T-Rock's Take on the Giants

So I'm heading out of the building last night after scribbling away on the fifth floor of the Tiffany & Co. building in Manhattan. I'd just learned how to spell "Feagles" and filed my story. I took the freight elevator to the ground floor, exited through the service entrance onto 57th street, and turned left onto 5th Ave. The velvet ropes, signs and blue carpets were still set up and there was a Tiffany's employee standing there watching over the setup until a crew could come in and disassemble it.

The employee is talking to an older woman and a man I'm guessing is her husband. But there's something familiar about the woman, and as I brush past her I hear her voice and have to do a double-take.

Honest to Eli, it was Joan Rivers! I'd just jokingly blogged about her being there earlier in the day, suggesting that she ask the coaches and players what they were wearing.

There isn't a star-studded carpet -- red or blue -- that she can avoid. Too bad she was a few hours late for the hoopla.

A few other notes from the Blue Carpet entrance to the ring ceremony:

Zak DeOssie was the first to arrive. He said said he remembers getting hit on the head by his father's Super Bowl ring when he was younger. This is a lot different than the way they used to do things. The previous Super Bowl champions were given their rings in a "ceremony" in the film room at the Stadium on the first day of minicamp.

The crowd that gathered at the entrance to Tiffany & Co. was mixed with Giants fans who were there by appointment and passers-by who stumbled on the show. Many pedestrians had to ask what was going on. "The Giants? That's a football team, right?" asked one woman who was told what was happening.

Most of the players and coaches rolled in in three charter buses helped by a police escort. Some of the other players provided their own transportation and came in limos and luxury SUVs. They were dropped off on 57th Street and walked in the Fifth Ave. entrance to the store.

Here's the fashion report I promised: The best-dressed was R.W. McQuarters in a three-piece suit. Most players simply wore suits and open-collar shirts. Yes, O'Hara's hair was neatly combed. No, Eli did not wear a tie.

Free-agent departure Gibril Wilson said he flew in from Atlanta today for the ceremony. "A couple of guys told me about it and I was like 'Man, I gotta get up there to get my ring'" he said. "These are my boys, the guys that I came in with. To accomplish what we accomplished was a great thing and we're going to be linked forever." another free-agent former Giant, Kawika Mitchell said getting his ring "seals the deal."

Lt. Col. Greg Gadson walked into the building on his prosthetic legs. He said he was touched to be included in the ring ceremony by the Giants. He said having a Super Bowl ring will mean somethin different from his other piece of jewelry, his West Point class ring. But he said he's got two hands so he can wear one on each.

And Brandon Jacobs wasn't too thrilled about the timing of the ring ceremony since the team begins its OTAs tomorrow morning. "I think it's terrible timing. We can't really go out and enojy getting your ring and everything. But a lot of guys are excited to get it. Instead of making us work tomorrow they could have pushed the work back and still gotten our rings tonight, but that's not how it goes. We have to get up in the morning and get ready to go to work and work towards another one of these things."

Strahan won't have that problem.

Asked what he'll be thinking when he's presented his ring, Jacobs said "We upset their (butts)."

Strahan, by the way, showed up escorted by Eddie Murphy's ex-wife Nicole.

The players and coaches just finished filing into Tiffany & Co. a few minutes ago and we have been whisked away to the fifth floor boardroom. We saw just about everyone file into the place -- Strahan, Eli -- but gave up waiting for Plaxico and Feagles. The notable guys who skipped the event are Shockey and Pierce, who is on his honeymoon. Torbor did not show but Mitchell and Wilson were here.

Strahan spoke about wearing the ring: "As bad as I want it I'm gonna wear it, but I can't wear that ring all the time. It may be a little too overblown and I'm not a too overblown type of guy. So I'm going to wear it when the occassion calls for it."

Then Strahan was asked if this is the kind of thing that would make him want to come back for another season.

"We're not even going there," Strahan said. "You're ruining the interview."

Today's the day the Giants get their Super Bowl rings. It would have been easier from a deadline perspective as well as a headline writer's dream had they wrapped the ceremony around an earlier meal -- Breakfast at Tiffany's is too hard to pass up -- but it'll be tonight. The private ceremony, which will include a "blue carpet arrival" for the players and staff, should be fun. Especially when Joan Rivers asks Tom Coughlin who he's wearing. Steve Tisch should at least be at home with the hoopla.

