NFL

Coughlin adjusting to new age of GPS trackers and ‘cool-downs’

It wasn’t hot or humid and there was more cloud cover than bright sunshine. Still, Tom Coughlin cut 20 minutes out of his scheduled practice on Thursday and instructed his Giants to go inside their field house to line up and engage in a detailed cool-down designed to keep their muscles fresh and loose.

“Recovery and stretch,’’ Coughlin explained.

Can you imagine the poor soul who had to convince Coughlin of this new protocol? The Giants, in an attempt to maximize performance and decrease the number of soft-tissue injuries in training camp, study data collected from GPS monitors strapped to their players. This new technology gauges heart rate, acceleration and speed and is used to determine a player’s exertion.

“It tries to help us structure the practice, lets us know when we should be doing such things as this, cutting down on some of the reps on the field,’’ Coughlin said. “The whole purpose is to go have a full-speed practice [Friday].’’

Coughlin grew up in a football world where two-a-day practices in the hot sun were standard operating procedure but those days are long gone.

How is he handling this new-age coaching?

“Well, I’m doing the best I can, how about that?’’ he said.


WR Rueben Randle estimates “at least 80 percent’’ of the interceptions on passes intended for him by Eli Manning were the result of miscommunication. The new offense has fewer options on the routes run by the receivers, which should reduce the number of interceptions.

“I think all of them can [be],’’ Randle said of eliminating the turnovers.


Rookie WR Odell Beckham Jr. did not practice because of his strained hamstring, a recurrence of the issue that cost him so much work in the OTAs.

“Let’s face it, I don’t want it to be like it was in the spring,’’ an increasingly frustrated Coughlin said. “We need to get the guy back out, get him back on the field.’’


Larry Donnell is listed as the starting TE on the first unofficial depth chart distributed by the team. All five tight ends on the roster are getting close to equal time as the coaching staff attempts to find a pecking order. “Day to day different guys do things well,’’ said Coughlin, adding Donnell “did a couple of really good things’’ on Wednesday.

More: Henry Hynoski is listed ahead of John Conner at fullback, Cullen Jenkins and Mike Patterson are the starting defensive tackles (with Johnathan Hankins and Markus Kuhn the second-team DTs), the starting linebackers (sans injured Jon Beason) are rookie Devon Kennard, Jameel McClain and Jacquian Williams. Quintin Demps is the No. 1 kickoff returner and Trindon Holliday is the No. 1 punt returner.


There’s more criticism of the Giants for recently hiring David Tyree as their director of player development despite his history of anti-homosexual and anti-gay marriage comments.

This from Sheilah Sable of the Empire State Pride Agenda: “The message the New York Giants are sending by hiring someone who so publicly expresses his ignorant views on issues that some NFL players may be grappling with, will prove damaging to the many young people who pay close attention to the sport and related news.’’ Sable added “Tyree’s hiring says to [football fans] that it’s OK to hate someone because of who they are.’’


More practice notables:

– There has been a Victor Cruz sighting. After two quiet practice sessions, Cruz caught his first two passes in the team period, one a quick-hitter over the middle, the second a deeper completion along the right side.

– The deep passing game continues to struggle. Manning came up painfully short on his throw to Jerrel Jernigan and Ryan Nassib, rolling to his left, failed to locate a wide-open Mario Manningham – who was waving his arms. Instead, Nassib dumped the ball off to TE Kellen Davis. The only long completion of the day was by Curtis Painter to Corey Washington.

– Bat downs: Damontre Moore got Nassib’s pass at the line of scrimmage and Mathias Kiwanuka knocked down Manning’s attempt.

– New DE Robert Ayers was very active during one team period, buzzing around the quarterback.

– Manning’s best pass of the day was a fade to Jernigan, who got a step on CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and appeared to find his way into the end zone.

– Josh Brown clanged one of his field goal attempts off the right goal post. He’s the incumbent and a proven veteran, but he’s getting some real competition from Brandon McManus, a rookie from Temple.

– Kennard had a nice pass breakup of a ball thrown to Donnell.

– Tight end Adrien Robinson, says he prefers the new offense installed this year because of the different routes and because the tight end moves around instead of being more stationary at the line of scrimmage. “I know I can produce, that’s why I’ve been here,’’ Robinson said. “People wonder why I’ve stayed around and there’s a reason I’m here, so I’m just ready to go out there and show everyone why. I feel like they believe in me and I believe in myself, so this’ll be the time to prove it. The time is now, yeah.’’

– The Giants will be in shoulder pads for the first time on Friday and, after a day off, will be in full pads on Sunday.