The New York Giants were again inside the field house on Tuesday for another day of organized team activities at the Quest Diagnostics Training Center.
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Today's practice was jam-packed with plenty of highlights, so let's get right to it.
Here is a recap of OTA No. 5:
HIGHLIGHTS
Where to begin? It was a pretty evenly matched practice with the defense making a play for every one the offense produced.
We'll start with the play of the day, which was a bomb from Ryan Nassib to Ben Edwards during 11-on-11s. Edwards, an undrafted wide receiver from Richmond, broke free down the middle, and Nassib dropped it right into his hands in stride for the longest play of OTAs so far. Wide receiver Victor Cruz ran out to give him a high-five as he was running back to the huddle. It's an undrafted thing.
The next one would probably have gone to a booth review. Dwayne Harris, who had already made a couple of good catches, went up for a pass that would have been a highlight grab but couldn't quite hold onto the ball. Rookie safety Mykkele Thompson dived to make the catch as the ball hit the ground. After further review, the ball did indeed hit the ground first, but it was a good effort.
Safety Josh Gordy broke the defense's drought with an interception later on in 7-on-7 drills. After the defense had some close calls the last few practices, Gordy was finally able to secure the turnover off Nassib.
In 7-on-7s, Eli Manning threw a touchdown strike to wide receiver Preston Parker. Earlier, Manning almost connected with Parker on a deep ball, but cornerback Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie was in good position as the ball fell incomplete.
There is not a lot of action for linemen on both sides of the ball during non-contact OTAs, but defensive tackles Markus Kuhn and Cullen Jenkins sniffed out a run at the goal line that would have been a loss of yards after a Manning-to-Corey Washington hookup got the offense down there.
Cornerback Chykie Brown almost had a surefire pick-six coming the other way off a short Ricky Stanzi pass, but the ball went through his hands.CRUZ RUNS ROUTES
Cruz, who is working his way back from a torn patellar tendon, has yet to practice in team drills, but today he was again running routes and catching balls off to the side with assistant strength and conditioning coach Markus Paul and Byron Hansen, the Giants' coordinator of rehabilitation.
Cruz looked quick as he continues to work toward his return.
RUN D COMES ALONG
As mentioned above, it's tough to tell anything from linemen when there is no live contact. But including the Kuhn and Jenkins play and a batted down pass at the line of scrimmage to begin team drills, the defensive line was active today. That's a good sign for a team that had problems stopping the run last season. HARRIS CARVING HIS WAY INTO OFFENSE
Dwayne Harris made a name for himself as a special teams ace with the Dallas Cowboys, but the reason he came to the Giants this year was to carve out a bigger role on offense. He could be on his way as offensive coordinator Ben McAdoo and wide receivers coach Sean Ryan find the right situations to use him. Harris made a few nice catches today.
WE'RE HALFWAY THERE
After a break tomorrow, five of the allotted 10 OTA practices remain on the schedule: June 4, June 8-9, and June 11-12.
