I was wrong about Shurmurs culture. I was at camp today

[dvision]

Even at the highest level coaching is so important. I've been hearing great things about the individual position coaches also. Seems like Shurmur has put together a quality staff.

[shocknaweny]

very informative and well put together thoughts from Camp...I feel like I was there myself that's how caught up I feel

thank you very much for the write up )

[jb456]

Aug 7, 2018 20:48:25 GMT -5 alwaysready126 said:

....as I was last year and I am VERY impressed. Here are my observations:

1-The pace is at least double what is was last year. Everyone including the coaches were hustling around the field. If I saw 30 snaps last year I’d be surprised. Today there had to be a minimum of 60.

2-the qb’s are a lot more active. You didn’t see much in terms of q.b. drills last year.

3-Eli is a lot leaner than I’ve ever seen him. His frame looks more like his brother than the Eli we are all used to.

4-Saquon is every bit of the real deal he has been made out to be. We all know how freakishly big strong and fast he is but you can’t appreciate his quickness until you see that he is as big as anyone else out there. And to see someone that size move with such skill fluidity and finesse is really impressive. Even when he makes movements that are not natural like catching a poorly thrown ball (no it wasn’t Eli’s throw, it was a drill for rb’s to catch fast balls thrown in not so easy to catch spots) he is a smooth operator. It’s as though every and any compound movement....for example, if he has to change directions to adjust to a ball and reach in an awkward direction to catch the ball because of the position of the defender and then subsequently turn up field, it all looks like one single fast smooth and fluid movement. I’ve never seen anything like it in all of the 30 some odd years I’ve watched the game. Let’s hope it pays dividends on sundays. I can’t see how it won’t.

5-the offensive line is dialed in, moves fast and seems to be gaining confidence and that includes #74. He is also leaner, seems to be quicker with his feet, stayed low to the ground, kept his head up and body square throughout the entire practice. Watching Ereck practice was my focal point today as it was last year and the guy looks like a different player. Last year he looked slow, confused, uncoordinated and defeated. Today was the complete opposite. I’m hoping todays practice wasn’t some type of anomaly but what I saw today was very encouraging as I have been very hard on the kid.

6-OBJ was all business. No dancing no fooling around - he looked like a pro. The rest of the league should be on notice because if this guy is able to channel that energy in the right places - he could be better than ever IMO. PAY THE MAN.

7-Shurmur was engaged and ran a tight ship to say the least. Last year in both camp and before the Seahawks game McAdoo was very disengaged. In fact through both practice and pregame combined, I’d be surprised if he spoke to more than 10 players AND coaches. Shurmur looked like he belonged at the helm whereas McAdoo looked like a dear in the headlights.

Before my observations today I wasn’t as excited as I am now. Not by a long shot. At the very least we will be competitive this year. I feel our floor is raised and we have great upside potential. We should compete for a wild card spot if we stay healthy in my opinion at a minimum. If we don’t we will beat some good teams at the very least which is fine w me after last years debacle.

If anyone else was at practice today, feel free to chime in by adding or contradicting the post if you feel I’m off base with my observations.

This some quality right there

[EliQB10]

Aug 7, 2018 20:48:25 GMT -5 alwaysready126 said:

....as I was last year and I am VERY impressed. Here are my observations:

1-The pace is at least double what is was last year. Everyone including the coaches were hustling around the field. If I saw 30 snaps last year I’d be surprised. Today there had to be a minimum of 60.

2-the qb’s are a lot more active. You didn’t see much in terms of q.b. drills last year.

3-Eli is a lot leaner than I’ve ever seen him. His frame looks more like his brother than the Eli we are all used to.

4-Saquon is every bit of the real deal he has been made out to be. We all know how freakishly big strong and fast he is but you can’t appreciate his quickness until you see that he is as big as anyone else out there. And to see someone that size move with such skill fluidity and finesse is really impressive. Even when he makes movements that are not natural like catching a poorly thrown ball (no it wasn’t Eli’s throw, it was a drill for rb’s to catch fast balls thrown in not so easy to catch spots) he is a smooth operator. It’s as though every and any compound movement....for example, if he has to change directions to adjust to a ball and reach in an awkward direction to catch the ball because of the position of the defender and then subsequently turn up field, it all looks like one single fast smooth and fluid movement. I’ve never seen anything like it in all of the 30 some odd years I’ve watched the game. Let’s hope it pays dividends on sundays. I can’t see how it won’t.

5-the offensive line is dialed in, moves fast and seems to be gaining confidence and that includes #74. He is also leaner, seems to be quicker with his feet, stayed low to the ground, kept his head up and body square throughout the entire practice. Watching Ereck practice was my focal point today as it was last year and the guy looks like a different player. Last year he looked slow, confused, uncoordinated and defeated. Today was the complete opposite. I’m hoping todays practice wasn’t some type of anomaly but what I saw today was very encouraging as I have been very hard on the kid.

