Giants Beat Steelers; Quarterback, O-Line Update

The Giants started 2013 off with a win over the Steelers on Saturday. Camp is in full swing and the offense and defense are running full contact drills regularly. The Giants are training right here in New Jersey this season and you're invited to come out to watch a day of practice and get an autograph. If you can't make it, check back with us for daily reports from camp.

Here is what you can expect from Giants' camp on a daily basis:

• Monday – Quarterbacks, Offensive Line
• Tuesday – Running Backs, Line Backers
• Wednesday – Defenesive Line, Wide Receivers
• Thursday – Tight Ends, Defensive Backs
• Friday – Injury Updates, Preseason Game Preview 

Preseason Game Wrap-up 

New York Giants 18 - 13 Pittsburgh Steelers 

The Giants beat the Steelers in their first preseason game on Saturday evening. Pittsburgh’s first team defense did an excellent job against the Giants’ running game. Neither David Wilson nor Andre Brown looked to be anything more than pedestrian but that could be due to the banged up offensive line.

The big play of the game was when Eli Manning dropped a dime over the top to Victor Cruz, who took the ball to the house. Manning only completed two of his five passes on the day but when one of them results in a little salsa in the back of the end zone, Giants fans should be happy.

The next few preseason games will be much more telling as the starters begin to play longer and longer.

Quarterbacks

Eli Manning is the star and leader of the New York Giants and that’s the way it should be. Manning has looked great in camp so far. He is a leader when commanding the offense at the line, in the huddle and on the sidelines during practice.

The story out of the quarterback group is who will win the backup job. David Carr, who started for five seasons as the Texans signal caller, clearly has the edge when it come to experience. On the flip side, Ryan Nassib, a rookie out of Syracuse, has only taken four career NFL snaps and they were in Saturday’s preseason game.

Carr carries himself like a leader and seems fairly confident that he will win the job. Ryan Nassib has looked a bit out of sorts in camp but that is expected from rookie quarterback. Nassib could be a long term project and the heir to Eli’s throne, but for this season, he may be number three on the depth chart.

Curtis Painter, who started eight NFL games, all of which were losses, is currently fourth on the depth chart. It is extremely unlikely for the Giants to keep four quarterbacks so Painter could be moving on before the season even starts.

Offensive Line 

Chris Snee was activated off the physically-unable-to-perform list last week and is beginning to work with the team. Snee has started 127 of the Giants’ last 128 regular season games. Getting Snee back out on the field and healthy will be a big boost for the men in blue and it looks like he is on his way.

Justin Pugh and David Diehl were competing for the starting right tackle position. Again it is a battle of a rookie Syracuse graduate trying to beat out a veteran. Diehl cut carbs out of his diet over the offseason and lost 11 pounds while adding muscle to his frame. At the same time, Pugh suffered a mild concussion during camp and had to miss some time. It’s hard enough for a rookie to beat out a proven veteran, so adding missed time and an injury doesn’t help.

“[Pugh] has come in from the spring and worked extremely hard by learning on the go, learning the offense and technique,” said Diehl. “It’s never good when you have a teammate go down, especially a guy who can play multiple positions and is going to be a critical piece of our offense.”

Like Nassib, Pugh may not start right away. The difference is, Pugh has a chance to win a starting job sometime this season and Nassib is likely a few seasons away for being a regular starter.

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