ALBANY, N.Y. – Amani Toomer is confident the Giants will avoid a post-Super Bowl letdown when the 2008 NFL season opens next month.
Like everyone associated with the team, Toomer is well aware that every time the Giants have played in the Super Bowl, the celebrations have been wonderful, but the hangovers have been brutal. The Giants not only failed to make the playoffs in each of their three previous seasons following a Super Bowl appearance, they didn’t have a winning record. In 1987, the year after their Super Bowl XXI triumph, the Giants were 6-9, though that season was interrupted for a month by a players strike. Four years later, after winning Super Bowl XXV, the Giants were 8-8. In 2001, the season after playing in Super Bowl XXXV, the Giants slipped to 7-9.
Toomer is the only player on the current roster who played in that Super Bowl and was here for the aftermath. He remembers the team’s attitude during the offseason and in training camp, as well as the high expectations from fans and the media. Toomer believes the atmosphere inside and outside the team is significantly better this time around.
“In 2001 we were just going through the motions and the sense of urgency wasn’t there,” the 13-year veteran said during a lunchtime break at the University at Albany. “We went into that year and our training camp was so much easier and we thought we were a lot better than we were.
“It’s different this year. Every time I’ve been on a team that has won there has been a sense of urgency and I feel the sense of urgency here. When I’ve been on a team that thinks we’re really good, we end up doing really bad. I think every team that has been successful has had something to prove and we do. Hopefully, we can keep that edge. We have a lot of people doubting us already. That’s good in a sense, because it’s going to help keep us down to earth.”
Toomer likes the way the Giants have taken care of business in camp. With coach Tom Coughlin constantly prodding them, the players have worked as if they’re trying to make the playoffs for the first time. Though the vast majority of this squad received Super Bowl rings less than three months ago, no one has even hinted at complacency.
The team lost its preseason opener to the Detroit Lions, but has three more games to prepare for the regular season, starting Monday night at home against Cleveland.
“I think that everyone is competing hard and I think we have a lot of ways to go,” Toomer said. “I don’t think anybody was really happy with the way we played against Detroit (a 13-10 loss), so hopefully we will come out and have a lot better week than we did last week.”
Toomer is excited about the upcoming season, because of the Giants’ work ethic and potential. Not every player would be enthused spending a 13th consecutive August running drills in training camp, but Toomer is just as enthused as the younger receivers he helps tutor. For Toomer, the job remains an adventure.
“It’s always fun because you’re always with a new team, you have to get to know your teammates and stuff like that, so it’s always new,” Toomer said. “You still catch the ball after practice and sit in the ice tub, which is something I don’t really enjoy, but it’s something in camp that you have get used to.”
So is the new rule change that will most affect him. The NFL owners voted this year to eliminate the force out rule. If a defensive back pushes a receiver out of bounds after he catches the ball, it will be ruled an incomplete pass. In the past, if the officials thought the receivers would have stayed inbounds without the push from the defense, it would have been a completed pass.
“I don’t really like the new force out rule, because if they want to see points on the board it’s going to take away a lot of catches,” Toomer said. “I think it’s going to be more of an advantage to the defense.
“I think it’s fixing something that doesn’t really need to be fixed. I didn’t think there was a big problem with the force out rule. It’s a fair rule, if you could come down in bounds it should be a judgment call on whether you can stay in. But now they are taking the judgment away from everybody.”
Because of a swollen knee, Toomer has largely been on a regimen that has him practicing once a day in camp. He sat out this morning’s practice and Tom Coughlin didn’t know if Toomer would be on the field this evening. Of course, Plaxico Burress, the Giants’ other starting wide receiver, went virtually the entire 2007 season without practicing and he led the team with 70 catches. Burress has not practiced yet this summer because of ankle and foot issues.
“I don’t like when I’m not on the field,” Toomer said. “I feel uncomfortable, but he (Burress) has proven that he can do it without practicing. I just hope that Eli (Manning) is able to keep the timing down with him. The interesting thing is going to be getting that timing back since the both of us have missed some time.”
Seeing someone play as well as Burress did without practicing is not something Toomer is used to.
“It was definitely something different,” he said. “I never saw anybody do anything like that.”
At some point, Toomer and Burress will return to the field together, and the Giants will have one of the NFL’s most capable and experienced wide receiver tandems. It’s enough to get an old hand like Toomer pumped up.
“I’m definitely excited to see what’s going to go on this year,” Toomer said. “We have a lot of change on our team, a lot of young guys that need to take the place of people that did really well last year, and we have some free agents as well that have to come in and do well.
“We’ll see how it all turns out.”
*David Diehl’s great streak has ended. For the first time in his 10-year post-high school career, the left tackle missed a practice. Diehl’s streak was a casualty of his sore ribs, which he suffered in Sunday evening’s workout. “I think he is better, he hasn’t had any problems like he had the other day, but it is still an issue,” Coughlin said. Adam Koets and Guy Whimper shared the first team snaps at left tackle in Diehl’s absence.
*Running back Derrick Ward also missed practice with a knee injury. Coughlin said Ward and Toomer were being examined by team doctors…Steve Smith stepped in for Toomer as the first-team flanker.
With Toomer, Burress – and David Tyree – sidelined, the other wideouts are getting plenty of reps in practice. Moss got open deep down the field and caught a David Carr pass this morning. Free agent Brandon London has made several nice catches.
“These guys are getting a tremendous amount of work,” Coughlin said. “Today, this morning, they did some real good things, and I’m happy for them. I hope it pays off for these guys, too. We’ve got about seven athletes who are keeping the practices going. We have had some injuries, we’re in and out with some situations with some people, and these guys have done a good job. They played well this morning and we hope they keep improving.
“I think Brandon London did a nice job this morning. It was nice to see Michael Jennings dive for a ball like that. Sinorice had the big play down the middle of the field, and Steve Smith had a great opportunity, but it was just a little bit of an overthrow. Those guys had a good morning.”
*Kicker Lawrence Tynes is also undergoing treatment.
“Tynes jammed his foot the other day when he was kicking,” Coughlin said. “He slipped on his plant foot and came down in an awkward way.”
Cornerback R.W. McQuarters missed his third practice and newly-signed defensive end Antonio Reynolds his first.
“McQuarters … I think he is due back tonight, that was our arrangement,” Coughlin said. “He had a little girl, which he is excited about. Reynolds - that one is tough for me to talk about. He had like 18 plays and now he is out - not good.”
*Tight end Kevin Boss made a couple of impressive catches in practice, including one in which he out-jumped cornerback Kevin Dockery to secure an Eli Manning pass on the right sideline. “He has worked hard and he’s getting better every day,” Coughlin said of Boss. “He had a couple of natural up high shots today, and he did well with it.”
*Offensive lineman Shane Olivea is still sidelined with a back injury.
“I’m surprised it’s been this long,” Coughlin said. “A day or two ago, he told me that he thought today would be the day, but I don’t know. It’s very frustrating. It is for the player, too. I mean he’s here for a reason and he had such great expectations. Unfortunately, the way it works in this game, he had his best practice and then that’s the last time I saw him.”
*The Giants’ 2008 Kickoff Luncheon will be held on Wednesday, Aug. 27 at 11:45 a.m. at the Sheraton Hotel & Towers, 811 Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. Former running back Rodney Hampton will be honored as the Giants Alumni Man of the Year. Proceeds from the luncheon will benefit the John V. Mara Memorial Cancer Research Fund of St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan and the John V. Mara CYO Camp. Tickets to the Giants’ 42nd annual Kickoff Luncheon can be purchased by calling 212-604-6800.