The Saints are doing it. So are the Patriots. Those are two fairly successful teams with established head coaches, proven systems in place and Super Bowl pedigrees.
So why aren’t the Giants doing it?
“What we need to do,” Justin Tuck stressed, “is do us.”
At the moment, what “us” is for the Giants is not much of anything when it comes to organizing team workouts to combat the forced inactivity of the lockout. Around the NFL, players are stepping out of their comfort zones and arranging for group practices to offset the absence of the team-supervised offseason workout programs and organized team activity sessions.
Not every team has been as conscientious as the Saints, who at the urging of Drew Brees often have at least
40 players for their workouts. The Patriots had 40-something players, including Tom Brady, at their practices. Within the Giants’ own division, the Cowboys have had as many as
45 players attend, and the Redskins, led by linebacker London Fletcher, welcomed in about
30 players for light workouts together.
The Super Bowl champion Packers have yet to organize anything together.
The Giants haven’t joined in. Eli Manning for two weeks invited offensive players to work with him at Hoboken High School. Just 11 of Manning’s teammates obliged, and several of them are not likely to be on the roster whenever the 2011 season starts.
“We’re not worried about what he Saints are doing or what the Patriots are doing,” Tuck said. “We’re smart enough to understand what we need to do and we’ll get it done. I think Eli did a great job with the offense, getting the work in, and we’re talking about getting the defense together. Will that happen? I don’t know. We’re already in discussions with it. I know for a fact what my guys are doing, I know they’re still focusing on football, and they know that this thing can end at any time. We’ll be ready to go when the NFL is ready to go.”
Without the lockout, the Giants would have been working daily at the Timex Perform ance Center, gearing up for a mandatory three- day veteran mini-camp June 14-16 and then splitting up until training camp. The feeling seems to be that with continuity in the coaching staff and veterans liberally sprinkled throughout the roster the Giants don’t need to do too much to get ready. There’s also the ever-present notion that all these team-sponsored workouts and OTAs are extreme overkill and won’t be missed.
“I’m not really concerned about our team. . . . We’re not installing any new offenses or defenses. We’re a pretty veteran team,” center Shaun O’Hara said. “I bet we could start training camp tomorrow and probably 90 to 95 percent of the guys know exactly what to do. We can run plays tomorrow without any meeting time, film time, anything like that. So that’s not a concern.”
Rather than display angst about the lockout, many veterans admit they are appreciating their freedom.
“Right now I’m enjoying this time, more time with the kids,” linebacker Michael Boley said.
Part of the difficulty with organizing a large team workout, especially in the New York area, is that players are spread out all over the country.
“There really aren’t a lot of guys in the area,” O’Hara said.
Players are always off in July, meaning nothing will be arranged that late.
“A lot of guys already had trips planned. A lot of guys already paid to go out to Arizona or California or wherever, so it’s kind of hard to turn around on plans when you know every year that’s what you do,” Tuck said. “I think that’s where the lockout has kind of thrown our timing off. But we’ll get it right.”
Figure if the lockout remains in place, the last week or two of this month is the time for the Giants to put something together — something not too demanding.
“The injury factor is looming over all of our heads with respect to this lockout,” O’Hara said. “There could be a place for a workout as long as it’s controlled, nothing competitive, more of a mental workout than anything. If the time comes we’ll look into that.”