Before they get their jewels, though, the veteran players will spend today taking their physicals before the start of OTAs, which I've been told get underway tomorrow. There will be two of the workouts before we get a chance to see them on Tuesday for OTA #3.

There are a few things I'll want to be keeping an eye on when we get to see the whole team on the field -- I want to see how Sinorice Moss stacks up against a pretty talented and deep receiver group, I want to see how the early backup QB competition stands, and I want to see where Mathias Kiwanuka is lined up. But we'll get into all of those things next week.

For now, check back here tonight for the dish on the diamonds. We'll update with who's there, who's not, who said what, and maybe even a little bit of a fashion rundown (although my expertise in that last area may include lame insights such as "Eli wore a tie" and "O'Hara had his hair neatly combed").

By the way, click below in case you forgot what the real rings look like:

Lt. Colonel Greg Gadson is on ESPN2's "First Take" right now (at about 10:53 a.m.). Thanks to the loop, it'll be on again at 12:53 here in the east.

He said last year he spent Memorial Day getting out of intensive care ... and it happened to be his wedding anniversary.

Happy Memorial Day.

These OTAs are typically pretty laid-back affairs. Lots of jogging around in shorts and helmets. Impressions can be made but jobs are usually not in the balance.

But this year, the Giants will have an OTA quarterback competition. In other words, one of the fellas in the crowded group won’t be able to make a statement in training camp. To paraphrase Thunderdome: Five men enter, four men leave.

Click below for a quick handicapping of the QBs who will start competing this week.

This is a big transition week for the Giants. They get their Super Bowl rings and begin their OTAs, code-name for organized team activities. After spending the last few weeks trying to “turn the page” on the 2007 championship season, it finally flops over this week. To be fair, it’s a very heavy page.

“It is new for most of us, coming off a Super Bowl win,” defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said recently (recently being one of those vague journalism words that in this case means about a week ago). “I have been on the other side and came off a Super Bowl loss, and it is not quite as tough to motivate. But I have a tremendous amount of trust in the veteran leadership.”

One of the guys who knows about defending a Super Bowl championship is Mike Pope, the tight ends coach who was with the Giants for their previous titles. In between questions about Jeremy Shockey last week, Pope was asked about the difficulty of starting a season as a champion. He said there is a balance between young players getting better and older players getting, well, older.

“I look at a lot of our players in the weight room and I know we’re bigger and stronger than we were at this time a year ago,” he said. “A lot of our young players you can really see a marked difference.

“Should those guys play better with a year behind them? Absolutely. You’d like to think that a lot of those players will come back and be better players than they were.”

Yes, according to his position coach, Dave Merritt, who’s had a few days to work with the first-round draft pick at safety.

“This kid, in the classroom, has shown unbelievable recall for the defense,” Merritt said. “We put in things back early in the (rookie) minicamp and he’s able to recall it here it is a week or two later. I’m very excited about that.

"As far as his God-given ability mentally, this kid is very good."

Phillips still has some work to do on covering routes and finding proper angles, but Merritt said Phillips’ approach is perfect so far.

He’s also showing some signs of a top-notch ballhawk. Merritt said there was one play in the rookie minicamp in which Phillips was able to get from the middle of the field to the outside edge of the numbers. Phillips didn’t show much of that ability in college; he was mostly an in-the-box safety at Miami.

“Kenny going back and playing the middle post, I would have no problem with that,” Merritt said. “As far as a box safety, he’s got the size of a linebacker. He’s not as heavy as some of the linebackers, but the kid has a nice bone structure to him. I think he’s gonna be able to play both. I know he is. He’s gonna have to.”

Merritt said that right now James Butler is the starting strong safety and Michael Johnson is the starter at free safety. New additions Sammy Knight and Kenny Phillips will be learning both positions.

“Once the season comes along we’ll start to weed it out and put the guys in their position,” he said, “but right now we’d like for these guys to learn it all, both positions.”

That's Mike Pope, tight ends coach, not the dude in Rome. We had access to the assistant coaches today and Pope was among the more popular targets since he's the guy who is in th ebest position to talk about Jeremy Shockey.

