Tom Rock of Newsday has confirmed that Osi left the Giants facility due to a dispute he had with first year defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan. According to sources Sheridan was critical of a play he saw on tape in the Giants Jets game, and Osi did not agree with Sheridan’s assessment.

It doesn’t sound all that bad, but when you think about this it had to be more then just a minor disagreement for Osi to leave practice. I assume (we know what assuming does) that Osi was a little more then miffed if he felt the need to leave the facility. Not a great start for the first year coordinator, but then again it could be worse, look at Josh McDaniels who has not only run a franchise QB out of town but has now alienated a stud wide-out as well.

Hopefully this blows over, but it makes me a bit nervous. The best coordinators usually have a way of getting guys pumped to play for them. I remember numerous quotes from Michael Strahan who claimed he always knew the D would show up for the guys they loved, both Spags and John Fox. Sheridan has been described as calm, cool and slightly more detached from his players. I always lean to the more ra-ra coaches like Fox, Spags, Cowher and Parcells, but for every one of them there is a Jim Johnson (may he rest in peace) and Joe Torre who are equally successful.  

At the very least Osi is looking at a 16,000 fine, but leaving a practice, abandoning your team, is exactlty the kind of behavior that goes against Coughlins “team first” approach. The only good thing here is Osi has already apologized and wants to move forward. If anything this is just something to file away for later, but for now it seems like a dead issue.

from Pat Hanlon’s Twitter page……

“I made a mistake by leaving the facility today. I was wrong. I came in here this afternoon and met with coach Coughlin, coach Sheridan and coach Waufle and apologized and explained why I left the building; that will remain between us. I have no problem with our defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan or any of our coaches. That’s the end of it, as far as I am concerned.”

According to Tom Rock of Newsday Osi Umenyiora has gone missing from practice. According to coach Coughlin Osi was in the complex in the morning but was a no show for practice. Apparently a text message was sent to Jerry Reese but no explanation has been given yet. At this point Coughlin is calling it an inexcusable absence.

Lets hope this is a non-issue. If it is a personal matter I hope for Osi’s sake it is not too serious. Well serious enough to miss practice but not serious enough where any family member is in danger. More news to come.

As previously reported, OLB Michael Boley has been taken off the PUP list and is set to join the team in afternoon drills today.

Glad to see him taken off this list now, although I (and everyone) realize that the Giants were not going to wait until the regular season, this does discount the possibility of him being out until week 6 or later.

Boley, who has been out since the start of minicamp with a torn labrum, is right on schedule with is return, which was originally slated as 8-10 weeks.

“It’s a big relief,” Boley said in the locker room Monday morning. “I’ve been sitting out and not being able to be involved in walkthroughs, (not) being able to be out there with the team and actually go through stuff with them. It’s been kind of frustrating, to be honest. I’m really excited to be back.”

Boley said that he won’t play in Thursday’s final preseason game, but does think he will be ready to go in week two. He also said that although it’s been “boring” to sit on the sidelines, he has made great mental strides in his acumen as a football player.

Bryan Kehl, Gerris Wilkinson, and Chase Blackburn have done pretty nicely filling in for the inured Boley, but there’s no doubt his addition to the football field will be a big one. I look at this whole next week as a big one for the weakside linebacker, and if his mental strides are there, I don’t doubt that he won’t be there physically as well.

The first cuts aren’t due until tomorrow, but today the Giants released OT Terrance Pennington, WR Taye Biddle and this year’s 7th round draft choice, CB Stoney Woodson.

In other roster news, OLB Michael Boley was taken off the PUP (physically unable to perform) list and cleared for practice.  Boley will not be eligible to play until Sept 20th at Dallas due to a one-game suspension.

First Cuts Due Tomorrow

Tomorrow is September 1st, which means NFL teams will be making their first round of cuts.  Rosters are to be reduced from 80 to 75 active players.

Teams must be down to 53 active players by this Saturday, Sept. 5th.

Tuesday’s cuts should have no surprises, but Saturday could be the end for several veterans.  WRs Sinorice Moss and David Tyree are two players that might be in jeopardy of being traded or released by Saturday.

Tyree has not shown his usual spark in the red zone offense and his special teams value has dropped as well.  He did not dress vs the Jets.

