WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — On Monday, New York Giants coach John Harbaugh said this second week in West Virginia was “the big week of camp.” After going through four grueling padded practices in five days, does Harbaugh think the Giants got out of the week what he hoped they would?
“I do,” Harbaugh told Big Blue View. “One more day. I want to finish strong. I told the guys at the beginning of the week that you’re going to look back after Saturday’s practice and you’re going to see how far you’ve come, how much better you are, how much different you are as a team.
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“I’m hopeful that they’ll feel that way after tomorrow’s practice. I think they will.”
The Giants will practice from 10 a.m. ET to 12:30 p.m., then will depart West Virginia to return to East Rutherford, N.J. The team will have Sunday off, but will return to practice at Quest Diagnostics Training Center on Monday.
Winners
Abdul Carter — The second-year edge defender is going to be a problem if he continues to play like he did on Friday, and like he has throughout most of camp. Carter had a sack and a pressure early in practice against Andrew Thomas. He also helped blow up a run play for a loss of yardage while working against right tackle Jermaine Eluemunor.
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The run defense — This is a Harbaugh team. The Giants tried, and tried, and tried some more to run the ball on Friday. The defense — first, second, and third units — was having none of that. The offense has had difficulty finding running lanes throughout training camp, a good sign for a defense that has been a sieve against the run in recent seasons.
Why is the defense defending the run so well?
“I think it’s just because we want to,” said rookie linebacker Arvell Reese. “We’ve all got the ability to do it, it’s just a want to do it. Getting downhill, you’ve got to want to do that.”
The passing offense — For as much trouble as the offense had running the ball, the passing attack was humming. I do not chart quarterback stats, and did miss a handful of Jameis Winston reps. The passing attack, though, was in good rhythm all afternoon.
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Jaxson Dart had two incompletions in his first three throws. After that, I can find only one incompletion by Dart and one by Jameis Winston in my play-by-play chart.
Harbaugh was pleased with the poise Dart showed against a defense that brought heavy pressure with a lot of exotic blitzes.
“I would say so. He did. I mean, and he made some good throws. He got us in some good plays,” Harbaugh said. “All three quarterbacks got to some plays versus pressure, which was, that’s great. It’s good to see.”
Isaiah Likely, Dalen Cambre, Darnell Mooney, and Calvin Austin all had busy days.
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Cambre had a highlight catch when he caught a hitch route and spun away from cornerback Colton Hood.
Austin put his quickness on display during 1-on-1 drills. These favor the receiver, but Austin easily got open against both Hood and Paulson Adebo. Unfortunately, he dropped a short in-cut after beating Adebo.
Odell Beckham Jr. — Even when he has a quiet day, he still gets love from the fans.
Both placekickers — If memory serves correctly, Friday was the first time Ben Sauls and Dominic Zvada kicked on the same day. Sauls went 6 of 7 with makes of 50, 51 and 55 yards. His only miss came from 45 yards after a high snap from long-snapper Ben Mann. Zvada went 6 of 7 with makes from 48 and 51 yards, but a miss wide right from 55 yards.
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Losers
Brandon Allen — The third-string quarterback had six incompletions, by my count, and got intercepted by linebacker Zaire Barnes.
Ryan Schernecke — The undrafted free agent right tackle committed one of the offense’s two false starts on the day, and got yanked from the lineup for doing so.
‘Let us finish, coach’
The Giants did an interesting full-field drill starting at the offense’s 1-yard line to end the practice. This was a long session that ended up lasting 14 plays, interrupted by a water break. That is the longest stretch the first units have been on the field in camp, and the only time in two weeks I have seen action interrupted for a water break. There was, of course, some rotation of players during the session.
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The most interesting part came when the offense reached the defense’s 3-yard line on its 13th play, which by the script was supposed to be the final one.
The offense, though, wasn’t having it. They insisted on finishing the drive.
“We wanted it. We wanted it, because Harbs was trying to save us,” said rookie guard Sisi Mauigoa. “He didn’t want goal-line stuff, but we wanted it. That shows you how tough and what the mentality of the team is.
“We were right there by the goal line. We want to finish. Coach [was] calling the twos in. We’re like, ‘What the hell’?”
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Harbaugh relented.
“They lobbied. I wanted it to be done,” Harbaugh said. “That was supposed to be the last play before that, and they wanted the last play, so I cracked and gave them that last play.”
The offense took advantage, with Dart finding Darius Slayton for a touchdown on a rub route.
“I wasn’t going to do it,” Harbaugh said. “I was going to stand firm because we’re doing some goal line tomorrow and then I did kind of think, wow, they want to do it. Let’s do it.”
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