The Giants 2008 Training Camp concluded this weekend, here is a wrap up of what we learned so far this summer.

• It appears that TE Kevin Boss won the starting tight end job, as expected. He ran with the first team throughout camp and was never seriously challenged by Mike Matthews or Darcy Johnson.
• S Kenny Phillips was the stand out in camp. He proved to be a major steal by the Giants in this years draft, and should find himself as the Giants starting free safety in short order. He impressed coaches, reporters and teammates, who kindly asked him to stop mashing them to a pulp.
• WR Domenik Hixon looks poised to take the third receiver slot, with Mario Manningham still on the mend, and David Tyree almost certain to land on the PUP list. Sinorice Moss will likely fight Hixon for some snaps as well but didn’t have nearly the same camp as Hixon. Hixon could steal a few snaps from Amani Toomer and Steve Smith as well.
• DE Dave Tollefson proved to be a solid addition to defensive line rotation.
• Rookie LB Bryan Kehl quickly acclimated himself to the Giants system and should be a fine contributor.
• LB Zak DeOssie, FB Robert Douglas, WR Michael Jennings, and RB Reuben Droughns were disappointments in camp and could find themselves on the bubble when it comes to cut time.
• The back up quarterback job is still too close to call with Anthony Wright and David Carr both performing adequately, but neither of them standing out. Carr had issues with staying the the pocket initially but was solid in his first preseason game.
• WR Plaxico Burress is still recovering from a new injury with his foot and did not perform a full practice throughout camp. He’s begun running and working out in individual drills but has yet to fully join the team in practice.
• This year’s camp was attended by 44,505 fans, the second highest crowd in 13 years despite the it being the shortest camp in days and practices.

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Mike Garafolo at the Star Ledger had high praise for Kenny Phillips who has had an outstanding camp this summer.

Okay, go ahead and get your Kenny Phillips jerseys. I don’t usually endorse a guy like that this early, but I just can’t hold back anymore. I’ve seen enough. The kid is awesome. How he dropped to No. 31 in the draft I’ll never know. Actually, I do: a lot of teams didn’t think he could roam the secondary because he played down low in college. Well, that was a misread because he’s all over the defensive backfield.

Phillips had two interceptions in tonight practice and has been practicing with the first team for several days now.

The Giants won’t commit to saying he will be the starting safety but it seems hard to believe he won’t be in short order. The Giants got real lucky that Phillips fell to them, and look likely to soon reap the rewards of their good fortune.

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Tom Rock on his blog for Newsday provides a recap of tonight’s evening practice. Here are a few highlights.

• Michael Strahan was in camp tonight, coach Tom Coughlin came over to give him a hug they spoke for several minutes.
• Six INTs tonight for the defense. Kenny Phillips had two. Corey Webster, Schweigert, Zak DeOssie and Bryan Kehl each had one.
• Tyree, Tynes, Goff, Toomer, Smith, Madison, McQuarters, Kiwanuka and Manningham did not practice.
• Sinorice Moss dropped a short pass over the middle while he was wide open and fumbled a catch in the final drive of practice.
• Sammy Knight broke up a pass from Eli Manning to Kevin Boss in the end zone.
• Brandon London practiced with the first team and dropped a pass on the left sideline, but made a few other grabs, including a TD.
• DJ Hall made a nice diving grab in the end zone on a pass from Anthony Wright.
• Josh Huston made his debut and made all four of his field goal attempts.

For a full rundown, head over to Tom Rock’s blog at Newsday.

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Coach Tom Coughlin addressed the media at camp today, here is a full transcript of his comments.

Last night’s weather forecast was different than the one this morning. I had planned on going out, I went out to the field, it was raining, it was steady and I didn’t like the conditions of the field, so we changed to what had been planned as a jog through, but outside and hopefully we’ll work this afternoon.  There is, unless the thing has changed again, there is some indication of sun, possible sun with scattered showers throughout the afternoon, so we’ll see.

If you can’t get tonight in, will you still do one tomorrow or will you switch to two?

I don’t know, we’ll see what happens then, I’m not sure.  I may move it up today, if there was a window, I’d move it, but right now it’s on a normal schedule.