I'm writing this for the paper on Wednesday and it should be online shortly so I'll link to it then, bu here's what you need to know:

Pope thinks Shockey was disappointed that he wasn't on the team during the Super Bowl run.

Pope thinks it's "ludicrous" of people to think that Eli Manning got better because of Shockey's absence, calling it "demeaning to both players."

Pope expects Shockey to be here for all mandatory activities, including the minicamp next month and training camp at the end of July.

Pope said that Shockey has not indicated any displeasure in the Giants' offense or his role in the sysytem.

Pope said that the Giants are a better team with Shockey and he hasn't spoken to anyone who has indicated that he would not be welcomed back.

And Pope said once the team gets together and starts playing football, all of the outside distractions usually disappear.

Brandon Jacobs said he has a goal for the upcoming season: To play in all 16 games.

“I think I’ve proven myself as far as me playing and I can get it done,” he said. “But there is a doubt in a lot of peoples’ minds whether or not I can stay healthy, so I’m going to give that to people too. There are doubts all over the place, man. You just have to beat them.”

Jacobs missed time during the 2007 season with a sprained MCL against the Cowboys in the opening game of the year and then a hamstring injury against the Lions.

“Somebody got blocked into the side of me in Dallas, that very, very, very, very seldom happens,” he said of his first ailment. “Then I jumped in the air against Detroit and pulled my hamstring jumping in the air. How dies that happen? I have no idea but it happened. It’s a freak thing that happened. I’m back to prove myself and show that I can go 16 games and do what I do.”

Jacobs also had a procedure on his wrist during the offseason, something that came to light when he showed up at a Knicks game at MSG wearing a cast.

“My wrist is good,” he said. “There was never nothing big about it, it was just something that had to be cleaned out.”

Jacobs then added a quick statistical interpretation, saying that he ran for 1,009 yards while missing five and a half games and the NFL leader ran for only 1,474. If he’d remained healthy, Jacobs inferred, he’d have finished the season with 1,513 yards.

Even though some of his linemates have received extensions or new contracts this offseason, Chris Snee will happily play the final year of his contract with the Giants without trying to figure out if he’s next.

“I’m happy for them,” Snee said. “Anytime you see a fellow lineman and a good friend get something that he deserves, I’m happy for him.”

On the possibility of negotiating with the Giants now instead of next year when he could hit the free agent market, Snee said: “It’s something that if it happens I would love to stay here but for this year I’m a member of this team and I’m looking forward to the season. We’ll face that when the time comes.”

“I’m not worried if I’m next. I know my time will come.”

Snee is in a unique position, the son-in-law of coach Tom Coughlin. But the guard said that won’t figure into any of the back-and-forth between the player and the team.

“It’s what’s best for my family, my wife and my children,” he said. “We’re all adults here, this is a business. There’s no allegiance to one player for one particular reason. I don’t think that’s a factor.”

As for his preparation for the season, Snee said he is working hard because he knows that the Giants will be targeted by every opponent as the defending Super Bowl champion. And he said he’s looking forward to getting to work in Albany in July, when the defense truly begins.

“I’m very happy with where I am. I’m an employed member of this team for the upcoming season. I am not disgruntled or unhappy with my current deal. It’s one that I had signed and I really don’t think that there’s an issue to be discussing.

“I will be there and I will be ready to go.”

Last week he said so in a Boston radio interview (during which he dissed a team with four letters in their name -- Rams? Bucs? Pack?) but on Sunday he really went way beyond the call of duty to prove his devotion.

There, sitting next to the Cleveland bench for Game 7 of the NBA Playoff series between the Cavs (another four-letter team!) and the Celtics was America's Quarterback wearing ... a Giants hat!

Of course it was a baseball Giants hat, black and orange. And those Giants aren't exactly championship timber . But it was a big step for Brady. (Thanks to The Big Lead for snagging the pic!)

I guess he left this cap in Gisele's apartment:

Ann Mara, wife of the late Giants owner Wellington Mara, will receive an honorary doctorate of humane letters at Saturday's commencement ceremonies at Fordham University.

Wellington Mara graduated from Fordham in 1937, Ann's son John Mara, the Giants CEO, is a graduate of Fordham Law (1979), and her grandson Sean Mara was a freshman at Fordham and a member of the Fordham football team this year.

PBS TV host Charlie Rose is scheduled to give the commencement address.

