Most football stadiums are nothing to get too excited about. Even the new stadiums that have been springing up recently haven’t been especially interesting, unless you happen to be predisposed toward an obscene amount of luxury boxes or tacky bells ‘n’ whistles.

But the new Cardinals stadium is pretty amazing. Really, it’s like no football stadium you’ve ever seen. It’s designed to evoke a barrel cactus starkly springing up from the desert. Its shimmering side panels reflecting the intense valley sun, and the vertical glass slits make it look like it’s “bursting at the seams,” to quote the Times critic, and also serve the purpose of giving the fans inside a great view of the surrounding landscape.

And the coolest part of all: the field slides out of the stadium on thousands of steel wheels so that the stadium can be used for concerts and other stuff, all in the temperature-controlled setting of a semi-translucent retractable dome. Pretty cool stuff.

So check it out:

• Here are some nice renderings from the Cardinals official website.
• Here is are some photo galleries from the official site that trace the evolution of the stadium from its construction to its present form. I recommend the Stadium Construction #23; 2006 Aerial Views; and Stadium Field Tray Moved galleries.
• Here is the Arizona Republic’s section on the stadium. On the right side of the screen is another great photo gallery and some really cool video, including a tour of the stadium and a shot of the field sliding into the stadium.
• And here is the Times review.

I’ve analyzed the return game, the punter, and the kicker in previous posts.  They’re short, manageable reads.

• The Giants have experienced their share of aches and pains this camp. Osi, Tyree, Amani, Madison, Pierce, and Petitgout all missed practice yesterday. All the injuries are minor, but still. Sinorice Moss continues to sit out with a strained quad. The Giants are lucky that they have some time to get healthy and round into shape before opening day.
• But according to Ernie Palladino, many of the Giants don’t really agree with Clinton Portis’s thoughts about preseason games being an unnecessary risk. The most colorful quote in the piece comes from LaVar: “For people like myself, I take a little bit of time to get acclimated to knocking my brains out in terms of knocking somebody else’s out. It’s not like I can play one game and be ready for the season. I wouldn’t want to go in cold turkey.”
• But, if you really think about it, Portis’ critique of preseason is kind of illogical. Here’s Deadspin on the subject.
• Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports on the concerns about the defensive line. Barry Cofield is getting some first-team looks at DT, writes Ralph Vacchiano. Free agents Brentson Buckner and Grady Jackson are also a possibility. Here’s Cofield’s draft profile on nfl.com. Kind of a curious take on Cofield, and not entirely positive. Basically, they say that his size and athleticism are good, but his lack of explosion off the ball prevents him from being a playmaker.
• The guys at Giants 101 weigh in on the D-Tackle discussion. They are somewhat frustrated with Joseph, who played poorly against the Ravens, and like what they see from Cofield.
• Gibril Wilson wasn’t happy with the job he did on Todd Heap last Friday, and he faces another tough test against Tony Gonzalez on Thursday. But there are high hopes for the third-year Wilson, who made vast improvements in his pass-coverage last year.
• The Giants coaching staff is very high on Chris Snee, who returned to practice sooner than expected from a cyst in his knee. Says Giants Offensive Line Coach Pat Flaherty: “He can pull, he can run, he hits with power, he pulls with power – all the things of this game of speed and power, Chris has.”
• Also in Michael Eisen’s article, Rich Seubert continues to work and impress at center, but he’s not comfortable with shotgun snaps yet.
• R.W. McQuarters likes to talk, writes Arthur Staple. The loquacious R.W. McQuarters – a fun thing to write. Also, I’ve never gotten a satisfactory explanation for why tacklers don’t pull guys like R.W. and Stephen Jackson down by their dreads. They’re hanging down over the front and the back of the jersey, eminently grippable. I’ve always wondered that, as I’m sure many other people have. Maybe someone can enlighten me on this.
• Frank Walker is an effervescent guy with a big heart, writes Paul Schwartz. He is also having a good camp and is filling in for the temporarily sidelined Sam Madison on the first team defense. This is good news: Walker’s been an exciting player ever since he intercepted a pass and returned it for six in Minnesota in 2003. Madison, for his part, downplayed his slight hamstring tweak: “It happens to me every year,” he said.
• Great piece by John Branch on a rule-change designed to keep long-snappers safe. The new rule states that defensive players have to line up outside the shoulder pads of long snappers on field goals and extra points. This will give long-snappers a split second to look up and prepare for an avalanche of bodies. Before, defensive players would line up directly in front of long snappers and hit them before they knew what was coming. Ryan Kuehl, the Giants long-snapper, has suffered five concussions this way.
• Bob Whitfield doles out some advice on landing the ladies.

