Giants.com's John Schmeelk brings you Training Camp notes and observations straight from the sidelines:
WATCH: @Schmeelk and @ShaunOHara60 break down a physical day in the trenches at #GiantsCamp pic.twitter.com/5T5RsTjL5v
— New York Giants (@Giants) August 5, 2017
It was the longest and most physical practice of Giants training camp thus far. It was a cool day in the upper-70s when practice began. The focus of practice was on red/green zone work. NFL game officials, including referee John Parry, worked practice for the third day in a row.
• Goal line WR/DB one-on-one drills were fun to watch. Odell Beckham Jr. made a really touch catch on Janoris Jenkins on a corner fade, attacking the ball above his head. Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie grabbed an interception during the period.
• Competition during the two groups continued during 7-on-7 in the red zone. Evan Engram made a nice play on a high ball, grabbing it before Landon Collins (who was in tight coverage) could knock it away. Later, Jenkins beat Engram to the ball on a similar player and knocked it away.
• I like the decisiveness shown by Wayne Gallman during the 9-on-7 drill. He makes one cut and gets to the line with power when he wants to. We have seen the jump cut from him in previous practices, but there is definitely a power aspect to his game as well.
• Even though Evan Engram was considered a "receiving tight end" coming out of college, he has shown plenty in his blocking during full contact drills. Much like he did at the Senior Bowl, he gets in there and isn't afraid to mix it up. It looks like he'll be effective as a blocker when the season starts. You rarely, if ever, see a missed blocking assignment from him. He has been very impressive so far in every way.
• In the O-Line/D-Line one-on-ones, the first groups went against the No. 2s. It was a good learning experience for Chad Wheeler, who got to go against Jason Pierre-Paul.
• During one part of team workouts, D.J. Fluker was seen playing right tackle with the second team offense. He hasn't worked there much this offseason, but if he gets snaps there now he might be able to serve as a backup at guard and tackle when the season starts.
• During team drills, Jonathan Casillas used his veteran savvy to recognize a misdirection play and closed quickly on Odell Beckham Jr, containing the speedy playmaker for a short gain. The Giants offense has whipped out some creative sets and plays throughout the summer, forcing the defense to stay on their toes.
• It was a fun special teams session, as the teamers were divided into two teams. Players had to block one another one-on-one with the winner of each session getting a point for their team. Everyone surrounded the drill and there was great enthusiasm.
• Red zone/green zone 7-on-7 had a couple of interesting matchups. After Beckham got open and caught a pass in the back of the end zone, Goodson recovered to knock him out of bounds. The pass was called incomplete, but it looked like Beckham's feet might have been in. Donte Deayon made a great play on a fade to knock a pass away from Travis Rudolph.
• With Sterling Shepard and Tavarres King still out of practice with ankle injuries, both Darius Powe and Travis Rudolph got a couple snaps with the first team offense when Brandon Marshall and Dwayne Harris took some plays off.
• Kerry Wynn made a couple of really nice plays in practice, first getting off a Matt LaCosse block to get to a running play off-tackle, and then getting to the quarterback off the edge against Adam Bisnowaty.
• Nigel Tribune deflected a couple of passes, but also got hit with one defensive pass interference penalty.
• The second team offensive line blocked extremely well against the number one defensive line on one running play at the goal line. They opened a hole so big Wayne Gallman was able to walk into the end zone.
