New York Giants Scrimmage Report: Defense Wins the Day, Plus Lots of Positives

The defense won the day, but there were plenty of standouts on both sides of the ball for the Giants, who completed their first scrimmage of the summer.

The pads were popping for the Giants' first scrimmage of training camp, but I wouldn’t quite call it full-blown football.

What I mean by that is that there was no tackling to the ground, and there was no full-speed pass rush.

Not that this should have been expected considering the offense lined up on one side of the field and defense on the other. For a true “scrimmage,” you need both colored jerseys on both benches.

It was still football, and here’s what head coach Joe judge had to say about the team’s first scrimmage of camp.

We were able to build in a lot of situational work. We were able to get a lot of live work, which the guys needed as far as wrapping up, tackling, going to the ground, feeling the contact block, and getting good live pass rushes and 11-on-11 situations. We got a good bit of volume for the players, and they were able to handle it; their conditioning's improving. They came out with good effort and energy that was very pleasing.

Here are some of my observations from a productive scrimmage held on a gorgeous and comfortable summer day.

Offense Slow to Get Going, But a Few Stars Stand Out

Daniel Jones was one of the players I wanted to watch today, and I thought his day started slowly as he went one of three in his first series and had a bad miss on a pass intended for Sterling Shepard.

I was particularly looking to see if he made quicker decisions with the ball in his hands, and at first, that wasn’t the case, as several times the pass rush would have gotten him had this been a live game. As the practice went on, you could see Jones become more comfortable running the offense.

Jones agreed with my observation. When someone else asked if he felt more at ease with recognizing defenses and making decisions quicker, he said, “I felt more comfortable, and I gotta continue to learn. Obviously, it'll be different as we get into the games every week game-planning for a new team and their system.

“But yeah, as far as camp goes, I think having last year and having some of the experience of playing those games, I think it's certainly been easier for me that way then it was at this time last year.”

I didn’t chart Jones’ full stats for the day, but I did have him for two touchdowns and one interception, and on one of his touchdown drives, which ended in a pass to tight end Kaden Smith. Jones was at the hem of that 11-play drive, and I had him down for one missed pass on that series.

“I was very pleased [with Daniel],” Judge said. “The things you can’t see on film are the command. You can’t see the way he is in the huddle, and you can’t see the presence our players have at the line of scrimmage.

“I stood there to see how these guys interact with each other, I was impressed with the tone Daniel set in the huddle, in a competitive situation, he really stepped up. I thought he really showed up a lot in the end of the scrimmage, in a no-huddle situation, and how he commanded the entire team.”

Another player I wanted to keep an eye on was Nick Gates. The coaches have said that Gates will see snap at center and tackle, and that’s pretty much how it’s been. When Gates worked at center, I thought he was sharp with making calls and identifying the MIKE.

I also liked how alert he was in peeling off one double team block and picking up a free defender trying to burst through the hole. It was a heads up play by Gates.

I had a concern about Gates being too tall and thus struggling with his pad level. Well, I didn’t see much of that when he took his snaps; I thought he bent at the knees and anchored well, did a good job staying on his feet, and played some smart snaps.

Put another way, I feel a lot better about the possibility of him being the starting center than I did at the start of camp. I still don’t know if he’ll be the starter on Opening Day—I still think it makes sense to start Spencer Pulley there given his experience—but it won’t be too long now before Gates is in that starting lineup somewhere.

Jones seems comfortable when he’s had to work with Gates as well, noting that the fact they’re all learning a new system helps facilitate that comfort level. “Myself and Gates and the whole group are  learning it together and putting it together,” he said. “As a team, I think is kind of the process right now.”

Running back Javon Leake, a guy we’ve been touting as someone with a good change to make the roster, had himself a solid day. The kid has a nice burst and good vision, and cuts on a dime, as he did on his first handoff when he zigged and zagged through traffic and into the open field.

“He’s a guy that’s really coming on right now,” Judge said. “He’s feeling more comfortable within the system and the scheme. He’s doing a good job taking the coaching points from (running backs coach) Burton (Burns) to the field. Today’s a day where he had an opportunity to go out there and just play. He went out there and just played some ball and made some plays for us.”

Leake, who returned kickoffs in college, didn’t get a chance to show off that skill as the Giants didn’t work on that aspect of their special teams today, but I’m looking forward to seeing how he puts that burst to good use on kickoffs, where I think he has a legitimate chance of making the roster. (Spoiler alert: Jackson Thompson has a story on Leake that we’ll be running over the weekend.)

Colt McCoy’s day started with two bad misses, one on a swing pass and one on a deep out. I thought all the quarterbacks were off on their deep pass attempts, though I can’t be certain that was on them or the receivers. McCoy also drew a delay of game penalty during one of his turns when it looked like the offense wasn’t set up.

Receiver David Sills V, a player who intrigued back before camp started because of his size (6’3”), recorded two touchdowns today, one against James Bradberry and one against Grant Haley. Sills offers a nice mix of physicality when he’s out there and doesn’t look to be easily knocked off routes.