• My take on Friday night’s preseason game vs. the Ravens.
• Ok, this isn’t even Giants news, but the first major injury of the NFC East went down when Clinton Portis dislocated his shoulder. He is expected to miss at least the remainder of the preseason and possibly more time.
• Huge piece by the Star-Ledger’s Paul Needell on the NFC. You might want to print this one out and read it on the train.
• Good news: Chris Snee’s knee injury wasn’t anything especially serious and he’s back practicing.
• Ralph Vacchiano takes William Joseph to task. He allows for Joseph’s injuries, but then writes, “Yet even when he’s healthy, all he has are moments.” Coughlin isn’t much kinder in some of his comments.
• Vacchiano continues the theme of the soft d-line in his blog, and wonders why the Giants, having already lost Kendrick Clancy, waited so long in the draft to address their vulnerability at d-tackle (Barry Cofield, Round 4).
• Osi’s a little pissed at Coughlin after the coach called out the whole d-line after Friday night’s game. And Sinorice Moss is falling further and further behind as he continues to miss time, especially because Tim Carter has been the talk of camp so far.
• John Altavilla with another article on the “soft” run defense and Coughlin’s displeasure with it. Also, Tim Lewis and John Hufnagel have moved up to the booth while quarterback coach Kevin Gilbride has moved down to the field.
• Paul Schwartz showers yet more love on Mathias Kiwanuka. Gotta love the Post headline: “Jints May Go To Mat.” He makes the point that for all the talk about the need for Kiwanuka to bulk up, he currently weighs 260 pounds, 4 pounds more than Osi Umunyiora. Osi came into the league at 280 – it wasn’t until he trimmed down that he became dominant.
• Here’s something that people haven’t talked about that much: Rich Seubert shifted to center for a couple of series’ during Friday night’s games, raising the possibility that the Giants may only dress seven offensive linemen when Snee gets healthy because Seubert is being groomed to back up at two positions.
• Also, LaVar and Emmons returned to practice, but Amani and Tyree sat out with minor injuries. And E.J. Underwood, a rookie out of Pikesville who played three years at Ohio State, is getting some serious looks. He’s now practicing with the first team dime package in place of James Butler.
• John Branch talks about the ripple effects of Michael Jennings’ punt return for a touchdown. It’s an interesting piece, but he takes the though a little too far. Contrary to what he says, my guess is that Morton or McQuarters aren’t in any kind of danger. Ponder, on the other hand, most certainly is.
• Carlos Emmons, who returned to practice yesterday, is feeling the heat, writes Mike Garafolo. Coming off an injury plagued year and beginning of camp, Emmons will turn 33 in a couple of weeks. If they cut him, they stand to shave over $2 million off their salary cap figure. Emmons objects to the characterization that his body is breaking down because of his age, and instead chalks his ailments up to bad luck.

