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Speed Game
By Michael Eisen, Giants.com

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JUNE 5, 2009

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - Aaron Ross knew the secret to covering wide receivers in the Giants' practice bubble.

"Take away the short stuff, because they can't throw deep," Ross, the team's third-year cornerback said today.

Those days are gone. When the Giants practice indoors now, it's in their new field house, which has a full 100-yard field - about 50 yards longer than the one in the bubble next to Giants Stadium. That enables the Giants to work on their deep passing game, as they did in today's organized team activity (OTA).

In the field house, the receivers can run long routes. The defensive backs can't overplay the short routes. And Eli Manning can throw as far as his arm allows. In short, the new practice digs help everyone on offense and defense prepare in the passing game.

"There is no doubt," Coach Tom Coughlin said. "If I was playing defensive back, I think I could take the underneath stuff away and count on the wall behind me in the bubble to run guys into. The quarterback is not going to run a guy into the wall. It is definitely going to help us, but not only from that standpoint, it is just the idea that as we go about our business, whether it is a DB or receiver or tight end or runner, you can have an opportunity to work with them on some deep stuff. Which, really, quite frankly, even the corner routes you were hesitant to do. So it is no excuse, it is just the fact that we have a better facility now. But one of the objectives is going to be to try to throw the ball down the field more. And that is one of the things that we are trying to get done."

Perhaps no one will benefit more than Manning, who will see truer coverages and can better simulate the throws he will make in a game. Manning was always aware that a long throw could send his receiver running into the wall of the bubble.

"In the bubble you always had to worry about running the guys into the back of the end zone - it was just a small area," Manning said. "You'd naturally see it and you'd be scared to let some balls fly. If you threw it on time it wouldn't be a problem. But sometimes you'd have to move around and you'd make a late read and that prevented you from doing some stuff.

"(The field house) should help us. It's having more room to work drills. To have more space will help us out. It will be much better. And when we did red zone work, we didn't want to use the real end zone because it was too close to the wall. So we'd have to push the (goal line) back to the 10-yard line and you'd get a false feel. We won't have that problem anymore, so I think it will be good for us."

The receivers certainly like the new venue. When the Giants practice indoors, as they frequently do late in the season or when it rains, the wideouts can run as fast as they can for as long as they can without fear of running into the side of the bubble.
"It's definitely more game-simulated, because you can run the full distance and you get to test out the quarterback's arm," Steve Smith said. "It's good for us. In the bubble, you would have to slow up or be conscience that your momentum might take you into the wall. That was a disadvantage for us.

"It's going to be big for us this year to get a game-like simulation on the deep balls and to see how we're doing it."

"The new turf, along with being able to run deep routes, it is a tremendous help," Domenik Hixon said. "If the ball is thrown to the sideline you are able to catch it and run a solid seven to 10 steps without having to slow down. You can be less concerned with running into something or someone.

"(In the bubble) you would catch it and you can't stop on a dime. You would end up taking another four or five steps and possibly run into the wall."

Hixon, who has returned both punts and kickoffs for the Giants, found another benefit in the field house.

"All the space for punting in there, you can catch punts, which is another big thing, too," Hixon said. "For us returners, we were talking about catching punts in there, its great."

The defensive backs are finding the practices more challenging and genuine. But that also means they're more conducive to game preparation.

"The field house makes it more realistic," cornerback Corey Webster said. "I like it better in the field house. In the bubble, you were not really aware of your situation. It was a 60-yard field, so you'd think, 'They can't go deep, so you can slow down.' This way you get the real feel of how it's going to be in the game. I think this way is going to be much better than being inside the bubble. This will help us better prepare for the game. That's what you're preparing for. You get a game-like feel."

That wasn't always true in the bubble, because the offense was limited in what it could run - and the defense knew it.

"Take away short stuff," Webster said of his thought process in the former facility. "There were only certain things they could run. There were times you knew they weren't going to go deep because we were in the bubble. Now you have to play them more honest, which will make us better as corners and safeties. I like having that game-like situation. The ball could be launched over your head, so you have to play everything honest."

"It's much better, because we have to play honest," Ross said. "It's like a game-time situation. In the bubble we got away with little guessing games. Now it's just like we're out on the field. I think it's going to benefit both sides."

*Coughlin spoke today about defensive tackle Fred Robbins, who said on his blog this week that he underwent micro-fracture surgery this offseason.

"We are looking at a guy that has made really good progress," Coughlin said. "According to (vice president of medical services) Ronnie Barnes he is on schedule or ahead of schedule. It was non-weight bearing for awhile but that was a minimal amount of time for someone with a micro-facture. He seems to be well on schedule. We are just going to have to see how it goes for the next ---once we break here in another week or two, how it is going to be over the next six weeks."