6-OBJ was all business. No dancing no fooling around - he looked like a pro. The rest of the league should be on notice because if this guy is able to channel that energy in the right places - he could be better than ever IMO. PAY THE MAN.

7-Shurmur was engaged and ran a tight ship to say the least. Last year in both camp and before the Seahawks game McAdoo was very disengaged. In fact through both practice and pregame combined, I’d be surprised if he spoke to more than 10 players AND coaches. Shurmur looked like he belonged at the helm whereas McAdoo looked like a dear in the headlights.

Before my observations today I wasn’t as excited as I am now. Not by a long shot. At the very least we will be competitive this year. I feel our floor is raised and we have great upside potential. We should compete for a wild card spot if we stay healthy in my opinion at a minimum. If we don’t we will beat some good teams at the very least which is fine w me after last years debacle.

If anyone else was at practice today, feel free to chime in by adding or contradicting the post if you feel I’m off base with my observations.

Thanks for this very detailed report....the start of the regular season can't get here soon enough!

[ocgiant]

"Eyes on" camp is so great to get this perspective and the summary... since most of us were not there!

So far it sounds like Shurmur is changing practice, reps, activity and most importantly engaged with the players.

Nice points on Manning, OBJ and Saquon. OL good to hear improvement and consistency coming from Flowers still has a ways to go with me based on his performance to date.

Be a homer anytime!

[jb456]

Aug 7, 2018 20:48:25 GMT -5 alwaysready126 said:

5-the offensive line is dialed in, moves fast and seems to be gaining confidence and that includes #74. He is also leaner, seems to be quicker with his feet, stayed low to the ground, kept his head up and body square throughout the entire practice. Watching Ereck practice was my focal point today as it was last year and the guy looks like a different player. Last year he looked slow, confused, uncoordinated and defeated. Today was the complete opposite. I’m hoping todays practice wasn’t some type of anomaly but what I saw today was very encouraging as I have been very hard on the kid.

This is excellent to hear.

In addition, I would add that I have been a harsh critic of Flowers. If he can truly get his act together, I will have no problem admitting I was wrong. I supported Flowers for the first 2 years of his career but have since been pretty merciless in my criticism of his play.

Even if he doesn't sign a 2nd contract with the Giants, I hope this kid finds his way.

[Parademon1]

I'll reserve judgement on Flowers till the opener. I bet 1st time he allows a sack or a few hits on Eli, everyone singing his praises now will be demanding he be benched & replaced by the backup. Gonna take more than a "nice" camp by him to make me a Flowers believer. Guy has just stunk for too long for me to all of a sudden think he's gonna be effective this yr. Hope I'm wrong.

[alwaysready126]

Aug 9, 2018 13:37:34 GMT -5 Parademon1 said:

I'll reserve judgement on Flowers till the opener. I bet 1st time he allows a sack or a few hits on Eli, everyone singing his praises now will be demanding he be benched & replaced by the backup. Gonna take more than a "nice" camp by him to make me a Flowers believer. Guy has just stunk for too long for me to all of a sudden think he's gonna be effective this yr. Hope I'm wrong.

I am not singing the guys praises in the slightest.  It's easy to look good in practice but as we all know, it's what he does on game day that counts.  Having said that, what I posted was what I saw....and it was like night and day from what I saw last year during camp.  If I saw him performing similarly, I would have posted the observation, just the same because like I said, I have been super tough on the kid.  In fact, I was SHOCKED to say the least that he was still on the roster when mini camp started.  I am not a believer at this point - he will have to perform consistently from week 1 of the regular season through the end of December for that to happen.

On the flip side, even if he performs the way he did last year, we should see huge improvements on the offensive side of the ball.  This assumes of course, Nate Solder is able to perform admirably at the very least to protect Eli's blind side.  The fact is that as much as Eli didn't trust Flowers, and for good reason, there were games where Flowers (barely) held his own and did at least the minimum required to keep himself between his opponent and Eli.  Now that Eli should be able to see what's going on with Flower's right in front of him, #10 will be able to perform at a much higher level, IN MY OPINION.  Shurmur's flexibility and ability to adapt so that he gets the most or close to it from the talent on his team is one of the guys strengths.  I am cautiously optimistic that #74 will be better than he was last year and if that is the case, we can make a run at this thing as far as I'm concerned assuming we stay relatively healthy.  

By the way, thank you all for your nice words and appreciation of my posting my observations of practice.  I know when I am not able to attend, I would love to hear from those that were, so I am more than happy to take the time to post my thoughts so that we can all have a great discussion (as opposed to the bad discussion that some of you are so determined to have).

GO GIANTS!!!!