Practice Report: Tempers flare, catches shine, and cramps attack three

We had some tempers flare, some cramps come out, and some amazing catches at today’s practice as the Giants were in full pads and made up for lost time from yesterday’s rain-shortened workout.

First, the guys who were not working: Besides the four guys on PUP (Canty, Nicks, Beckum, Sintim), Michael Boley (hamstring), Jake Muasau (hamstring) and James Brewer (back) were also sidelined. During practice three players left with dehydration issues: Matt McCants, Jayron Hosley and Chris Horton.

I’ve already blogged about the officials who were at practice. And I broke down Domenik Hixon’s play to end practice. But there was plenty more going on. Ohm Youngmisuk and I even nearly got in on the action as Brandon Collins caught a pass on the sideline and came rumbling into the media box toward us. I stood my ground. I’m not saying what Ohm did.

Since the team was in full pads, we’ll jump right to the first series of 11-on-11 plays. Here are some highlights: Ahmad Bradshaw opened it up with a run … Martellus Bennet made a nice catch between defenders Jacquian Williams and Antrel Rolle just a few hours after Williams was touting his new size and ability to cover receivers … DJ Ware took the next handoff and perhaps out of frustration for the missed coverage Williams bent Bear Pascoe over backwards on a blitz. Williams also spoke about being more physical. He showed it there … Manning hit Ramses Barden on a flea flicker with Antrel Rolle in coverage … David Carr hit Andre Brown … Carr threw a checkdown in the middle to Da’Rel Scott that was incomplete and behind the receiver … Mark Herzlich nearly had an interception but had to settle for a PD while dropping into coverage to break up a pass from Carr to Rueben Randle … Dante Hughes, who is a strong candidate for the nickel job should Thomas be unavailable, made a nice play breaking up a pass from Carr to Julian Talley … David Wilson took a handoff to the right but the big hit on the play was between fullback Joe Martinek and safety Chris Horton … Hughes looked good holding the edge on an outside run to the left by Wilson … On one of the craziest plays of camp so far, Adewele Ojomo beat Joel Reinders to apply pressure to Ryan Perrilloux for a would-be sack. Perrilloux still managed to get the ball off for a deep pass down the left sideline. Tight end Larry Donnell made the catch, but Hughes was in coverage and managed to rip it out of Donnell’s hands and hold onto it for what I called an interception. We’ll have to check the film to see if he was inbounds when he had control … Markus Kuhn applied the defensive pressure on the next play, but Perrilloux’s deep pass for DePalma was incomplete. Brandon Bing and Jojo Nicolas had the deep coverage … Craig Marshall beat Reinders, who seemed to have a tough day, and Perrilloux hit David Douglas with Greg Jones in coverage.

Here are some highlights from the second series of 11-on-11 snaps: Jones was there to make a stop on a Bradshaw run to the left … DJ Ware caught a screen pass, but the noteworthy thing about this play was that Antrel Rolle was the nickel covering Victor Cruz in the slot. The three receivers, by the way, were Hixon and Jernigan on the outside and Cruz inside (just for a glimpse of the depth chart) … Justin Tuck was in place to stop a toss to Bradshaw for a loss … Hosley was covering Collins in the slot as the nickel and made an interception on a pass from Carr … Carr threw a little screen to Da’Rel Scott, who likely has heard enough about David Wilson’s amazing speed and put on the afterburners to sprint down the field … Wilson dropped a pass from Perrilloux on a play where Herzlich might have had a sack … On a seemingly harmless run by Wilson, Brandon Bing and Brandon Collins got in some extra shoving. Collins’ helmet popped off. Boys will be boys … Perrilloux had no where to go with a screen pass and wound up throwing the ball away into the legs of Greg Jones.

The next thing the team did was kickoff return drills. The three players returning kicks were, in order, Wilson, Jernigan and Randle.

Then Tynes lined up for field goals. He kicked a PAT and was good from 29, 32, 38 and 42 yards. He missed wide right from 46.

Next up was 7-on-7s: Justin Tryon had a nice PD from behind against Barden, who had been having success in this camp using his body to ward off defenders but not this time … Carr and Barden could not connect on a deep pass down the left sideline with Michael Coe covering … Bruce Johnson was up next in deep coverage, going with Randle down the same left sideline. Randle went up for the ball and caught it and Johnson grabbed onto the ball too. It looked like Randle came away with the reception by the end … Scott tried to make a one-handed catch on a short pass from Carr but couldn’t … Dante Hughes and Jones were there to make the stop on a short pass to Wilson from Perrilloux … David Douglas, who received unsolicited praise from Coughlin yesterday, made a beautiful catch laying out to dive for a deep pass down the right sideline from Perrilloux and pulling it in with one hand. Janzen Jackson was in coverage and appeared to tip the ball, which makes the catch all the more remarkable.

Some highlights from the third series of 11-on-11 snaps: Osi Umenyiora beat Kevin Boothe with an inside move to pressure Manning, but the QB was able to get the ball off to Jernigan in a 4WR look … Jones, who was very active today and seems to be enjoying that move to the outside, made a hit on Bradshaw on a running play … Chase Blackburn was a half step away from covering Victor Cruz on a pass from Manning … Manning lofted a high rainbow screen pass over a blitzing Tyler Sash to Bradshaw … Bear Pascoe caught a pass over the middle but Antrel Rolle was there in coverage and would have broken it up or at least hit Pascoe really hard if he wanted to … Kenny Phillips and Justin Tryon were covering Barden and broke up a pass to him from Manning … Andre Brown took a handoff left after which Collins and Michael Coe shared some words and did a little grabbing to enjoy the fabric on each others’ jersey … Hosley was shaken up and carted off on a pass from Carr to DePalma. We later learned it was a calf cramp … Carr hit DePalma deep on a flea flicker that fooled Jones and left DePalma wide open … Marvin Austin flashed with a rush from the outside against Brandon Mosley, but Carr hit Collins on the pass … Spencer Paysing would have had a sack as Perrilloux hit Talley … Will Hill came up and had Wilson in his sights for what would have been a big hit in a game on a short screen to the right … Martinek ran through a hole and Kuhn reached out and was able to grab a piece of his jersey.

Then came the two-minute drill, which we detailed here. On the final play, a run by Bradshaw, Mathias Kiwanuka and Martellus Bennett gave a few extra shoves and then had to be separated. Perhaps there is some leftover hostility from their last meeting in a Giants-Cowboys game. Or maybe it was just really hot, getting late in practice, and they’d had enough.

Bands!!!