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Sidelines Notes

Sideline Notes: Giants OTA No. 4

The Giants' second week of OTA's began on Tuesday with rain in the forecast, and the weather did not disappoint. Despite light to moderate rain throughout practice, head coach Pat Shurmur kept the team outside to acclimate them to the inclement weather. So far, OTA's have provided a wide range of weather conditions, from gusty winds to summer heat and now the rain today. The players handled the weather without any issues, as the footing was firm.

Here's what happened on the field in the rain drops:

• Despite cornerback Janoris Jenkins' absence from the OTA to attend a family member's graduation, the defensive backfield had a monster day. DeAndre Baker replaced Jenkins as the starting cornerback across from Sam Beal. First-year cornerback Henre' Tolliver had a deflection a deep pass from Daniel Jones intended for Corey Coleman, and later intercepted a pass that hit off the hands of Darius Slayton. Antoine Bethea also had an interception on an errant throw from Eli Manning. Corey Ballentine saw his first action during team drills with the third unit.

• Wide Receiver Bennie Fowler got some work as the third wide receiver with the starters on Tuesday. He provides a contrast to the body type of starters Golden Tate and Sterling Shepard. At 6'1 and 212 pounds, he plays much more like a power/possession receiver who can operate outside and in the slot. He showed off his skills today with a couple of short catches.

• Edge rusher Lorenzo Carter made a really nice play against the first team offense on an attempted screen pass. The offense tried to sell a screen pass to the right to Saquon Barkley, only to turn to the other side of the field for a screen to tight end Evan Engram. Carter read it all and knocked down Eli Manning's pass intended for Engram.

• During the blitz portion of practice, the first team offensive line did an excellent job communicating and maintaining a clean pocket for Eli Manning. Overall, the Giants edge rushers are getting into the backfield, but there are caveats. The first is the rules surrounding OTA's preventing contact, which makes it impossible to judge line play. The second is that fact that the Giants are still without their two veteran offensive tackles, Nate Solder and Mike Remmers.

• Nate Stupar is relishing the role as a communicator at inside linebacker with the second team defense. He is vocal before, during and after plays barking directions and celebrating wins for the defense.

• Safety Jabrill Peppers continues to line up with tight end Evan Engram in a lot of man-to-man situations. Peppers played him well on Tuesday, sticking with Engram on routes down the field. Both Peppers and his fellow safety, veteran Antoine Bethea, are constantly communicating on and off the field. After a series, they came to the sideline discussing their assignments on a previous play to make sure everyone had it right. Peppers also had a nice celebration after the defense forced a throwaway, yelling to equipment staff member Kyle Lynch, who was holding the down indicator: "That's fourth down! Thank you!"

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