The Day at Camp:
New to this year’s camp schedule: telephone tag.

Head coach Tom Coughlin suddenly finds himself in a strategic version of the game with holdout defensive end Michael Strahan. Strahan tried to reach the coach last night ten minutes after the annual team orientation meeting began, and Coughlin of course has been trying to get in touch with the defensive end to find out what is going on thus far with no success.

Strahan’s absence does not necessarily mean the end of the Matthias Kiwanuka move to linebacker. William Joseph filled in for Strahan in the morning practice and Justin Tuck, who is limited to one practice per day, took the position in the afternoon. The third man in the rotation appears to be Adrian Awasom, who is looking to stick with the roster this year.

The Giants made a switch at safety. James Butler has moved into the first team; however, Butler is playing strong safety while last year’s starting strong safety, Gibril Wilson, has moved over to free safety, which pushes Will Demps back to the second team. It could be just an experiment at this point, and Coach Coughlin has often advised reporters to not read much into the depth charts, but certainly the switch of Wilson from strong to free bears watching.

One of the weirdest plays of the day was one we’ll refer to as the hot potato. RB Brandon Jacobs took a handoff from QB Eli Manning and was hit by a defender who jarred the ball loose. Lineman Chris Snee tried to scoop it up, but it slipped out of his hands and into the air where it was cleanly fielded by center Shaun O’Hara, who perhaps seeking a little training camp glory, took off for the end zone only to be stopped short of his quest when the whistle blew.

Who’s Hot
Jared Lorenzen. The backup quarterback showed he’s not quite ready to yield his understudy role to veteran Anthony Wright. Of all the quarterbacks, we thought Lorenzen threw the best in terms of mixing up the deep ball with finesse passing.

Who's Not
Eli Manning. The starting quarterback had a shaky opening outing ion both practices, often times throwing into traffic or overthrowing balls on the shorter routes. The good news is we thought his mechanics looked a little less jerky today than what we recall from the spring.

Quote-worthy
“Talk is Cheap, Play the Game.” – The Giants’ team T-shirt slogan

Medical Watch
Amani Toomer, Osi Umentiora and Plaxico Burress worked in the morning practice; Toomer also did a little work in the afternoon session. Justin Tuck and Corey Webster were also limited to one practice today, both working in the afternoon. Cornerback Kevin Dockery missed the afternoon practice thanks to a collision in the morning session in which his helmet flew off his head as he hit the ground.

Up Next
The Giants will duplicate their Saturday schedule with two practices, 8:40 a.m. and
3:20. Both practices will be in shorts and shells. Please call 518-442-7369 for schedule updates.

See Also

• Practice Notes/Strahan update in the Editor's Blog.
• Head Coach Tom Coughlin's Media Session Transcript
• Players' Reaction to Strahan's Decision
• Letters to the Editor
• Player Perspective: LB Reggie Torbor Shares Some Insight on Why the Giants New Defense is a Better Fit than Previous Schemes
• Editor Pat Traina’s full camp report

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