Throughout the New York Giants’ offseason appearance on “Hard Knocks,” it was clear that GM Joe Schoen understood that a repeat of the chaos that was the 2023 season for the Giants would not be acceptable.
Schoen at times cited both the need to “win some damn games” and the fact that the Giants’ miserable, often uncompetitive 1-5 start last season could not be repeated.
Watching the Giants on the practice field, it’s clear they understand the pressure has increased.
When practice began for the 2023 season, the Giants had just completed a surprisingly successful 2022 season. They made the playoffs for the first time since 2016. They won a playoff game. Brian Daboll was the coach of the year. This shouldn’t have happened, and looking back, it’s clear that the 2022 Giants were an entertaining, overachieving bunch.
They were an exception. A team that was actually at the beginning of a rebuild with a new GM and a new head coach.
Unfortunately, they seemed to be preparing for the 2023 season believing they were an experienced, competitive team that was already there.
Competitive periods during spring training were almost non-existent. Players recovering from injuries did little to nothing on the field. Even training camp focused on 7-on-7 passing drills rather than 11-on-11 drills with the entire team.
Dan Duggan of The Athletic – God bless his overly detailed note-taking heart – has the full breakdown of the three training camps led by Daboll:
The Giants have held 11 intrasquad practices this summer. Jones has not thrown a single pass in seven-on-seven during those sessions. He threw 50 passes in seven-on-seven drills in the first 11 sessions of camp last year. Daboll used seven-on-seven drills sparingly in his first camp in 2022.
Those seven-on-seven attempts were immediately replaced with 11-on-11 work. Jones has made 205 attempts in 11-on-11 periods in 13 practices this camp. In last year’s camp, he had 157 attempts in 11-on-11 periods in 13 practices.
The Giants have also been practicing in full gear more this year. Tuesday will be their seventh full-gear practice of camp. A league-mandated adjustment period prevented the Giants from practicing in full gear for their first four practices, so they will practice in full gear for seven of a possible 10 practices this summer.
The Giants wore full gear at seven of 19 training camps last year, down from 10 of 19 training camps in 2022. The CBA allows teams to conduct a maximum of 16 practices in full gear during training camp.
Two of the Giants’ practices during this training camp lasted at least two hours: a grueling two-hour, one-minute session in 90-degree heat on Aug. 2 and a grueling two-hour, two-minute workout on Monday. Daboll’s practices never lasted longer than two hours in his first two training camps.
By the way, who keeps three years’ worth of notes that The detailed?
Anyway, this season everything is different. The Giants have trained harder. They have trained longer. They have trained more physically. Daboll demands more physicality.
After one of those two-hour practices in full gear on a day with over 90 degrees and a felt temperature on the field of over 100 degrees, I asked veteran defensive tackle Rakeem Nunez-Roches if it made him angry to train so hard and for so long in the sweltering heat.
“I’m not mad at him (Daboll). I love him like hell,” Nunez-Roches said. “Sometimes we might go to Florida. Sometimes we might go to the heat. Sometimes we might be in Arizona. You never know.”
“When it gets hot, that has to be an advantage for us, not a disadvantage. I will never question that. I prefer being outside here any day than inside.”
There have been cases where injured players like Jermaine Eleumunor and Brian Burns or bored players like Malik Nabers have forced themselves to return to training despite being held back.
“I think we’ve brought in guys that bring some toughness, young players, some experienced players, and again, this is a physical sport,” Daboll said after Thursday’s season opener. “Mentally and physically, being mentally strong and physically strong, I think that’s something you have to train for. You do that in training camp. It also depends on the type of people you bring in. I think Ghobi (special teams coordinator Michael Ghobrial) does a great job of that. I think Shane (defensive coordinator Shane Bowen) does a great job of that, the new coaches we’ve brought in. We’re still developing, but we’re going to try to be physically strong.
“We still have a long way to go, but I expect us to play physically demanding football. Is that always perfect? No, but the effort, the attention to detail, the concentration, the attention on the sidelines, the communication with the coaches, the chemistry between each other – that’s what you want to build. We’re not there yet, but we’re definitely trying to build that.”
Will it lead to more wins in 2024? Maybe. Maybe not. But it should give the Giants a better chance to be competitive early in the season.
