Big Blue View
The New York Giants didn’t give themselves much time to bask in the afterglow of a successful preseason opener.
There was some time for reflection when Giants’ head coach Brian Daboll spoke to the media on Sunday, and he had plenty to say about his team’s performance. But the NFL’s schedule is relentless, and by Sunday it was already time to turn the page to the looming joint practices — and preseason game — against the New York Jets.
The biggest news to come out of Coach Daboll’s press conference was the injury to second year cornerback Dru Phillips.
“Dru wasn’t able to go,” Daboll said when asked why veteran Nic Jones was inserted at slot corner with the starters. He did reassure reporters that Phillips isn’t seriously injured. “No, he just couldn’t finish,” he said. He then added, “Falls in line with all the other injured guys right now.” That, of course, references Andrew Thomas, Cam Skattebo, and Jalin Hyatt, each of whom is dealing working back from an injury.
None are believed to be long-term injuries and the team has (so far) indicated that they’ll all be healthy in time for the season.
As for Thomas in particular, Daboll said that the star left tackle is still day-to-day. “We’ll keep on improving him,” Daboll said. “When he can do more, he’ll do more. And when it is [that he can be activated from the PUP], that’s when it’ll be.”
The Giants almost completely revamped their quarterback room this past offseason, bringing in Russell Wilson, Jameis Winston, and Jaxson Dart to join Tommy DeVito. It would have been completely understandable if the Giants were a bit shaky throwing the ball in what was the first live action in this offense for three of the four quarterbacks.
Instead, all of the Giants’ quarterbacks were crisp, efficient, and effective in the pocket.
“That starts with the offensive line giving them good protection,” Daboll said. “But all four of them did a nice job in the pocket, kept their eyes downfield, and made plays when they could make them. Had that one [negated interception] where they were called for defensive off-sides, we threw it to the post safety there. Then Jameis came back, kinda reloaded, and then drove down and hit it. Russell [Wilson] was efficient, Tommy [DeVito] was good, efficient, made good decisions. I thought all four of them, albeit it was a preseason game where you’re not seeing many things, did their jobs and did it at a fairly high level.”
Daboll was also — predictably — pleased with how the rookie Dart played as well. Dart showed some good toughness with his willingness to take hits for his team. Nobody is complaining about the hit he took after throwing a touchdown to Lil’Jordan Humphrey, however it’s been suggested that the hit he took running with the ball was unnecessary.
“I thought it was a good play,” Daboll said when asked about it. “It was...