Moss is behind Derek Hagan on the depth charts.  He played sparingly vs the Jets Saturday and had no passes thrown in his direction. Moss did have two kickoff returns for a modest total of 41 yards.

End Of The Line For Gilbride’s “Horizontal” Passing Game?

Yes, I know. Isn’t it supposed to be a “vertical” passing game?  Not when it came to the Giants. OC Kevin Gilbride has kept the passing game in a box since the end of last season. Those days could be ending.

Hakeem Nicks is aiming to change that with his 6 for 144 performance on Saturday.  Mario Manningham saw a dozen balls come his way vs the Jets and Steve Smith showed he could get deep, even though he dropped a potential 90-yard TD pass.  Look for those three players to get their names called quite often this season.

One question, please……

I thought Ramses Barden was drafted to augment the red zone offense.  So, why did the Giants opt to hand the ball off to Allen Patrick in their final two-point conversion attempt in the 4th quarter?  Why didn’t they throw it up to Barden?

Injury News Getting Better

No, there is no definite word when DT Chris Canty (hamstring) will play again, but the news is that he is improving.  MLB Antonio Pierce (foot) and CB Aaron Ross (hamstring) should be ready for the Redskins Sept 13th.  OLB Michael Boley has been looking spry in individual workouts but has not participated in contact drills.  He also may be ahead of schedule and be ready for Week 2.

Brandon Jacobs‘ had x-rays taken on his bruised forearm.  The results were negative.

The Good

Another Ho hum day for the Giant running backs….the big three were all at 4 or more a carry and the group finished with a 5 yard average.  Bradshaw looked great (expect a terrific year from a kid who is far more then just a change of pace), Ware dominated the scrubs, nothing new here. Brandon Jacobs was solid and x-rays were negative on his forearm, but he returned and fumbled after corralling the ball in his other arm (a slight concern). I wouldn’t be surprised to see Brandon out for week 4 of the pre-season. Still this unit, along with the O-line, is the strength of the Giant offense and continues to show why.

David Carr looked better, but still continues to hold on to the football for far too long. There are many times he has the opportunity to make the smart play and throw the ball away but he continues to take the sack instead. Still this was a vast improvement from weeks one and two.

As usual Eli was very effective in the no-huddle offense, which lead to a 60 yd TD drive.

Brandon Jacobs is catching the ball in the pre-season.

The Bad

Overall this was another disappointment for the receiving core. This unit desperately needs to show up if Brandon Jacobs doesn’t want to see a wall of 8 on every run. The lone bright spot was 1st rounder Hakeem Nicks who welcomed himself to the NFL with 6 catches for 144 yards and 2 td’s, but (yep there’s a but) he did all this against two Jets who may not be around come opening day. Alright one more somewhat bright spot, Mario Manningham. Manning seemed to target Mario often and he responded with 4 catches for 41 yards through 2.5 quarters, but he too dropped a deep ball. I believe Steve Smith will emerge as Manning’s number one guy but his deep drop last night didn’t help to inspire confidence. Speaking of drops Hixon was a non-factor and put one on the ground  himself, but perhaps the most disappointed wide-out should be Sinorice Moss who didn’t even get a chance to drop a ball. Moss barely saw the field. This could be a sign that Moss will be gone come cut day, although Coughlin did say he wanted to see more of Barden and Nicks. For the most part Manning and the receivers looked out of sync, and when they were on the same page there were far too many drops for Eli to be effective. There is still time but it’s running out, no doubt Giant fans will continue to watch the Brandon Marshall situation, althought there is a good chance that the current unit is the one that will take the field week one.

The Ugly

Tough day for Darcy Johnson. One drop (although it was a tough catch on his back shoulder) a holding penalty and he may have helped get David Carr destroyed by Vernon Gholston (although only the tape will tell). By the way I assume that is the first and last time Gholston gets to a QB all year, not suprised it came in an unblocked fashion, sorry but the work out warrior seems to be just that.

De’andre Wright got completely turned around by Aundrae Allison for a TD reception and may be loosing the battle against Stoney Woodson for the last cb spot.

Far too many missed tackles.

Kevin Dockery did not impress on the outside.

Rich Seubert came back from injury but only played one quarter, according to the coaching staff this was a precautionary.

The annual Jets-Giants preseason match-up arrived with many unanswered questions hovering over both clubs.  The Jets needed to get their defensive house in order and rookie QB Mark Sanchez to validate coach Rex Ryan’s ingenuity.

