New York Giants Official Website

The Real Diehl
LT David Diehl is working hard looking forward to big things in '07.
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

Take this story to go! -    RSS |  Podcast |  Mobile

August 7, 2007

ALBANY, N.Y. - Dedicated and astute Giants fans who travel here to attend training camp practices might spend as much time watching David Diehl as they do focusing on more publicized stars like Eli Manning and Jeremy Shockey. With good reason. Diehl is the Giants' new left tackle, and his performance will go a long way in determining the team's offensive efficiency this season.

"I know it's a position that people highly look at," Diehl said prior to practice at the University at Albany. "You're protecting the blind side of the quarterback and I understand that. I'm an offensive lineman, so of course I know how important it is to have a good left tackle and be a guy who is solid and protects Eli's blind side."

Diehl inherited the position when the Giants released Luke Petitgout in January. Although second-year pro Guy Whimper has also taken first-team snaps at left tackle, Diehl is pretty well entrenched.

He's been that way on the line since joining the team as a fifth-round draft choice from Illinois in 2003. Diehl has never missed a game, starting all 66 regular and postseason contests the previous four years. Indeed, he's never even sat out a practice. He was the right guard in 2003, the right tackle in 2004 and the left guard in 2005 and 2006. Diehl, however, did start last season's regular season finale and NFC Wild Card game at left tackle, so he's not worried about playing what many regard as the line's most important position.

"I'm a tough guy," Diehl said. "I'm a hard working guy and I'm durable, I'm accountable and I'm a guy who is going to go out each practice and game and compete and play my best. That's no different with me going to left tackle. I'm a guy who is always up to the challenge. I finished the last two games of the season there. I had the opportunity to play there in all the OTAs (organized team activities) and mini-camp (in the spring). I had all the time to work on my left tackle technique, as I'm doing here in training camp. Having all that experience is great for me, because it's not something I've always done."

Offensive line coach Pat Flaherty said last week that Diehl is adjusting to his new home.

"David's really been a pretty good guy from the mental aspect," Flaherty said. "Really, his career thus far has had him move around to different spots, so he knows what we want on offense and what to do. Technique is mental and it is physical. He just has to get used to that from the standpoint of playing the left tackle position."

The biggest difference at that position is in pass protection. Offensive lineman often say run-blocking is pretty much the same no matter what position you're playing - you just fire out and hit the defender in front of you. Pass blocking has more variables and the differences are greater from one position to the next - literally, because protecting the quarterback at tackle differs from the same assignment at guard.

"In pass protection, you have a lot more space to work with at tackle," Diehl said. "At guard, things happen so quick - within the first step you're into contact, you're into the guy. At tackle, you have to be a lot more patient and there's a lot more space to work out there. The pass sets are definitely different and that's the thing that you really have to work on, just work on the pass and being a little bit more patient and putting yourself in the right position every time."

Playing left tackle has often been compared to working alone on an island.

"That's because a lot of times you are one-on-one, you have no help, you're out there solo," Diehl said. "But I don't think I'm independent from the rest of the line. We all work together, we all communicate together and play together and that's how you go about things."

Diehl is benefiting from an accelerated course in left tackle play that is administered by Osi Umenyiora, one of the NFL's finest defensive ends. The daily one-on-one battles between Diehl and Umenyiora in the pass blocking/rushing drills are among the most entertaining and hotly-contested in camp. With his tremendous speed, Umenyiora has probably won more than his share. But he concedes it's an artificial environment, because Diehl can't get help from a tight end or running back, as he would in a game. Umenyiora rarely encounters only one blocker on passing downs.

"You rarely see a real good defensive end who is going to be left one-on-one," Umenyiora said. "David is a real good tackle, but you can't expect him to block me one-on-one for the whole practice. That's crazy."

Umenyiora then explained why he thinks Diehl is a good tackle.

"I've seen him play that position a couple of times and he played well," said Umenyiora, a Pro Bowler in 2005. "He has good sense, good quickness, good mobility and let's see how he plays against some other defensive ends in games and not just me in practice."