The Giants roster was trimmed from a bloated 80 to a svelte 79 when they cut DE Antonio Reynolds. The team just confirmed this subtle roster move. Word is they had a former Coughlin protege in for a tryout this week, former Jaguars first-round DE/DT Renaldo Wynn.

I don't know why the Giants would be snooping around veteran defensive ends. They already have Osi and Tuck and Straha ... ahhh, now I get it!

No. But it would be fun to hear her, um, unique brand of color commentary on the preseason games. Imagine Coughlin leaves Eli Manning in during the third quarter of one of those meaningless contests? She could blurt out her now famous catchpharse!

The Giants just announced a multi-year agreement with WNBC -- Simmons' employer by the way -- to broadcast preseason games. This year there will only be two of them -- the Browns game is a Monday nighter and the Jets game will go on their broadcaster (WCBS, if memory serves). Channel 4 will get the rematch between the Giants and Patriots on Aug. 28 in which all of those heroes from Super Bowl XLII will be on the sidelines watching people you've never heard of give one last attempt to crack the 53-man roster.

Bob Papa, the voice of the Giants, will handle play-by-play duties, with Carl Banks providing color commentary and Howard Cross reports from the sideline.

I do think Simmons would be a natural for the booth. Both she and the Giants work blue. (Rimshot: ba-dum cha!)

A kicker who was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Giants after the draft, Owen Tolson will spend his summer shooting missiles and helicopters out of the skies near El Paso rather than directing punts and trying to make pressure-packed field goals in Albany. The soon-to-be West Point graduate who still has a week of classes and a week of exams left, was waived by the Giants today, one of a number of moves that included the signing of seven tryout players.

"Even if I make the Giants, graduating from West Point is going to be the biggest accomplisment for me so far," Tolson said on Friday.

He'll report soon to Fort Bliss in his home state of Texas, where he'll be trained in air defense and how to shoot down enemy aircraft. Had he stayed with the Giants, he would have been able to participate in a relatively new program at the USMA that allows cadets with special talents to buy back their active duty time and spend time as a reservist and in recruiting efforts.

Here are the players the Giants signed, and you can click below for their bios as provided by the Giants:

DT Brian Soi, Utah
DT Nate Robinson, Akron,
DE Alex Morrow, USC
CB Miguel Scott, NC State
S Terrance Stringer, Tuskegee
LS Nick Leeson, Virginia Tech
OT Jacob Hobbs, Albany

Hobbs will be a bit of a celebrity when traing camp starts at his alma mater.

To make room on the roster, the Giants waived Tolson, LB Rory Johnson and DT Joshua Muse. They also formally announced the terminated contracts of TE Eric Butler and G Carnell (I'd walk a mile for a Camel) Stewart.

By the way, that gives the Giants 80 players plus their seven unsigned draft picks, so not all of the ones listed here are guaranteed a spot in training camp once those contracts start getting inked. But there will be some room because the Giants have already made it pretty clear they'll only be taking four of their five potential QBs to Albany and who knows what lurks in the heart of a certain defensive end.

Some of you were looking for a list of veteran players -- or at least those who aren't coming directly out of college -- who participated in this weekend's minicamp. Sorry it took a while, but here it is:

WR Todd Lowber
WR Brandon London
OL Brandon Torrey
LB Rory Johnson
CB Darren Barnett

In my haste to get you the list of players this weekend in a comment a few posts down, I also breezed right over FB E.J. Barthel, a rookie from UMass.

Of course, today well probably start hearing about cuts and signings so most of those names will become irrelevent. But at least they appeared somewhere in this blog at some point.

And no, I'm not getting D'Antoni money out of this deal.

The last chance for many of these players to make an impression has come and gone. The afternoon practice ended just a few minutes ago, and with it the on-the-field portion of the minicamp. The players will have meetings on Sunday morning and then fly home to kiss their moms for Mother's Day.

The tissue guys, Manningham and Woodson, were on the field and walking around with what appeared to be very slight limps, but they did not participate in the practice. WR Jeremy Young threw some passes during drills (and caught some passes during drills) but in 11-on-11, Willie Copeland took all the snaps. He must have a very tired arm right about now.

Mark Bavaro was here catching a glimpse of the workouts.

