Manning, Beckham making up for lost time
A common visual at Giants workouts this summer has been Eli Manning and Odell Beckham Jr. staying after practice to work together on extra drills.
Although the two high-priced stars have been playing together since 2014, Beckham missed 11 games last season with a broken ankle and took limited reps in the spring. They’re also assimilating to a different West Coast offense under new head coach Pat Shurmur.
“Instead of just saying, ‘Here’s a route, run it,’ it’s, ‘Here’s a route, this is the coverage, this is the technique,’” Manning told reporters Wednesday in Detroit. “You make sure he is seeing things the same way, so we are expecting the same thing, so you can coach it up after. It’s not just, ‘Hey run this route,’ you’re running some things you haven’t run as much, some new plays to make sure we’re good with the depths of things and the angles coming out of breaks.”
With the Giants in the midst of joint practices with the Lions leading up to Friday night’s preseason game at Ford Field, Beckham has matched up 1-on-1 with All-Pro cornerback Darius Slay. Prior to Tuesday morning, Beckham had not played in a live 11on-11 setting against an opponent other than his teammates since Week 5 last year against the Chargers.
Still without a new contract entering the final season on his rookie deal, Beckham has looked fully healthy and crisp running all types of routes, although the Giants held him out of the preseason opener as Shurmur continues to stress being smart with his rehab.
“He looks like he is going. He’s catching the rock, running the rock,” Slay told reporters. “He’s always going to be explosive. He’s never going to lose that until he’s 50, I guess. I don’t know. Other than that, he’s Odell.”
Beckham. the only receiver in NFL history with at least 90 catches, 1,300 yards and 10 touchdowns in each of his first three seasons, remains the key ingredient to Manning having a bounceback season.
With a bevy of injuries and offensive line problems in 2017, Manning posted fewer than 20 passing touchdowns for only the second time in 13 full seasons and his fewest yards per completion (6.07) since he was a rookie in 2004.
“We’re getting there,” Manning said of his connection with Beckham. “We still have some work to do, but I thought he has done a good job the last few weeks getting his feel back. Knowing how to work guys in man, give a little extra move and trusting his body and everything, I think he’s getting back into his own and getting comfortable on the field again.”
Players who reportedly did not practice Wednesday were running back Saquon Barkley (hamstring), safety Darian Thompson (hamstring), cornerback Donte Deayon (hamstring), tight end Ryan O’Malley (ankle), linebacker Thurston Armbrister (hamstring), wide receiver Travis Rudolph (quad) and linebacker Connor Barwin.
Barkley, the No. 2 overall pick in the draft, remains day to day after straining his left hamstring during Monday’s practice in East Rutherford.
Throughout Shurmur’s first summer in charge, injured players have remained in uniform while out on the practice field.
“What’s important about practice is we talk often about mental reps, and just because you don’t get the rep doesn’t mean you’re not responsible for seeing what happened and try to visualize what you’d do if you were out there, so there’s plenty time in a day,” Shurmur said. “As long as they can defend themselves and it’s not a lower leg injury of some sort or something where they need immediate attention, I think it’s important for them to be out there.”