• First, my observations from yesterday on Friday’s preseason game.
• Ernie Palladino writes that Colonel Tom was not pleased with the run defense, particularly the interior defensive line. Gap control needs to improve, and the Fred Robbins’ 2006 honeymoon may have come to an end. Expect an open competition between Robbins, Seawright, and Duckett for that Nose Guard spot. Note: This is one of many articles on the subject of Coughlin’s displeasure with the Giants run defense, which he characterized as “soft.”
• Also from Palladino’s article, it turns out the Giants actually suffered a couple of very minor injuries during Friday’s game: David Tyree mildly sprained his ankle, and Rich Seubert came down with turf toe.
• But Chris Snee (knee) is making faster progress than anticipated, and will return to non-contact work in today’s practice. Carlos Emmons (burner – when did a stinger become a burner?) has also been cleared for non-contact work, with hopes of returning to full-contact later in the week LaVar (knee) has been cleared for one practice per day, and Sinorice Moss (quad) hopes to get back to practice later in the week.
• A detailed, comprehensive look at the first preseason game by Eric at Bigblueinteractive.com. I suggest you read it – really good stuff for the advanced fan.
• Mike Garafolo points out five issues facing the Giants after their first pre-season game. One of these issues is effort: Colonel Tom says the team must “do a better job just flat-out getting after it, being more aggressive.”
• Antonio Pierce is angry and embarrassed at the way the first team defense played, writes Mike Garafolo. Good. Any good defense needs a leader like Pierce.
• Paul Schwartz on Michael Jennings electrifying punt return, with a great photo of him emerging from the pack and trying to keep his balance. Also in his Giants Notes, Coughlin praised Mathias Kiwanuka’s work habits: “His game was very typical of the way he practices,” said Colonel Tom. “He’s resilient as can be. He keeps it coming.”
• Great article on Kiwanuka by John Altavilla in the Hartford Courant. For those who don’t know, Kiwanuka is the grandson of Benedicto Kiwanuka, who served as the first Prime Minister of Uganda from 1961 to 1972 and helped the fledging country gain its independence from England. When Idi Amin came to power, Kiwanuka angered Amin by refusing to ignore the human rights atrocities that characterized brutal Amin’s regime – it is believed that he ordered the killings of over 300,000 people. For his insubordination, Amin tortured and murdered him, and his body has never been recovered.
• Richard Sandomir on Monday Night Football’s Tony Kornheiser experiment, which smacks of the same ill-advisedness as the disastrous Dennis Miller experiment. Now, I like Kornheiser and P.T.I. as much as the next guy, but can’t a football game be just a football game, announced by professional football announcers? Or are we so impatient that we need a witty guy interjecting his comedic everyman opinions every few plays. Please. It’s distracting.
• Extremely interesting article by Aaron Schatz in the Times’ “Keeping Score” section. According to Schatz, the amount of penalties that a team accumulates might have as much to do with the refs that are assigned to their games than the discipline of the team in question. He points out that while the Giants had the second most penalties in the league with 167, their opponents actually had more penalties than they did with 170. As it turns out, the amount of penalties called varies wildly from crew to crew. Larry Nemmers’ crew (who, incidentally, officiated the Seattle game) averaged 20.6 penalties called per game, tops in the league. Bill Vinovich’s crew, on the other hand, called only 12.3 penalties per game. Interesting stuff.
• And finally, some disturbing news. Keith Hamilton, the beloved “Hammer” of the Giants interior line for almost a decade, pleaded guilty to beating his 12-year old son after seeing poor grades on his report card.

It seems foolish to treat this game like an actual game and give a recap-style summary of it; these early preseason games are really just bunch of series’ in which different groups of players participate, many of whom won’t be in around in a few weeks. So here are a few impressions of last night’s game that shouldn’t be read too seriously into. There’s a lot of time between now and September 10.

–The Giants first string defense did not look good, particularly the interior defensive line. William Joseph looked like he was out of position on a couple of runs, as if he had been goaded into abandoning his gap on a couple of counter plays. Chase Blackburn and Reggie Torbor didn’t look especially poised against the run, over-pursuing on those counters and generally looking as if they were a beat late. (Blackburn also seemed slow to react in pass coverage.) Because of the soft, undisciplined underbelly of the Giants defense on those plays, Jamal Lewis was able to get to the second level and power his way for chunks of yards.

–Gibril Wilson had a hard time with Todd Heap. As my friend Wong pointed out, because Wilson is not particularly tall, he’s going to have a difficult time being matched up in single coverage against tight ends. He’s listed at 6 feet, so he gives up 4 or 5 inches to many Tight Ends, including the 6-5 Heap. In Gibril’s defense, the Ravens did a good job picking up blitzes, which allowed McNair to stand poised in the pocket and find Heap and company.

