Two years ago, the team traveled to Atlanta to practice with the Falcons. Whether a potential dustup is as nasty and violent as the brawl between Washington and Houston this past weekend – or the one between the Giants and Jets in 2005 that caused Coughlin’s 10-year hiatus from participation in such practices – remains to be seen.
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Which brings us to the Giants’ upcoming week. Tom Coughlin and Bengals coach Marvin Lewis want to ensure that post-play skirmishes are not part of the action. Many coaches and fans all over the league are anxious about another Texans vs. Redskins fight, but both coach Coughlin and Lewis have stated that fighting will not be tolerated. “Marvin and I have already talked about that, last spring”. “I think between Coach Lewis and Coach Coughlin, they’ll set the stage right and make sure we are respectful and don’t want any injuries or anybody to do anything stupid in those practices”. He is been doing simply that because the Giants undergo their annual summer time coaching camp.
But while he’s arguably the closest thing that the NFL has ever had to a global superstar, Beckham Jr. has a long way to go before making a place for himself alongside the greatest to ever play the game. “We’re here to have two good days of work and football”. Well the time has come and now the Bengals will have their first test of 2015. “As a lot as I assured them that I will not, they nonetheless will not permit me”. The Giants will stay in Cincinnati, for the team’s preseason opener on Friday at Paul Brown Stadium, where they are 3-0 against the Bengals in the preseason. “You see scuffles break out and it’s your own teammates, so imagine if it’s an opposing team”. “We’re not going the destructive route and starting fights and that stuff”. They’re tough against the run and they run the ball extremely well.
“Maybe have your ones take a few more reps than they normally would because of the way the game will be played. Because it’ll be faster, it’ll be more physical”.
The Giants’ coaches are hoping it isn’t. “I think it will be good”. “It’s always great for an offense to go against a different defense”.
“Players like myself, you get in that mode, once you get that one catch, that one hit, and you get that one first down, you’re ready to go”, Cruz said. Guys are going to have to really understand and know the rules of their assignments and their fundamentals, and do everything perfectly.
The concern, of course, is players getting too worked up.
“I just think going out and having a couple practices against somebody else, (there will be) a little more intensity, especially going into that first game”, Coughlin said about his change of heart regarding joint practices, which will see the players don full pads on Tuesday and uppers on Wednesday. “So I’m kind of going in (and) whatever it is, is whatever it is”. “They don’t want me to get over-competitive and go out there and do something insane”.
That seems to be the attitude of numerous Giants’ players as they prepare for the Bengals and the nearly inevitability that someone or something will spark a heated exchange between the two teams at some point. “It’ll be physical, I’m sure, which we’re excited about”.
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“It’s feeling good. Like I said before, things are getting better”, he said of his healing knee. “That’s kind of what I’m looking at, but you know you’ve got to take it one day at a time”.
