T-Rock's Take on the Giants

Before we get to the practice report, here's some of what safeties coach Dave Merritt had to say about his prized pupil:

"Whenever I'm looking at him I see a special player. I truly believe that he's going to have an impact on the Giants team as well as the community."

"Kenny, athletically, without a doubt, is one of the best ones that I have seen. The kid has unbelievable range. He can get from the middle of the field to the sideline just like that. And then for him to show up ... with the tackling ability, you just put that kid on turf he's that much quicker and faster."

There's more.

"Plaxico said something funny the other night to me. He said 'Coach Merritt, I'm going to be honest with you: I hate seeing guys like Kenny back there in the post because they're so fast and so rangy.' That intimidating factor, that there alone coming from a guy like Plaxico, means a lot. Overall, I look for great things out of him."

Merritt would not say that Phillips will be a starter in the opener on Sept. 4, but he said if he isn't it will be shortly thereafter. It's not very common to hear coaches talk about a rookie in these terms. Kenny Phillips is not a very common player.

On to practice:

Sinorice Moss had a good workout, although he didn't catch everything. In 11-on-11s he ran a post route that left Pope on the ground, but the throw from David Carr was too close to the sideline and Moss was in the middle of the field. That play has a * below. He came back and connected with Carr on a post leter in 11s, beating Darren Barnett (**). Later, while going against Dockery, he did a nice job of jumping up to catch a pass from Manning and hang onto it, boxing out the DB and wrestling the ball away. It was on the far side of the field so I can't be sure Moss got in bounds (especially with the lack of a forceout call now). Dockery got some high-fives on the way back to the huddle, so he might have been able to keep Moss from coming down in the end zone. Still, nice catch.

I mentioned Diehl didn't practice earlier. Guy Whimper and Adam Koets took turns taking his place with the starters. At one point it looked like it would be all Koets when Danny Ware took a handoff running left and got tangled up with Whimper, sending a crunch of bodies to the ground. Whimper came up limping, but he stayed in.

Too bad for Shane Olivea. Had he been healthy (back), he probably would get those reps with the ones with Diehl out. Coughlin seems to be losing some patience with Olivea, and it sounds like he;d better get back on the field soon if he wants to stick around.

Besides the 11s, there were some nice plays in 7-on-7s. Steve Smith made a nice move on Corey Webster, but Webster tugged on his jersey to prevent him from catching up with a long pass down the left sideline from Manning. Sammy Knight made a nice play breaking up a short pass from Manning to Jennings. And Brandon London made a great catch, using his size to outjump Dockery on a throw from Carr along the right sideline.

Here are your 11-on-11s. I gave that one play a W.W., which fans of Phil Rizzuto might know stands for Wasn't Watching.