Kenny Phillips continued to work at both safety positions, playing free safety with the first team and strong safety with the third team. He said he'd prefer to be a ball-hawking free safety even though he played mostly in the box at Miami. And CB Terrell Thomas was covering the slot receiver a lot this afternoon, presumably working as a possible nickleback.

That's about it for now. I still have to write my newspaper story.

Oh, and I'd like to remind Mr. Dolan that I am a Cablevision Triple Play customer. As they say on the traffic and weather reports on channel 61, you won't find me on satellite or phone company TV. And I love your Radio City Christmas Spectacular!

And now we enter the veteran player portion of our program, hosted by Kevin Gilbride and Steve Spagnuolo. Both spoke with the media today and touched on the status of their most tittilating pupils of the offseason -- Michael Strahan and Jeremy Shockey.

"It's so nebulous right now, you just have no idea what's gonna happen," Gilbride said of Shockey and trade rumors that continue to simmer if not swirl as they did during the draft. "Right now he's on our team and we're planning on him being there. He'll be one of the guys that we'll feature and one of the guy's that we'll look to depend on. Hppefully he'll be here in good spirits and ready to do the things that we know he's capable of doing. But who knows, it's certainly beyond my hands."

Gilbride said he spoke with Shockey on the phone and expressed his own desire to have the tight end back. Gilbride didn't say what Shockey said or if he expressed a desire to be back.

As for Spagnuolo and Strahan, they've kept their distance this offseason as far as communications. A rift? Nah, Spagnuolo just said that's always been his philosophy, to leave the players alone during the offseason.

"We just kind of wait and go, we just move on," Spagnuolo said of waiting to hear a retirment decision from Strahan. "We try not to miss a beat."

As for the position of Mathias Kiwanuka, a possible replacement at defensive end should Strahan retire, Spagnuolo jokingly asnwered a question about his position by saying "What's today's date?"

He went on to say that barring injuries or unforseen circumstances, Kiwanuka is a linebacker. "We kind of committed to this thing last year and he made some strides," he said. "Right now he's working to be a linebacker."

Had a nice chat with WR D.J. Hall from Alabama, one of the early stars of this camp. He said he was very disappointed in not being drafted (no one from the school was this year) and he signed with the Giants even though they appear pretty stacked at his position.

"Ain't much I can do about it now," he said of his late April weekend of despair. "I didn't really want to know (why he wasn't drafted), I just wanted to get to a team and I came here."

On signing with the Giants, he said:

"This is a perfect program to be in and plus I got along with the receivers coach (Mike Sullivan) at the Senior Bowl and I like the atmosphere."

He said there are similarities in the way Coughlin and Alabama coach Nick Saban run their teams. He also said he's received positive feedback from the staff here.

"I made a few plays, but I'm not satisfied," he said. "They tell me to keep up what I'm doing."

With Manningham sidelined -- and O.C. Kevin Gilbride hinting that there were plays drawn up for the afternoon which would have tested him as a deep threat -- Hall could take advantage of the injury and continue to make a name for himself.

The two offensive players drafted by the Giants this year both left the field with injuries this morning and neither will participate in this afternoon's final workout of the minicamp.

Neither injury appears to be serious as both players walked off the field under their own power.

Mario Manningham tweaked his left hip while making an abrupt stop on a pass pattern. He went to the sideline, trying to stretch it out, and wound up putting ice on it. He managed to stand among the players for the rest of the practice but did not participate.

Andre' Woodson's injury was to his left quad, and he remained on the injury truck with the leg elevated for the rest of the practice. That left Willie Copeland to handle ALL of the quarterbacking duties (even though someone ran into the locker room to fetch a red jersey for Friday Morning Quarterback Jeremy Young who was moved to receiver by the afternoon, he never put it on). I just saw Young in the tunnel under the stadium and he said it's his understanding that Copeland will be the only QB this afternoon.

RB Jerome Messam also missed practice after injuring his leg on Friday. He rode the exercise bike on the sideline this morning. Coughlin said there was a fourth injury that a player was able to play through. He seemed disappointed by these "soft-tissue" injuries.

Both Manningham and Woodson should be fine by the full-team minicamp in June. Messam may be fine by then, too, but he'll probably be fine at home. The exercise bike is one step out the door for a tryout.

