Florham Park, N.J. - The New York Giants and New York Jets held joint practice on Wednesday afternoon, and if you’re a fan of good defense, as in Big Blue defense, then this wasn’t the day for you.
Simply put, the Jets offense, led by quarterback Aaron Rodgers, dominated the Giants' banged-up defensive secondary, which had one of its worst practices all summer.
Before getting into the details, the defensive secondary was missing David Long, Jr. and Cor’Dale Flott and rolled with Deonte Banks and Nick McCloud as the outside cornerbacks. McCloud, in particular, was no match for Jets receiver Garrett Wilson, who had himself a day connecting with Rodgers on several deep passes.
Aaron Rodgers ➡️ Garrett Wilson pic.twitter.com/n4B8k99Ru7
— Ralph Vacchiano (@RalphVacchiano) August 21, 2024
Rodgers got things started with a deep pass to Xavier Gipson, who burned Giants slot cornerback Darnay Holmes on the contested catch. Later, old friend Tyrod Taylor connected with Jason Brownlee for a long touchdown on another contested catch in which he beat Giants cornerback Mario Goodrich.
On the other hand, Giants receiver Malik Nabers’ much-anticipated matchups against Jets No. 1 cornerback Saue Gardner didn’t materialize, as Nabers mainly went against D.J. Reed.
And this was probably one of the worst practices Nabers had, by his own admission, in that he had drops that he would love to have had back, including a would-be touchdown thrown by Daniel Jones in which Nabers got behind the coverage only to drop.
On another play, Giants undrafted rookie defensive back Alex Johnson was in coverage against Brandon Smith, who beat him on a corner route. The Jets ended the day with two touchdowns on two different two-minute drives, effortlessly moving the ball down the field.
On one play, linebacker Bobby Okereke intercepted a tipped pass by Brian Burns, but Dru Phillips's defensive holding penalty in the end zone nullified the turnover. Rodgers finished off the drive by hitting Allen Lazard in the back of the endzone for a high-point touchdown.
With the backups, it was short and sweet for the Jets as former Giants backup Tyrod Taylor connected with Jason Brownlee for a long touchdown. Mario Goodrich and Alex Johnson were in coverage.
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There Was Some Good
Not all was lost for the Giants. Burns was dominating in one-on-one drills and getting through to Rodgers for at least one sack. Kayvon Thibodeaux held his own against Max Mitchell. Dexter Lawrence had his way with center Joe Tippmann.
Quinnen Williams, among the league’s best interior defensive linemen, won his one-on-one matchups. Rakeem Nunez-Roches had a draw against Wes Schweitzer. And Azeez Ojulari bested his man.
Giants Offense Finds Success But Lacks Explosiveness
On the flip side, the Giants' offense had a solid day overall. The clear focus was on easier completions and keeping the offense on schedule, and they did that.
Daniel Jones had a rough start to his day, throwing behind Malik Nabers in seven-on-sevens after he beat DJ Reed over the middle. Tight end Daniel Bellinger took a fair amount of snaps with the second-team offense.
By the end of the day, though, Jones was looking much more comfortable and even had Malik Nabers open for a touchdown on the two-minute drill, but Nabers dropped the ball.
After the first couple of periods, Jones picked up the play after a few check-downs. Once the confidence was built and the offensive line started picking up the pass rush better, Jones started to stand and deliver better balls.
There was one play where Jones stepped up in the pocket and delivered a ball to Theo Johnson, covered by Zaire Barnes, along the sideline for a chunk gain. Jones also tried another deep ball on Johnson, but the rookie dropped it.
The Giants offense spent a significant portion of practice running almost exclusively rollouts, where Jones found success whether he decided to keep it himself or make the pass.
The trickery was in full effect as multiple times we saw the Giants run boot slide or play-fakes that were assisted with some pre-snap or at-the-snap motion.
Backup quarterback Tommy DeVito spent most of the day taking the underneath completions once they opened up.
The offensive line in front of DeVito (from left to right) was Joshua Ezeudu, Jake Kubas, Jimmy Morrissey, Jalen Mayfield, and Evan Neal.
Multiple times, the Giants had receivers open and the ball was delivered in a good spot, only for the pass to be dropped. Tight ends Jack Stoll and Daniel Bellinger both had a drop.
Running back Eric Gray got de-cleated by Jets safety Chuck Clark but bounced right back up.
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Special Teams, Special Players
The Giants and Jets only ran special teams for a few minutes, but it was noteworthy that the Giants broke off a long return early on. Ayir Asante returned the kick, with Eric Gray as the lead blocker.
It’s tough to tell exactly how far the return went before they blew the whistle but it appeared that Asante was untouched for a touchdown.
Throughout practice, we also didn’t see Graham Gano miss any kicks, whether kicking individually or on team drills.
Injury Updates and Lineup Notes
Before practice, Giants head coach Brian Daboll said that several players were left behind to rehab including guard Jon Runyan Jr. (shoulder), tight end Lawrence Cager (hamstring), receiver Gunner Olszewski (groin), cornerback Cor’Dale Flott (quad), cornerback David Long (unknown), safety Jonathan Sutherland (unknown), and linebackers Matthew Adams (groin) and Dyontae Johnson (ankle).
Drew Lock did individuals, but was held out of team drills. Daboll was also asked if Runyan’s shoulder issue was cause for concern regarding Week 1 and he said no.
Tyler Nubin once again got reps with the starters, and it appears he might have passed Dane Belton for the starting safety role. Evan Neal worked primarily with the second-team offense, and he now seems to be in the mix for the swing tackle vacancy.
Bellinger worked with the second-team offense and had a red zone touchdown from quarterback Tommy DeVito.