We probably won’t see him on the 53-man roster this year, but NFL International Pathway candidate Sandro Platzgummer is a slippery runner with good vision and who hits the holes with a good burst.

He also has a nice low center of gravity when he runs, and I’m curious to see how far he can go. I’d expect him to be on the practice squad this year since the Giants have a roster exemption for him.

Defense Wins the Day

After the draft, general manager Dave Gettleman said that he thought they added some speed to the defense. That speed was on display quite often, particularly on runs to the outside where the running backs were strung out. It didn’t matter who the back was; a number of them had trouble turning the corner against this group of defenders.

Rookie corner Darnay Holmes is one of my stars of today’s practice. Holmes does a good job of anticipating and getting himself into position to make plays. He did an outstanding job of reading a Jones pass intended to Golden Tate and jumping in front of the receiver to make the pick (you can see the play below).

Holmes is only 5’10" tall, which might give some coaches pause about putting him on the perimeter against a taller receiver. The kid plays much bigger and certainly more than holds his own against similarly sized receivers.

“He’s a real competitive guy, comes to work every day with a full head of steam,” Judge said. “He’s very attentive, so I’m not surprised to see him improving day by day. I was pleased with the way he played today.”

Holmes also did a nice job in run support by stringing out Saquon Barkley, who was trying to run wide.

Oshane Ximines looks like he’s added strength and muscle. He’s also doing a better job in run defense in that he’s positioning himself to where he now has a chance of pushing back against a blocker instead of getting washed out as he did at times last year because he was too high. Imines also had a batted pass today on a ball thrown by Jones.

A sleek-looking Lorenzo Carter went on a tear in this workout. Carter got a hand on a pass attempt by Daniel Jones and deflected the ball. (Side note: When the defenders were stonewalled, they were getting their hands up into the passing lanes.)

Carter also looks quicker off the snap than I recall seeing him. I can’t go into how he was deployed on defense due to team reporting rules, but there is a difference that I think should make Carter more productive this year in both the pass rush and against the run.

A slimmed-down Dexter Lawrence II looks quicker than I recall and moved well from sideline to sideline. He made a beautiful read of a screen pass to Saquon Barkley and made the stop. Here is that play.

Cornerback Grant Haley had a rough day. He was beaten for two touchdowns by David Sills V and Austin Mack, and he lost his footing on another pass play that went for a completion.

Linebacker Devante Downs looks right at home in this defensive system. I mentioned the speed before, and he’s one of the guys who against the run showed nice sideline to sideline range.

• RELATED: Devante Downs Film Study

Defensive back Dravon Askew-Henry broke up two passes thrown by Cooper Rush intended for Tony Brown. Good job by Askew-Henry, who was the only player I saw run a penalty lap in today's scrimmage, in reading the quarterback’s eyes and adjusting to get himself in position to make the play.

Special Teams

Another noticeable change is that the kicking specialists remain outside at practice throughout instead of heading indoors. 

So while the Giants were split and working on two different fields at the start of practice, the kicking battery was with special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey on the opposite end of one of the fields going through their drills. 

That’s a change from the past when the battery would be sent inside to the field house and only come out when there was a special teams period built into the practice.

I wanted to see who might be considered to replace the injured Cody Core as a gunner, but I don’t think there is a clear candidate in mind as the Giants worked several guys in that role.

I had kicker Graham Gano connecting on all five of his field-goal attempts, one of which was 50 or so yards. All of his kicks had room to spare.

The extent of the Giants special teams work was punting. I can’t tell you who was fielding punts per rules, but I will certainly be interested in seeing if another candidate emerges.

Blue Notes

In the small yet important detail department, the players and coaches get a one-minute warning announced over the loudspeaker that announces each new period of the practice. (The voice, by the way, sounds like Bill Belichick, but it’s not—Judge confirmed that the other day.)

The significance of that is that it allows the coaches players to focus on what they’re doing instead of keeping an eye on the countdown timer. When the one-minute warning sounds, they know they have to start wrapping things up.

Another small change I noticed in how Judge structures his practices versus how his predecessors have done so is that the various period names are more descriptive than I recall. Whereas in the past, a drill might be named “7-on-7,” now it’s 7-on-7 with some additional description that drills down exactly what the drill is going to cover. Hey, it’s all about communication.

Safety Xavier McKinney, linebacker Ryan Connelly, and receiver Corey Coleman didn’t participate in the workout as all three needed a break according to their respective GPS devices, Judge said.

Receiver Binjimen Victor had a brief scare when he went down and had to be looked at by trainers. Whatever it was, he was able to bounce back up and continue the practice.

What’s Next?

The players have off Saturday but will be back at it Sunday. Next week, the Giants are going to build toward a blue-on-white intrasquad scrimmage in which the roster will be split in half rather than offense vs. defense as it was for this scrimmage.

“We'll kind of kick it back up with the goal of building into an inner squad game on Friday," Judge said. 

"So we'll get back, talk with the trainers. Talk with the strength coaches, look at the volume we've had with players this first week, which we pushed them through a lot, and we'll see how to structure next week's practice accordingly to make sure that we can go ahead and lead up the next Friday's game.”

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