel Jernigan (soreness), Chris DeGeare (knee) and Cooper Taylor (hamstring). James Brewer (concussion) has yet to be cleared but Coughlin seemed to indicate that he’s close.

As a PUP update, we say Jason Pierre-Paul doing a little more running. Each day he seems to be progressing. Today he was doing resistance running in which a trainer holds an elastic band that is wrapped around JPP’s waste and takes him for a walk on the leash.

There was a good deal of practice that I missed as I reported the Rolle injury on Twitter and on Newsday.com, but I was able to scribble down a few notes on plays that stood out.

The first few came in 7-on-7s, which was when Ryan Mundy stepped in for Rolle. The first play there was actually some confusion at safety between Stevie Brown and Mundy, but they were able to get set before the snap. Prince Amukamara did a nice job batting down a pass intended for Cruz from Manning on that first play. Some other 7-on-7 snaps of note: Ramses Barden made a nice one-handed grab on a pass going across the field … David Wilson caught a pass down the right sideline with Dan Connor in coverage … Junior Mertile knocked down a pass intended for Keith Carlos.

In 11-on-11s, Manning threw his first two passes to running backs with Wilson and Andre Brown each making a catch … Brown took a handoff on the right side through a very big hole that seemed to indicate a missed lane assignment by the defense … Shaun Rogers injured his right hand or wrist on a running play up the middle and came to the sideline holding it, but he returned to the field by the end of practice … Manning fired a bullet to Rueben Randle with Ross in coverage … David Carr placed a ball perfectly over the arms of linebacker Mark Herzlich and into the hands of Adrien Robinson on the left sideline … Randle made another nice catch despite being buzzed by Tyler Sash as the two crossed paths (no hitting your own receiver!) … Trumaine McBride defended a pass from Curtis Painter that was intended for Barden and the WR seemed frustrated and gave McBride a little shove afterwards … The third-string offense tried to get to the line for a hurry-up snap, but Ryan Nassib fumbled the snap on an exchange with Matt McCants who is still learning the center position (it was McCants who fired the snap over Nassib’s head in Pittsburgh) … Nassib threw a nice deep pass down the middle for Carlos, who had a step on both Charles James and Alonzo Tweedy, but Carlos dropped the ball in the end zone on what would have been an over-the-shoulder grab.

The 11-on-11 drills moved to the goal line where the offense tried to score from the 6 yard line. Manning threw a fade to Hakeem Nicks on the left side with Amukamara in coverage, but Nicks caught the ball a stride and a half out of bounds through the back of the end zone. There may have been some confusion on the play since the Giants move the goal line up for these drills and the front of the end zone is actually the back and the 10-yard line becomes the goal line. The defenders were quick to note that Nicks was out of bounds, particularly Stevie Brown … Manning’s next two passes were incomplete on overthrown fades, the first to Nicks again, this time on the right side, with Ross covering and the second for Randle on the right side with Ross there again … With the second team, Broha made a stop on a run by Da’rel Scott and then Adrien Robinson dropped a pass from David Carr with David Caldwell covering him (Adrian Tracy would have had a clean sack of Carr anyway) … The only completion in the drill was from Curtis Painter to Julian Talley … With Nassib at quarterback, Tweedy came up and made a hit on Michael Cox on a run and Laron Scott did a nice job covering a fade route on the left side for Carlos.

Practice ended with a four-minute drill. Adrian Robinson caught a nice pass from Manning for a first down … Dan Connor made a stop on a run by Da’rel Scott … David Carr had to throw a pass away due to coverage … and Jacquian Williams was in place to stop a run by Scott.

Bands!