After a rough day on Tuesday, the New York Giants took the field for the second and final joint practice with the Detroit Lions on Wednesday. They’ll enjoy an off day on Thursday before their preseason opener on Friday night.
Prior to practice, head coach Brian Daboll refused to acknowledge the struggles of his team the day prior, instead calling the joint practices “productive” multiple times.
Buy Giants Tickets
“It’s practice so we are out here competing. I thought it was productive. We will go out here and try to have another one today,” Daboll said. “I’m not worried about chatter; I just want to go out there and have a good practice. Our guys were ready to go, I thought we had a good productive practice, and we will try to have one today.”
Lions head coach Dan Campbell said the joint practices should serve the team well enough to leave their starters out on Friday but Daboll wouldn’t commits to the same. It remains unclear who will and will not play.
“It’s just kind of like a Friday in the regular season. We’ll talk about that as a coaching staff tonight, tomorrow and come up with our decisions,” Daboll said.
Back on the field, all eyes were on quarterback Daniel Jones and the offense, who were looking to rebound from an ugly performance.
Here are some notes, takeaways, and video highlights from the final joint practice between the Giants and Lions:
Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK
One day after a rough performance drew a plethora of negative headlines, Daniel Jones bounced back in relatively dominant fashion.
Proving that the critical reaction was overblown, Jones shined in 7-on-7 and 11-on-11 drills early. He tossed several touchdowns, including two in the red zone, but also tossed a near-interception (ball was dropped).
Was Jones perfect? No, but there was a lot more good than bad — the exact opposite of Wednesday.
Lions head coach Dan Campbell was fired up prior to Tuesday’s practice and his team emulated that emotion. Their energy eclipsed that from the Giants and it showed on the field.
More aware of what to expect on Wednesday, the Giants raised their game and came out energized. As result, their performance on both offense and defense improved…significantly.
The Giants hope to bring Wednesday’s same intensity with them on Friday night.
Rookie wide receiver Jalin Hyatt sustained a minor issue to his wrist over the weekend and was forced to leave Wednesday’s practice to have it taped up.
Meanwhile, cornerback Rodarius Williams got tangled with a Lion during one of the practice drills and headed off to the sideline to be examined by trainers.
Both Hyatt and Williams (also a wrist injury) returned to the field.
The Giants gave wide receiver Sterling Shepard the day off for maintenance and basically did the same for running back Saquon Barkley despite him suiting up.
Barkley saw limited action on Wednesday as the Giants managed his workload.
Things were a little chippy on Tuesday and some words were exchanged, but the teams avoided a fight. Intensity picked up a bit more on Wednesday and that very nearly led to an exchange of blows.
Giants linebacker Oshane Ximines and Lions offensive tackle Germain Ifedi were the two that nearly set things off.
The Giants defense came to play on Wednesday and the entire unit seemed to make an impact. Forced fumbles came in bunches thanks to safety Dane Belton specifically (video a few slides down).
Beyond just the turnovers, the Giants defense was able to set the edge, dominate in the middle and generate a pass rush on the outside.
Undrafted rookie free agent Gemon Green also hauled in an impressive interception.
Check out our Latest News and Follow us at Facebook
Original Source
