Category Archives: Derrick Ward
At Scout.com, we find the moniker created either by Justin Tuck or Derrick Ward (both claim it as their own), for the Giants three headed rushing monster of Jacobs, Bradshaw, and Ward.
Brandon Jacobs, or Earth, because of his punishing physical attack, driving opposing defenses straight to the ground, handles the bulk of the carries and tends to gain further momentum as the game goes on and his brutalizing rushing style has worn defenses down for the other two elements to inflict their damage.
Ahmad Bradshaw, the wind, for his speed and agility. He only touched the ball six times yesterday yet managed to rack up 70 yards and score two touchdowns.
Finally Derrick Ward, fire, for his combination of power and speed. He averaged 7.3 yards per carry, with 58 yards on just eight carries. He has the ability to both run over or around defenders.
The Giants seem to have the most versatile backfield in football with these three weapons at their disposal. It should be a fun season watching how they each pick apart opposing defenses.
Derrick Ward on Giants running game:
We picked up where we left off from last year. Brandon ran his butt off tonight. The offensive line was tremendous with blocking up front tonight. The offensive line also did a good job with pass protection. They might have gotten some sacks but for the most part Eli and Plax were very hard to stop. We just have to continue to improve each game, each week. I’m not sure how the rotation is going to go all year with Brandon and myself, but it definitely worked tonight and don’t forget we are going to incorporate Ahmad in the running attack also.
Justin Tuck on tonight’s overall defensive performance:
We did a lot of great things tonight. But you have to remember that it is still the first game and we have to go back and watch a lot of film. I think we held them to under 100 yards rushing. We did a good job of keeping them out of the end zone except for that one breakdown at the end of the first half. Barry and Fred did a great job tonight. That is one of the things that we wanted to do tonight is take away their run game. We felt that they would try to run to take pressure off their quarterback. We kept their running game at bay tonight. They hit us with a couple of draws but for the most part we took them out of what they wanted to do.
David Diehl on offensive performance tonight:
We went out there tonight and basically did what we wanted to do. And we controlled the ball and time of possession. I felt we controlled the line of scrimmage and kept the ball moving. Field goals are nice but we want to walk away with touchdowns and I felt like we left a couple on the field tonight. When you get down there in the green zone you want to be successful with touchdowns but it really didn’t affect us tonight. We were still able to come away with a win, but down the road those are the things that are going to make or break you in the long run. And that is the difference between winning and losing. We are happy with the win and everything, but are we complacent? Without a doubt, no. We need to get better. We are going to learn from this. We are going to move forward and we are going to be a stronger team after playing this first game. We are going to come to work next week and get ready for the Rams.
Antonio Pierce on the overall performance of defense:
The only thing that was disappointing about the game was the way we ended the second half. Obviously they got pretty good field position. But we need to find a way to make a stop down there. Obviously as a defense you want to dictate and in the first half we did a very good job. We were successful on first and third downs, but as the game went on they started to pop a couple. But overall they found a couple of plays that worked for them. Anytime when you are home and you only allow seven points, the defense is doing a pretty good job. That is championship defense.
Mike Garafolo of the Star Ledger provides a number updates from camp today.
Kenny Phillips was given a chance to work with the first team, as Michael Johnson was bumped to the second unit. Phillips deflected a pass from Eli Manning for Steve Smith. James Butler grabbed the deflection for an INT.
Garafolo provides more notes regarding Justin Tuck, Derrick Ward, Kareem McKenzie, Eli Manning‘s worst pass of training camp, a great practice by David Diehl, and a wicked takedown of Bryan Kehl by Chris Snee.
Plaxico Burress showed up to camp today, as expected. He came in carrying his clothes in a trash can, perhaps trying to prove to the Giants he needs money for luggage.
Derrick Ward intends to practice once a day and eventually get involved into workouts that involve contact while he recovers from his broken leg injury.
Coach Tom Coughlin said he does not know when David Tyree will be ready to return to workouts. He’s likely headed to the Physically Unable to Perform list.
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