Two players who had signed free agent contracts with the Giants failed their physicals and had their contracts nulified, terminated, torn up, shredded, or whatever other drastic action you can think of. They were TE Eric Butler and G Camell Stewart. Butler had just had his contract announced yesterday, so his Giants tenure lastes only a few hours -- more than yours or mine, but brief nonetheless.

That means there's even more room for tryout players to make an impression and get a ticket to Hollywood. Oh, wait, that's on American Idol. I meant get a ticket to Albany. I get Albany and Hollywood confused sometimes, they are so alike. Not counting the draft picks, I count 76 players on the roster (give or take a defensive end who is contemplating retirement). The maximum number of players is 80.

I'll keep the update from this afternoon's practice to one post, mostly because I still have to write my story for tomorrow's paper. Here are the highlights:

Jeremy Young was a quarterback out of Southern Miss this morning. This afternoon he was a receiver, leaving all of the passing duties to Andre' Woodson and Willie Copeland. Young also changed his jersey number from a red 5 to a white 8 -- a lesson to keep those receipts from Modell's for all of you who ran out and bought your Young jerseys today.

Young, by the way, made one nice sliding catch over the middle during practice.

WR D.J. Hall continued to look impressive. He's got good speed and good hands. He caught another deep ball this afternoon from Woodson.

RB Jerome Messam, our friend from Graceland (not in Tennessee but in Iowa) College, looked to injure his right leg when he was tangled up in a passing drill, falling down while running an underneath route. Messam looked really strong -- big and fast at 6-4, 248 pounds -- but as a tryout it's tough to make an impression while limping. Don't worry about him, though. Messam is from Canada, so his medical bills will be covered.

Kenny Phillips had a good interception when he picked off a pass that bounced off the hands of TE Dale Thompson.

Manningham went against Terrell Thomas twice in one-on-one drills. The first time Thomas had the receiver covered on a deep route and knocked the ball away. The second time Manningham was also covered but made a nice one-handed catch reaching back for the football.

Ten blog posts in about 70 minutes. Everything you need to know about the first day of rookie minicamp. I'm heading out right now for the afternoon preactice. No doubt it will amazing to see how these young players have evolved in a matter of hours.

Check back tomorrow for more stuff. I know it's a Saturday and you're not going to be sitting at your desk clicking here to take your mind off work, but feel free to stop by anyway.

It's only the first day, but already Kenny Phillips and second-round selection Terrell Thomas envision themselves as starters for the Giants.

Asked if he thought there might be a starting job here for him, Phillips said: "Well hopefully, but I am just out here to compete and if I end up being a starting safety thank God."

Thomas was more direct.

"Without a doubt," he said to the same question. "I know they have some great corners with Madison, Dockery and Ross, but why wouldn’t I want to come in here and start? That’s what they drafted me for."

One of the more interesting stories of the rookie camp, believe it or not, is a punter.

Owen Tolson is here as an undrafted free agent, just a few weeks shy of graduating from the USMA at West Point. He's in the same highly-publicized situation as Lions draft pick Caleb Campbell, meaning that if he makes the team he won't have to serve his full active miltary duty of five years. Rather, he'll spend time as a recruiter and have to put in two years in the reserves after his playing days are finished.

"It's just a different mission," Tolson said of the possibility of avoiding active duty.

So for Tolson, he could either spend the next few years thinking about the hang time on his punts or trying to knock enemy planes and missiles out of the sky in air defense.

In case you didn't notice, the Giants already have a punter. So the chances of Tolson sticking around after training camp are pretty slim. It's actually common for punters to spend a few years dancing on the periphery of the league before sticking with a team, but Tolson won't exactly have that opportunity.

"I know it's going to be a lot harder for me than some of the other guys to come back after a year or so because the Army may need me elsewhere," he said. "I’m fully aware that I need to make a good impression now, get some good kicks on film, learn from Feagles, better my game, and hopefully I’ll stick around."

Asked about his first day as an NFL player, Mario Manningham noted that he made his share of mistakes (on the field). When told that Coughlin had said he showed flashes, he seemed pleased, but said no one has a perfect practice their first time.

"You’re not just, on your first day, going to get it Johnny on the dot," Manningham said.

Manningham may mix his metaphors a bit, and even produce a few new ones we didn't know about, but he looks to have all the skills that were promised on the field. In the end, he can come up with as many malaprops as he wants if he produces.

