The New York Giants joint practice vs. the Miami Dolphins featured dominant New York defense, intense heat, and, of course, a few scraps when the physicality got out of hand. Here are some of the takeaways from Giants head coach John Harbaugh and a handful of Giants’ players.
Harbaugh said he felt the Giants were leaving the practice better than when they started it.
“We got a lot of good work done,” Harbaugh said. “I think we leave the practice a better team than when we came in. That was our goal.”
About those fights
There were several toward the back half of practice as the intense heat and physicality got to players.
“You’re not trying to do that, but it’s just football,” Harbaugh said. “It’s not a game, so you don’t have the same, quite, guardrails on it. And it’s a violent game. And so, in this sort of an environment, you have these rules of engagement that aren’t really rules of the game. And then somebody perceives somebody else goes over the line, or they do go over the line, and somebody needs to protect somebody, and that’s where it goes.
“And I think as long as it doesn’t get out of control where we get a violent type of situation, it’s fine. We decided that anybody that threw a punch in those scrimmages would be treated like the game. That’s why (offensive lineman) Jermaine (Eluemunor) didn’t practice toward the end. He didn’t really throw a hard punch, but it was to the facemask, and that’ll get you in the game. So, that’s a 15-yarder at least. So, we decided that we were following those rules of engagement, and that’s what we did with that one.”
‘Dominant’ defense
Let’s let Brian Burns tell us:
Love this line from Burns:
“We don’t wait to get punched in the mouth by offensive lines.”
If you check our live updates post, Miami beat writers were apoplectic about the Dolphins’ offensive ineptitude against the Giants.
Harbaugh called the team’s pass rush on Thursday “ferocious.”
“It was ferocious,” he said. “That’s practice, so you’ve got to come do it in the game. But I was impressed with it.”
Jaxson Dart’s day
Giants quarterback Jaxson Dart appears to have had a good day against the Miami defense.
Dart thought he “played clean”, and that it was good to play against a different defense.
Charlotte Carroll of The Athletic had Dart at 17 of 21 with an interception.
Harbaugh was happy with Dart’s ability to connect with receivers down the field.
“We didn’t really run any of our play action, any of our downfield play actions in the game against Minnesota. So, you saw a few more of those in practice today, and I’m sure we’ll have a few of them in the game,” Harbaugh said. “But those are the type of passes you work off the run game. Those are good chunk plays for us, and we had a number of chunk gains off of play action, which was good to see.”
Harbaugh felt Thursday’s success was helpful for the offense.
“I think it’s one thing in theory. It’s another thing in practice. You want to see it work,” Harbaugh said. “At the end of the day, did the play work? It could be a great play, but if it doesn’t work – and there’s a lot of things that go into making it work, including executing it well – then it’s not a good play.”
I shouldn’t have been surprised
There were reports that newly-signed running back Najee Harris took a few 11-on-11 reps.
“He said he felt good,” Harbaugh said. “He wanted to get in there, and he looked good.”
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