Giants.com brings you an inside look at Wednesday's OTA Practice:
View the best images from Friday's OTA practice
On Friday the Giants held their sixth of ten Organized Team Activities (OTAs) which will continue next week until mandatory minicamp wraps up the offseason program the week of June 12. This is Phase Three of the offseason program. Contact is still prohibited.
Here's what I spotted at practice today:
• Overall the practice had more wins for the defense than it did for the offense. The offense didn't put together too many consecutive completions in team drills, with the secondary disrupting a lot of pass plays. It was a clean practice from a turnover perspective. Safety Mykkele Thompson had the best chance at one but he dropped an interception.
• The team worked on some situational stuff, including a heavy dose of red zone drills. The offense had some success early with quarterback Eli Manning finding wide receiver Dwayne Harris near the back line for a score after beating Landon Collins on an inside move. Manning also found Shepard for a score between defenders in zone coverage.
• Tight end Matt LaCosse did some serious damage in red zone drills. LaCosse caught one pass for a score from Josh Johnson on an inside route after beating linebacker Calvin Munson on a slant. A couple plays later quarterback Davis Webb found LaCosse in the back corner of the end zone. He stretched out to make the catch and his feet looked to be in bounds (though the defense disagreed). He would make a similar catch at the end of practice, getting his feet down in the back of the end zone after extending above his head to catch the pass.
• First-year safety Ryan Murphy made a couple of nice plays in red zone drills. First, he came all the way down from his safety spot to get his hand between wide receiver Darius Powe and the ball, deflecting a short pass. He would later be in perfect position to stop wide receiver Travis Rudolph as soon as he caught a short pass to prevent a first down or score.
• Second year defensive end Jordan Williams made a nice inside swim move on a pass play that would have been a sack if contact would have been allowed.
• One of the offensive line combinations featured goldilocks bookends with Adam Bisnowaty at right tackle and Chad Wheeler on the left side. Both had their long blond hair sticking out of the bottom of their helmets. It was difficult to tell if they were members of an '80s rock band, vikings (not the Minnesota kind), or offensive linemen.
• Aldrick Rosas bombed an approximate 59-yard field goal toward the end of practice that probably cleared the crossbar by a good five yards. The kid has a great leg and I haven't seen him miss a kick during the team portion of practice yet. I asked him during media availabilities to confirm how long the kick was and he shrugged his shoulders. He told me he doesn't look at the distances when he kicks. He just looks at his target and kicks. Hopefully he can translate that type of attitude on the field during games.
• Former Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce was out there coaching up the unit as an intern on Friday. Pierce was one of the most cerebral players I've ever been around and he should be able to impart a lot of wisdom to youngsters like B.J. Goodson. Pierce was locked in during every part of practice, including special teams. He has coached Long Beach Poly (a very successful high school program) in LA since 2014. I would not be surprised to see him on the pro level with an NFL team before too long.