Kenny Phllips is wearing No. 21, a jersey he had asked for but wasn't sure he would get until he showed up for camp this week. It's a little strange to see someone wearing 21 other than Tiki Barber, but Phillips said he's doing it to honor fellow U. of Miami product Sean Taylor, the Redskins' safety who was shot and killed last year.

Phillips said he never met Taylor, but knew enough about him to want to honor him by wearing the number. In college, Phillips wore No. 1.

He worked out with the team yesterday!

In all the excitement over the future Giants, I nearly forgot to blog about the (perhaps) current one who is on everyone's mind.

The retirement-mulling defensive end was at the Stadium and had a conversation with Tom Coughlin.

"I had a chance to visit with him a little bit," Coughlin said. "But there is still no, he hasn;t said anything about what his plans are."

As for when a decision may come, Coughlin joked that it was the 4,000th time he'd been asked that (I'd take the over on that estimation, by the way).

"Basically, when he decides that, his term for it is, 'Whatever decision I make I know I am not going to change my mind so therefore I want to be right.'"

Still, it's seen as a pretty good sign that he was here with the team yesterday and that he had a chat with the coach.

Andre Woodson said the reality of being an NFL player hit him on the airplane coming to New York last night. Having never visited the Big Apple, he looked out the window on the approach and saw the glistening lights of Manhattan, the shyscrapers beckoning him to their concrete delight. Very nice. Strings of "Rhapsody in Blue" no doubt simmered in the background.

His real introduction to NY came this morning when one of the first questions he was asked during his media session was about the interception he threw on his first 11-on-11 pass. He laughed it off a bit. It was pretty clear that Woodson struggled -- tryout QB Willie Copeland seemed to have a better practice, for what that's worth -- but to be fair it's hard to judge an offense on the first day. And as practice progressed, he did improve. He even threw a nice long ball to D.J. Hall on a sideline go pattern for a sweet over-the-shoulder grab. Come to think of it, that was a better play by Hall than Woodson.

Woodson did make his calls at the line of scrimmage with authority. So he's got that going for him.

And so are two of the Giants linebackers. Had a chance today to talk with Bryan Kehl (pronounced "keel" as in even) and Jonathan Goff, the subjects of my camp preview article you may have read.

Both are interesting guys, and both looked good on teh field. The Giants had Kehl playing strong side linebacker, which he said was an adjustment coming from a 3-4 system at BYU. They had Goff in the middle, calling the defensive adjustments. He was very soft-spoken when talking with the media, but said he tries to be as communicative as he can be on the field.

Kehl said he and Goff hit it off immediately, and they looked pretty good playing side-by-side this morning. Each of them had an interception in 11-on-11 play. Both of those guys studied engineering in college. I wonder if they have any interest in the big Erector set just outside the building where the new stadium is being constructed.

... sometimes you're Tim Bugg. The tryout long-snapper had the biggest (and worst) hit of the practice when he clocked returner Willie Idelette during a slow-motion punting drill. The idea was for Bugg to cut in front of Idelette during the special teams exercise, but instead, Bugg made contact and sent Idelette flying cleats over helmet.

Oops!

By the way, the players wear only helmets and jerseys during the practices. They won't get into pads for a while. Not until the weather gets much, much hotter.

In the interest of driving up my total number of posts, I'll break all of the insights and notes from today's minicamp into individual headlines. Up first -- some thoughts from head coach Tom Coughlin.

"Back to the humility this morning," he said after watching the un-Super Bowl-caliber practice in the bubble outside Giants Stadium. "It's a humble start, a slow start."

Of course that's what he expected. The players had one meeting this morning and then spilled onto the field with all the precision of marbles in a wok (I tried to use that visual in my story for today's paper, but it was cut so now I'll use it here).

Coughlin also said he was impressed y first-round pick Kenny Phillips at safety and thought that WR Marion Manningham showed "a couple of flashes."

After practice the Giants draft picks and other players were paraded for the media. Before they arrived some from the PR staff began hanging signs on the wall showing where certain players would be standing or sitting. As soon as the sign for Mario Manningham went up, about 20 media vultures swooped in to surround the chair where the troubled receiver would soon be landing.

Yes, I was among the vultures.