Training Camp Kickoff

When you put on any sports news network in the past couple of weeks, you might have noticed that football news was being broadcasted. Actual football news. Not like the Patriots signing Tim Tebow news, or Colin Kaepernick wearing a Dolphins hat news, but honest-to-God NFL news. This can only mean one thing... the football season is just around the corner! (Cue the Sam Spence song catalog.)

My baby's got a boo boo!

However, as excited as I am to see the Giants back at it, I still get worried like an over-bearing mother hoping that nobody will get injured like Jeremy Maclin, or Dennis Pitta. I mean Hakeem Nicks sits out of practice with a groin issue, and it’s like I’m watching my fat, hypothetical, un-coordinated child take a nose dive off of a skateboard.
   
Besides the injury news with Nicks, whose health is as questionable as A-Rod’s life choices, the Giants have a lot going on during this training camp.
   
They have to cultivate a consistent running attack with sophomore David Wilson and last year’s breakout Andre Brown. Coughlin is going to ride the hot hand with this tandem. The big concerns here are Wilson’s fumbling and Brown’s health.

The linebacker positions are up in the air. For the middle linebacker spot, the competition is mostly between Mark Herzlich and former Cowboy Dan Connor. Herzlich will most likely land the job because of his experience with Perry Fewell’s system.
The strongside linebacker job is being fought over by Keith Rivers and Aaron Curry. Rivers has the leg up due to being with the Giants for a season. It might come down to if he can stay healthy.
There is also a position battle for the weakside linebacker. It’s between Jacquain Williams and Spencer Paysinger. This position battle is a lot more of a toss up this off-season.

I was very interested to see how the offensive line will shape up this preseason, especially with the drafting of Justin Pugh. However, I turn back to that worrisome mother whose fat, hypothetical kid climbed up the ladder to the high dive when I found out that he got a concussion. Let’s see if he can come back quickly and add depth to an offensive line that’s aging quicker than that Nazi Walter Donovan at the end of Last Crusade. (I give myself a pat on the back for that timely reference.)

Out of all of this happening, the two players I’m most interested in seeing are Rueben Randle and Terrell Thomas.
Randle started impressing everyone while Nicks and Cruz were M.I.A. during the voluntary workouts and is continuing to impress everyone. He’s developing good on-field chemistry with Eli Manning. This will come in handy if Nicks gets hurt again, which is as inevitable as Adam Sandler never making a funny movie for the rest of his life.

"Here's a nice piece of sh*t!" - Billy Madison

Terrell Thomas, otherwise known as T2, has had two ACL injuries in the past two years, and the Giants’ have given him another shot to prove himself as a professional football player. T2 will most likely be used as a floating safety in passing downs, but no matter where he plays, he’ll be back.

So what have I learned?

Jerry Reese put everyone on notice. Which means that nobody is safe. It doesn’t matter that they won a Super Bowl a year ago. They haven’t made the playoffs in three of the past four years. Hopefully this will correct the problems with inconsistency that have plagued the Giants.

Like every other team, the Giants have many questions that need to be answered. Some will be answered during camp, like who will win the starting roles. While other questions need to be answered during the season, like will JP2 become the Haitian of Domination again, and will Stevie Brown continue to make big time plays this year.

I’m happy that injuries and position battles are the only news-worthy events in camp. I’d hate to see someone on the Giants on trial for murder, or see a video of someone dropping an “N-Bomb” at a Kenny Chesney concert.

I just hope my hypothetical child makes it through the summer relatively unscathed. So here’s to the Giants’ health holding up like John Stamos’ looks.

"Haaaaave merrrrcyy!"