The injury-stricken Giants hoped one of their wide receivers would separate from the pack with a breakout performance.

Most of that happened last night in the 27-25 Jets victory at Giants Stadium.

The world once again had to bow at the feet of Jerry Reese, the Giants’ prolific GM.  His newest first round draft choice, WR Hakeem Nicks, had a stellar evening (6 catches for 144 yards and 2 TDs) and made a strong case for a starting role on the Giants’ offense.  The explosive display by the rookie wideout was exactly what the Giants and their fans needed to see.

What the fans wished they didn’t see was the sloppy tackling of the defense and the lack of concentration by the veteran wide receivers.

In the first quarter on a first-and-10 from their own 10, Steve Smith got behind the Jets secondary and met Eli Manning’s perfect offering for what should have gone for a sure touchdown.  But Smith could not hold on and the ball fell to the ground.  The entire crowd, which had risen to it’s feet, collectively moaned and sat down.

On the same drive, Manning hit Domenik Hixon in the hands with a pass that Hixon could not handle. The ball sputtered into the Jets’ secondary where LB David Harris made the interception.

On the previous drive, the Giants did score a touchdown on a Manning pass.  The pass was to RB Brandon Jacobs, though.  The drive was also fueled by several Jets penalties.

The Giants defense looked a bit out of synch.  The starters played fairly well, but the tackling still needs some work. The Jets were able to wiggle and knife their way for extra yards in several cases. Hey, it’s early.

I came away from this game with several thoughts about both teams.  As I stated very early on, I think that Nicks and Mario Manningham will end up being the starters at WR.  Maybe not opening day,but very soon.

Also, I didn’t read too much into the play of the secondary.  The Giants are using too many combinations out there to expect any consistency. Once they make a few cuts (beginning Tuesday), I think we’ll see a more cohesive effort.

As for the Jets, Mark Sanchez sure does have savvy.  That’s a good thing if you’re a Jets fan.  If they can keep him upright, they might make some noise in the AFC this year.

Finally, I can’t watch David Carr get sacked anymore. It’s like watching the Zapruder film.   Its always a jaw-dropping moment.

Mike Garafolo of the Newark Star-Ledger and SNY posted his 5 things to watch for going into tonight’s preseason game with the New York Jets.

Among those 5 topics Garafolo discussed, one was CB Terrell Thomas. Aaron Ross is out for the rest of the preseason, and with that, Thomas moves on the depth chart up to third corner. Look for Thomas to see a lot of field time, not only in nickel and dime packages, but base defense packages as well.

CB Kevin Dockery will start in place of the injured Ross.

Thomas has had an excellent training camp. I wouldn’t be surprised if he outplays Dockery tonight, and I also wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Thomas starting at corner if Ross’s injury nags him into the regular season.

Coming into the third preseason game against the Jets, the Gmen are not going to be distracted by all the media hype over the announcing of Mark Sanchez as the starting QB for the Jets. The fact of the matter is that the Gmen feel they have much to prove after their disspointing 17-3 loss to the Bears last week.

“When you have a poor performance it can be a wakeup call,” Manning said. “It can get the guys coming together, realizing we have to be focused.”

Manning’s not the only one who feels the team has something to prove tomorrow night. DE Justin Tuck referred to tomorrow’s game as the “dress rehearsal” for the regular season.

“It’s the dress rehearsal,” defensive end Justin Tuck said. “We know that. We know the third game of the preseason is normally the game that the starters play a little bit into the second half, at least the first half. We got a lot of guys that have been in a situation like this, so we know what to expect from it. Obviously, we are looking forward to it, we have a great opponent coming in.

I look for the Giants to come out in this game with full force. With perhaps the exception to the runningbacks, the whole team performed poorly in last week’s preseason game; And the third game is argubaly the most important of the four. Starters will get as much playing time as they could get in a preseason game tomorrow night, and even though the Giants are without several starters, it still will be a real test of how they can perform.

Not expected to play are defensive linemen Chris Canty and Jay Alford, cornerbacks Aaron Ross and Stoney Woodson, linebackers Michael Boley and Antonio Pierce, wide receiver David Tyree, and offensive lineman Omir Thompson. Runningback Andre Brown also won’t play due to his season ending injury.