–Corey Webster took the wrong approach to tackling McNair on McNair’s touchdown run. It seemed like he tried to grab McNair’s shoulders and sort rodeo him back away from the goal line, but McNair overpowered him and dragged him three yards across the plane. A better approach for Webster would have been trying to get his head across McNair’s front side and do his best to stalemate McNair until help arrived.

–Sam Madison made a beautiful play in pass coverage, during which he was definitely interfered with. I don’t know who the receiver was, but Madison ran with him stride for stride and made a good attempt at the ball. The receiver totally went through Madison to break the play up, and although he got credit for “playing defense” on the play (announcers love making this point), he clearly interfered with Madison.

–Brandon Jacobs had a good first run, but didn’t look so good after that. He was definitely making a conscious effort to run low, but he looked hunched over and unnatural.

Running low is a hard thing to teach. Some guys just don’t do it, and I think Jacobs is one of those guys. This doesn’t mean that he can’t be an effective running back; it just means that the Giants can’t keep pigeonholing him as a power, short-yardage guy like they did with Dayne. Jacobs actually looks really good on the wing – it seems like once he gets in space, he’s able to utilize his good vision, timing, and head-of-steam power. But on inside runs, he looks like he’s tiptoeing. Even though he’s big, he can’t really load up any momentum to utilize his power. Just like they did with Dayne, who, it turns out, wasn’t nearly as bad as he looked in our offense, the Giants are assuming the Jacobs is a tackle to tackle guy just because he’s big.

Let me go on record as saying that TIKI SHOULD GET ALL THE GOAL LINE CARRIES. Jacobs somehow got credit for “bowling his way into the end zone,” or something like that. He didn’t. He sort of awkwardly jumped and lunged his way across the plane. Because of Jacobs’ size, he’s obviously more powerful than Tiki if you’re talking about straight-up power. But because Tiki has so much more control over his body in tight spaces, he’s able to better maneuver himself into a position where he can use what power he has. Jacobs, although capable of producing far more power than Tiki, struggles to get in positions where he can leverage that power.

–Although the biggest offensive play for the Giants was a 43 yard completion from Eli to Plaxico late in the first quarter, 1) the play could have gone for many, many more yards if Eli had led Plax a little more and not forced him on an out-of-bounds path; and 2) Plaxico’s second foot was out of bounds by inches when he caught the ball – it shouldn’t have been a catch. Strangely, even after a challenge, the refs somehow didn’t see this. Plaxico seemed rather nonchalant about keeping both feet in bounds. He also seemed strangely nonchalant on the play that ultimately resulted in a pass interference call in the endzone, which set up Jacobs’ touchdown, although perhaps his politicking for the call was worthwhile in the end.

–James Sims was unimpressive. With Ward out, we’re really only two-deep at running back.

–Tim Carter looked very, very good, catching 3 balls for 36 yards in what was obviously very limited action. He used his speed to back d-backs off of him, and did a nice job coming back to the ball and making the catches. Carter is big, strong, and blazingly fast. We’ve seen flashes from this guy – parts of 2003, early 2004 – so let’s just hope he stays healthy. Kudos to Accorsi for re-signing him.

–Mathias Kiwanuka was another big positive. On one series in the third quarter, he had half a sack on first down, a quarterback hurry/knockdown on second down, and a sack on third down. He looks incredibly quick rushing around the bend and spinning to the inside. If this guy learns and develops, he could be a real force.

–Gerris Wilkinson saw a lot of action and forced a big fumble. This guy might play a big role on the team, so keep an eye on him.

–Michael Jennings had an electrifying punt return for a touchdown. I really wish I had a YouTube clip of this, but it was a sweet run. I believe Coughlin said the other day that Jennings “has some zip, but he hasn’t made many plays.” Well now the former track star at FSU has one huge play to his credit. At this point, you have to think that Jennings has a pretty decent chance of making the team. Because…

–Willie Ponder fumbled, sort of. The original fumble ruling was eventually overturned because Ponder’s knee was down, but I’m sure his carelessness with the ball irked Colonel Tom just the same. In the battle for the sixth receiver/extra return man role, you’d have to think that Jennings has the edge at this point.