With the rain, have you missed out on things you’ve wanted to do?

We actually have not missed…we’ve adjusted a couple of practices, but we have not missed anything.  To be honest with you, it requires that you spend way too much time considering the weather, it’s a ridiculous amount of time you spend on that, but with the way this month of August has been, there’s no other way of doing it.  You just have to try and stay out in front of it.  Some we’ve been able to do a good job of predicting, and others not so well.  We have not missed, for example, this morning was scheduled as a jog through, but the weather forced us inside, fine, we didn’t want to be, but if it did we would still get our mental work in and that’s basically what happened.

How does this affect your preparation for preseason games?

Well, it always does.  Anytime you can’t go full speed, it affects your preparation.  The mental parts. We’ve gone through the mental parts and we’ve gone through the meetings, we continue to have meetings and we’ll have more.  Hopefully, we’ll practice this afternoon.

Read more…

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The morning practice session was moved indoors due to heavy rains and tonight’s session is in jeopardy of the same according the forecast.

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The Giants held one practice session this afternoon. Mike Garafolo of the Star Ledger provides a full rundown. Here are some highlights:

• WRs Amani Toomer (knee), Mario Manningham (quad), Steve Smith (groin) and David Tyree (knee/PUP), CB Sam Madison (sports hernia), LB Jonathan Goff (back) and K Lawrence Tynes (leg) did not practice.
• RB Derrick Ward (knee) returned, as well as LT David Diehl (ribs), however Diehl left for the second round. T Adam Koets replaced him and Diehl came back later on.
• LB Gerris Wilkinson joined the first team for the first time in camp while LB Danny Clark was with the second team before working with both the backups and starters at all three LB spots.
• CB Corey Webster made two nice plays on WR Domenik Hixon on two fade passes from QB Eli Manning.
• S Kenny Phillips tried to showboat by making a one-handed INT and dropped it.
• S Sammy Knight had a pass fall right through his hands.
• LB Mathias Kiwanuka completely laid out RB Kay-Jay Harris on a blitz that could have been a sack of QB Andre Woodson.
• TE Kevin Boss made a leaping catch that he wrestled away from LB Antonio Pierce. He also made a juggling catch on a ball Manning threw behind him.

For a full rundown of today’s practice, head over to Mike Garafolo’s blog at Star Ledger.

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Plaxico Burress told reporters he will work out in individual drills today but sit out the team portion.

Burress said he doesn’t plan to play in any preseason games, but insists he will be ready on opening day no matter how his ankle feels.

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ESPN’s Matt Mosley was in Giants camp recently and was impressed with how hard the players were working and the intensity level they maintained despite their lofty reining Super Bowl Champion status.

Mosley provides notes about a number of players as well as an interview with coach Tom Coughlin and GM Jerry Reese.

I highly recommend you check it out at ESPN.com

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Giants Training camp will break on Sunday, August 17th. Here is the schedule for the next four days.

Tomorrow : Afternoon Session - 2:40PM to 4:50PM
Friday, August 15th : Morning Session - 8:40AM to 10:40AM / Evening Session - 6:10PM to 8:10PM
Saturday, August 16th : Afternoon Session - 2:40PM to 4:50PM
Sunday, August 17th : Morning Session - 8:30AM to 10:00AM (Jog Thru)

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No practice today at camp, there are a few guys happy to hear that so they have a free day to get healthy.

Coach Tom Coughlin seems to be at the end of his rope with offensive lineman Shane Olivea who had a good start at camp but has been sidelined with a lingering back problem.

“I’m surprised it’s been this long,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said yesterday. “A day or two ago, he told me that he thought (Tuesday) would be the day, but I don’t know. It’s very frustrating. It is for the player, too. I mean he’s here for a reason and he had such great expectations. Unfortunately, the way it works in this game, he had his best practice and then that’s the last time I saw him.”

Mario Manningham is still bothered by a quad injury.

Yesterday Lawrence Tynes missed the morning session but showed up in the evening in running shoes. He didn’t kick and his left leg appeared to be wrapped tightly.

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