The Giants held their first padded practice of training camp on Monday. The session lasted 1 hour and 45 minutes. Practice began under cloudy skies before it started to rain steadily. The storm passed before the end of practice with the final two-minute periods taking place under sunny skies.

* The toughest part of a rainy practice is taking notes. It leads to a lot of hiding the notebook under your rain jacket as you write. Hence, I don't have quite as many notes as usual.

* The first padded practice was physical, energetic and productive. The defense definitely played with "thud," which means hard contact when the defense got to the ball carrier. Colton Hood and Zaire Barnes made good contact with the ball carrier at different points of practice, as did many other defenders.

* The situational work today featured trying to convert a third-and-short and then running another play immediately thereafter, whether a fourth-and-short or first-and-10. My favorite play of the period was when a false start by the offense forced a third-and-8, and the offense adjusted on the fly to convert. John Harbaugh talked about the penalties after practice and attributed them primarily to over-enthusiasm being in pads for the first time. Jermaine Eluemunor said the same thing.

* Tyler Nubin set the tone for the defense on the first play from scrimmage, coming off the edge and taking on Patrick Ricard at the line of scrimmage, who was leading the way on a run play. Nubin allowed Arvell Reese to scrape over the top and make the stop. Reese was extremely active throughout practice, playing fast, physical and with excellent awareness. Reese's presence was felt throughout and he was often around the ball in the run or pass game.

* It was fun watching the edge rushers battle the offensive tackles throughout the day. Abdul Carter and Andrew Thomas lined up against each other often during team and 1-on-1 drills. With pads on for the first time, Andrew Thomas used his length, foot quickness and strength to protect the quarterback from left tackle. Carter did get some pressures and runs stops in other parts of team drills. Eluemunor and Brian Burns went back and forth in 1-on-1 and team, with both winning a share of their matchups.

* Tremaine Edmunds penetrated the middle of the defense on a run play, forcing the running back outside right into the hands of a waiting Jevon Holland.

* Deonte Banks got his hands on a ball intended for Isaiah Hodgins, knocking it into the air and into the waiting hands of Micah McFadden. McFadden would get a run stop later in the period.

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* With the pads coming on, it was the first opportunity to see O-line/D-Line 1-on-1's. Rookie Francis "Sisi" Mauigoa was dominant in his two reps, stuffing the defensive tackle. He short set on his second rep, stopping the defensive tackle cold in his tracks. DJ Reader won on an interior rush. Josh Tupou had a nice back and forth battle with backup center Bryan Hudson. Kayvon Thibodeaux had a win rushing from the outside, and one from the inside. Rookie JC Davis had two impressive reps at tackle towards the end of the period.

* In the second team period, Dante Miller got the ball on an outside run to the right but stopped in his tracks before turning it around the left edge for a big gain when the defense failed to contain.

* Dru Phillips blitzed from his cornerback position for a potential sack and had a pass break-up down the field. Korie Black tracked a receiver across the field on a crosser and knocked a pass away.

* Dalen Cambre made a catch on the sideline, just getting his feet in on a play where Jameis Winston was rolling to his left.

* The defense won both two-minute situations. The offense got the ball with 56 seconds to play on the defense's 47-yard line with two timeouts and trailing by five. An Arvell Reese sack on third down put the first team offense into a fourth-and-9, and a Darius Alexander pressure helped force an incompletion to give the win to the defense on the next play.

* The second team offense did work the ball downfield into the red zone on a catch by Braxton Berrios and a deep out to Darnell Mooney. A fourth-down defensive pass interference penalty on a ball intended for Jalin Hyatt extended the drive on a fourth-and-14. Deonte Banks had a chance at an interception but couldn't quite come down with the ball, though he did prevent the catch. Jack Kelly and Dru Phillips pressured the quarterback and forced an incompletion on third down, and on fourth down Kelly and Elijah Campbell combined to prevent a throw into the end zone to give the defense the victory.

* John Harbaugh was asked about the old cliché about the defense being ahead of the offense early in camp: "I pretty much agree," he said. "I think that's always been true. Everybody always says the defense is ahead of the offense early in camp. Probably found that to be true over the years, so it seems to be the case."

* The Giants will extend practice to two hours tomorrow and will be in pads for the second straight day before a two and a half hour practice padded practice on Wednesday.