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Tom Coughlin and his coaching staff did so emphatically on Thursday, the final day of the Giants' minicamp.
"You tell them a lot of stuff, most of it is private," the veteran coach said. "The obvious is that they have one month, it's not like a six-week break or whatever and, really, this whole thing is based on the extra preseason game. There is a responsibility for the players to each other.
They won't be talking football with their players for a month, however. They have to trust that separation won't be tested by any off-field issues.
Training camp opens on July 21 because New York plays in the Hall of Fame game on Aug,Cheap NFL Jerseys Online. 3 against Buffalo.
"We always talk about being smart," Coughlin added. "The 'NY' never comes off.
Coughlin and several assistant coaches very much liked the idea of having a fifth preseason game — even if the players will lose about a week from their vacations.
Coughlin instructed all 90 of the players to "be responsible."
"I thought the veterans did a nice job of trying to integrate everybody into the team idea and I think we made some progress there. Of course the offense and the offensive terminology and that type of stuff,Cheap Jerseys, so we've been hard at work on that. ... We're not there, but we're making progress."
"Certainly you want the players here as soon as you can get them here, but we spent a lot of time together and tossed around ideas. We all like football — we all love football — and enjoy talking about it and that helps and goes a long way."
He's found his new job a challenge as he tries to meld aspects of the West Coast offense he learned under Mike McCarthy to the attack Coughlin and Gilbride have favored. He's also liked the camaraderie he's seen among his peers.
So that was another bit of guidance offered to the players,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, 19 of them veterans who were elsewhere last season: be ready from the get-go.
"We had a lot of goals, a lot of things that were objectives in this camp," Coughlin said. "The integration of all the new people, whether it be draft choices or free agents that we brought in.
"Don't let someone who has nothing invested in your future make decisions for you, who you're going to be with, where you're going, how you conduct yourself," Coughlin said. "And, of course,NFL Jerseys From China, conditioning work in the heat is an important thing. You've got to be very smart this time of year with how you're conducting yourself, what you're doing. You can never lose sight of the prize.
The Giants are installing a new offense under coordinator Ben McAdoo,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, so players took their playbooks with them, a few of them stored on iPads, the rest in notebooks.
Coughlin also had a message for his coaches: "Just leave everything like it is on your desk because you'll be right back here."
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — This is the time to deliver messages to a football team.
"Be in great shape, be able to change direction . . . none of these soft tissue deals where guys can't practice."
McAdoo saw progress in the 12 practice sessions (OTAs and minicamp) this spring, and he's eager to ratchet up everything come late July.
McAdoo in particular knows how much work is ahead. The quarterbacks coach in Green Bay last year, he is replacing Coughlin's longtime offensive coordinator, Kevin Gilbride, who retired.
They're also eager to be ready for a fast start this season after losing their first six games of 2013. A strong turnaround, especially by the defense, only got them to 7-9.
It was hardly a see-you-in-a-month moment.
"Just a lot of input, we put a lot of time to gather the stuff," McAdoo said. "It's been great. A lot of us haven't worked together in the past, but it's a talented staff,Wholesale NFL Jerseys, a high-character staff, and we've spent a lot of time together before the players got here. It was a little bit of an extended offseason and that helped us as coaches. |
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