Victor Cruz Among Seven Rookies Surviving Giants' Cuts
by David ElfinWhere new Redskins coach Mike Shanahan only kept two of his six draft picks, the Giants kept all five of the players they chose in April who are healthy. Linebacker Adrian Tracy and defensive back Chad Jones are on injured reserve.
Only two starters from last year's Giants, defensive tackle Fred Robbins, who signed with St. Louis as a free agent, and middle linebacker Antonio Pierce, who retired, are gone -- replaced by holdovers Chris Canty and Jonathan Goff. Two is also the number of rookie free agent receivers on New York's roster. Derek Hagan and Domenik Hixon have been replaced by Duke Calhoun and Victor Cruz, who led the NFL with 297 receiving yards and four touchdowns in preseason.
The departures of Hixon and defensive tackle Jay Alford (the first of eight members of his 2007 draft class to be let go) leaves 22 Giants who played in the unforgettable upset of the unbeaten New England Patriots 31 months ago in Super Bowl XLII.
by David ElfinJust two months after becoming the Giants' coach in 2004, Tom Coughlin signed Shaun O'Hara from Cleveland. Only fellow offensive linemen David Diehl and Rich Seubert and defensive end Osi Umenyiora have been in New York as long as O'Hara.
After six-plus years with the dour Coughlin, O'Hara certainly has a good feel for his coach. And after a decade in the NFL, O'Hara has a good feel for his body, which felt good enough today for him to return to practice after most much of August with a sprained left ankle. He had a cast on it for a week before it was removed last Wednesday.
"Obviously being back out on the field and being out with the boys is always a good feeling," O'Hara said. "I thought it went well today and it wasn't a rigorous practice by any means. It was just good to get out there to run around and sweat a little bit. It's been frustrating. It was something that at one point it'd feel like it was getting better and then it would take a different turn without exactly knowing why. It just was frustrating not being able to practice, and going into my 11th year now, I haven't really had anything like this. It was tough every day not knowing how it was going to respond."
by Dan Graziano
ALBANY, N.Y. -- The Giants would have you believe that this year will be different. That's the chatter going around training camp, as a defense that allowed more points in 2009 than every other NFL team besides the Lions and the Rams talks redemption.
There's a new coordinator, Perry Fewell, as well as a couple of new safeties in Antrel Rolle and Deon Grant and a new middle linebacker (if his surgically repaired knee holds up) in Keith Bulluck. All of that, plus a sense of anger and disappointment over the way they played defense last year, is going to be enough to restore the Giants to respectability in 2010. This, at least, is what they would have you believe.
"There's no doubt it's going to be better this year," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "I have no doubt. Just look at the talent we have on this team. Look at the names."
That's the Giants' mantra: look at the names, not at the numbers. Not at the actual, on-field performance. Because if you look at that -- at the way, for example, they got manhandled Monday night when it was starters-vs-starters in their preseason game against the Jets -- the stuff they're saying about how much better it's going to be in 2010 gets kind of hard to believe.