The New York Giants held their last practice yesterday before their first preseason game of the 2019 NFL season. Big Blue will kick-off their 2019 pre-season facing Gang Green in a mini MetLife Bowl.
Players Who Stood Out:
Cody Latimer was able to get open on every level of the field yesterday. His best catches came against Janoris Jenkins. Latimer has been Jenkins’s best competition so far in camp.
DeAndre Baker gets fooled by Tate underneath once in a while but he continued to shut Tate down deep down the field. When Eli rarely tests DeAndre by throwing to Tate down the field, Baker usually gets a hand on the pass. He hasn’t offered much separation to receivers regardless of who it is. Don’t be surprised if he’s the best cornerback on the team heading into October.
Janoris Jenkins gave up some plays today but he was right there for the most part. The New York Giants will have two reliable outside cornerbacks that can play man to man coverage leaving room for creativity on defense.
Corey Ballentine might be a third cornerback who can play man to man on the outside and do it well. He’s a long and rangy cornerback who has made the most of his chances so far. He took some first-team reps and had another active practice like he always does. He also gave up some plays and usually does but he doesn’t look like a 6th round rookie.
Kareem Martin had a good practice but that might’ve had something to do with yesterday being a heavy blitzing day. He overwhelmed Nate Solder at times. If Oshane Ximines isn’t quite ready to play the team might be relying on Martin for some pass rush this year.
The entire defensive line including RJ McIntosh looked great. Until the team can play against some real competition we won’t know if the offensive line remains an issue or if these guys are just really good.
Eli Manning threw a real beauty yesterday deep to Cody Latimer. Daniel Jones has had a really good camp for a rookie but so far there isn’t a reason to talk about a quarterback competition. Eli has handled his business for the most part and is having his best training camp in years. Whether the situation continues this way into the season remains to be seen.
Camp Battles:
Ryan Connelly is getting reps with the first-team and got free for a would-be sack on Manning. He might be in line for significant playing time in 2019 if he continues to progress.
Corey Ballentine forced himself onto the first-team defense with great play and battled well, defending passes from Manning. He’s looking like a day 3 gem from the NFL Draft.
Kareem Martin isn’t going down easy as he’s been in line for a reserve/special teams role with the New York Giants. Yesterday he got the best of Nate Solder and would’ve had at least a couple sacks.
T.J. Jones has looked like one of the better reserve wide receivers and caught a touchdown against Corey Ballentine. He could end up being one of the backend receivers on this team after joining after the start of training camp.
Final Thoughts:
After the New York Giants’ last practice of the week, it remains fair to say the offensive line looks somewhat concerning. The line looks slightly better compared to last year but slightly isn’t good enough. There’s a possibility any offensive line would struggle against this defense. We will begin to get an answer when they take on the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium on Thursday, August 8th.