Diehl knows that even if Umenyiora is rushing by him, the experience he gains will help him when he faces hostile opponents in regular season games.

"It's great work to be able to go up against a great pass rusher like that, with speed off the ball and the first step," Diehl said. "He is unbelievable at jumping the count and getting on in and that's great for me. All that practice and all the work I'm getting against him is invaluable, just because if I'm preparing against a guy like that each and every day at that rhythm and that speed and getting to the right points in battle, it only makes you better as a player and helps you get adjusted to it. There's some battles I win, some I lose, but that's what practice is all about, getting out there and working and learning from your mistakes and working on correcting them. That's what training camp is all about."

In addition to their physical battles, Diehl uses Umenyiora as a resource to help him with the mental aspect of the game.

"I ask him questions," Diehl said. "That's part of being a teammate and part of being here in training camp, to learn what the other guys are seeing. I'll ask him on certain moves what he saw, why he did it and try to adjust off of it and see if there's anything I can do differently to try to help my block out."

Diehl knows he shoulders a lot of responsibility this season. If he can't keep his man off Manning, the Giants' offense will have trouble reaching its goals.

"If one guy doesn't do that, then it could ruin a whole play," Diehl said. "I understand the importance of it and I'm no bigger than anybody else on the line or on this team. I'm a team guy. In the past, wherever they put me, I'm going to work hard and get the job done. That's what part of being a team player is, going out there no matter where they put you and getting the job done."

The Giants are counting on Diehl to do that again this season.

*While all signs point to Diehl opening the season at left tackle, Whimper is not conceding the position.

"I feel like it's still a competition with him," Whimper said. "It's going to be a competition for anyone, no matter what position you play, you have to go out there and perform. I have confidence that I can do the job."

Whimper is still an inexperienced left tackle. He played just one game there at East Carolina, spending most of his time at linebacker, defensive end, tight end and right tackle. The Giants liked his athleticism and footwork and selected him on the fourth round of the 2006 draft.

"I feel that I came a long way from last year to this year," Whimper said. "It's still going to be a learning experience for me. I think my run blocking technique has gotten a lot better. I still have to work on my pass, but that's going to come with time, I just have to keep repping it and going over it myself when I have down time, just continue to think about taking the proper steps.

"All the coaches are putting a lot of pressure on me, because they expect me to go out there and perform well and do my best. They say I have a lot of tremendous upside, but I still have a lot of work to do."

*Backup linebacker Gerris Wilkinson suffered a subluxed (moved) kneecap in yesterday's practice and will miss some time.

"There is no ligament damage, which is the good part," head coach Tom Coughlin said. "But he does have a lot of swelling, a lot of irritation, and he has to rehab the whole quad area in order to be able to control all of that business. From my understanding it is going to be a while (until he returns)."

Wilkinson was playing behind new weakside linebacker Kawika Mitchell. In his absence, Tyson Smith and Barry Robertson will take snaps with the second-team defense. Perhaps more significantly, Wilkinson's injury could affect the coaches' thinking if they consider moving Mathias Kiwanuka back to end should Michael Strahan retire. If Kiwanuka returned to end, Mitchell could shift to strongside linebacker and Wilkinson could step in on the weak side.

"You have kind of a two-way pull here," head coach Tom Coughlin said. "The intent was to always have Kiwanuka at linebacker. But there are other factors involved there, too. And now with Wilkinson, we're just going to have to see how it plays out. I'm not going to speculate on that right now."

*Tight end Jeremy Shockey missed practice with upper leg soreness, which also caused him to miss a day last week. Wide receiver Plaxico Burress (ankle), defensive tackle Fred Robbins (calf strain), cornerback Aaron Ross (glute), safety Michael Stone (hip flexor) and center Todd Londot (high ankle sprain) missed practice. Darcy Johnson got most of the first-team snaps at tight end, Michael Jennings again stepped in for Burress and Marcus Bell worked with the starters in place of Robbins. Johnson made a nice sliding catch of a Jared Lorenzen pass.

*Safety Gibril Wilson returned to work after leaving yesterday's practice with back spasms.

Today's attendance was 1,010, increasing the camp total to 16,025.