Observations from Practice

Drove up from Providence, RI. Beautiful drive. Compared to Giants Stadium, pulling up to Gillette Stadium is Easy Street. What an exceptional fan experience. Entrance to the parking lot is quick and painless. Pubs and restaurants line the outskirts of the parking lot. The pathways leading to the practice fields were spacious and accommodating. The venue had a great overall flow with easy to get to vendors and tons of free activities for kids. Finally, the view of practice: I sat on a hill with exactly the same view as Albany camp. (Right behind the end zone, on top of the action.) I may as well have been standing in the huddle. I realize it's Foxborough, MA vs. Bergen County NJ but it was frustrating how much better the fan access was.

I'm sure all of the specifics will be covered in the tweets, so I'll keep this general and random:

*We're having a heat wave in NE and it was unbearably hot. I was drenched down to my core just sitting there watching and got a sunburn - I can't imagine how the players felt. People around me were crying how hot it was and several bailed. Yet the Giants never stopped moving. They look EXTREMELY well-conditioned.

*Judge really does run an impressive outfit. I feel like I’m watching Alabama practice. The team works hard, and efficiently. Every position group is always working, there is no wasted time or guys standing around. In stark contrast to New England, obviously the gold standard, who moved around much more like usual pro teams I’ve seen practice. You couldn’t help but be impressed with the Giants energy and team discipline – I saw several Pats players peeking over. Whether it amounts to wins remains to be seen, but Judge looks like he’s running a football machine.

*Daniel Jones looked solid. I was in the end zone with a great view of the red zone drill, Pats vs. Giants. The first 2 plays were TDs to Engram and perfect strikes from Jones in traffic. Early in the practice, the Giants were practicing a ball placement drill, with the WR bubble screen and slant. Jones showed excellent accuracy. Overall, he didn’t do anything to wow, he just looked, moved and threw like a franchise QB. The Pats D forced him to check down a lot, which he did in excellent rhythm. (Part of his struggles have been not taking the checkdown on time, IMO.) Just like with Judge, we’ll see if the wins come, but Jones looks the part. I heard lots of “good throws” from the Pats fans sitting around me as Jones worked.

*I got a good look at the DBs and Jabrill Peppers is a different breed. He’s smooth and fluid, but much bigger than the other DBs. He put a big hit on a Pats WR crossing the middle. He looks calmer and more collected than he has in the past. He was surprisingly solid in coverage last year: if he’s getting comfortable in Graham’s D I think he’s got All Pro potential. Conversely, in DB drills, it was backpedaling and breaking on the ball for an INT. Tandems of 2. The last grouping was Beal and Madre Harper. You could hear the DB Coach yell “you gotta RUN!” after every rep they took. Never heard it with any other grouping. Really it looked like they were going 3/4 speed while everyone else was at game speed.

*Lots of guys moving in and out of the lineup. I saw C.J. Board and Dante Pettis getting reps with the 1’s. Also spotted Nate Solder at starting LT for the first 11 on 11’s.

*Lots of special teams work - the Pats spray paint vertical red lines on their practice fields about 10 yards in from each sideline to mark the alleys where the directional punts should land. Their P was consistently putting the ball inside the 5.

*For the Pats – Mac Jones looked like a veteran. He did a nice job moving their offense against the Giants 1st team D in the 2 minute drill. You can definitely see why they think he can do some of the same things Brady did. I was hoping the Giants D was going to stop him cold but they didn’t.