–Tim Hasselbeck looked pretty good, and pretty mobile. There were times when you could convince yourself that it was Matt Hasselbeck out there.

–Jay Feely hooked a 44 yard field goal, and then almost hooked the game-winning 29 yarder. Let’s hope he gets on track – the last thing we need in the NFC East is a shaky kicker. But Feely was very, very good last year.

Now, all of these observations shouldn’t be taken all that seriously because it’s still so early on. Carl Banks pointed out that since this was the first live contact for the Giants, it’s not surprising that they were “a step too slow,” as he put it. It sure is cool to have football back though!

• This is old news, but LaVar isn’t playing tonight. Nor are Emmons, Snee, Moss, Shockey, Joseph, and possibly Shiancoe, Short, and Demps. Rookie Gerris Wilkinson should start as the weakside backer and the solid Reggie Torbor at the strongside. Columbia product Wade Fletcher, representing the Upper West Side, could possibly get the start at TE.
• Ralph Vacciano tells us what to watch for tonight: the new corners, Tim Carter, Eli checking off his first option and throwing shorter passes, the battle for the DT jobs, and Brandon Jacobs.
• Not getting the starters injured is the theme of many of today’s articles. I’m sure you’ll hear it plenty of times during the telecast tonight also.
• Good stuff by Dan Benton at Giants 101. He writes, “Football is football and if you’re not excited to see the Giants on the field, go watch soccer.”
• Ralph Vacchiano writes that Michael Jennings is battling for the sixth receiver spot, and has to beat out Willie Ponder, Anthony Mix, Triandos Luke, and Harry Williams. Because he’s already been on three different practice squads, he’s not eligible to go there if he doesn’t make the roster. The five receivers guaranteed to make the roster are Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer, Tim Carter, Sinorice Moss, and David Tyree.
• Adrian Wojnarowski on Ernie Accorsi, the last of the dinosaurs. Not a single employee in the league was there when Accorsi entered the league in 1970 as the Colts’ PR guy. Wojnarowski goes onto say that Accorsi has been grooming Jerry Reese to be his successor, and that “it would be surprising if Reese doesn’t get the job.”
• This is a nice little read. Tiki Barber’s “BioFile” via NYSportsDay. Tiki’s favorite movie is The Goonies, he likes the Dave Matthews Band, and he’s a self-professed computer geek.
• Will Demps goes back to Baltimore dressed in Big Blue, writes Mike Garafolo. Demps makes a good point about the Ravens’ unis: “I didn’t get the purple. A raven is black. We all didn’t understand the purple.” Also, Garafalo tells us that Mathias Kiwanuka should get plenty of action tonight.
• These preseason games may seem leisurely for some, but don’t tell that to the guys battling for the third quarterback spot. Last year, Jesse Palmer started camp as the backup quarterback, but was surpassed by Hasselbeck on the basis of the preseason games. Hasselbeck makes a funny point about the relative weight of practices and games in evaluating which players make the team: “It’s not like they give you a syllabus at the beginning of this thing and say, “Ok, practices count 40 percent and games count 60 percent.”
• It’s basically the Hefty Lefty vs. Rob Johnson for the third quarterback job, writes Paul Schwartz. The Hefty Lefty has a much better arm than the Tommy-Johned Johnson, and will get his chance to demonstrate his poise in a game situation tonight.
• A nice, optimistic little piece on the Giants passing attack from FoxSports.

• The swelling in LaVar’s surgically repaired right knee will be a persistent source of concern for the Giants, writes Arthur Staple. Though Arrington insists he’s not injured, he aggravated the knee by going hard in the initial days of practice. Coughlin doesn’t want to see him miss that much time but he’s willing to rest him. Interestingly, Tiki subtly came to Coughlin’s defense yesterday after Shockey levied general criticism at training camp, and by extension, Coughlin. “He wants us to practice smart,” Tiki said. “He’s not trying to wear you down.”
• Mike Garafolo was told by two Giants that Chris Snee has a cyst in his right knee, which was causing him the discomfort that lead to him leaving practice. What happens now will depend on whether the cyst dissipates or not. If it doesn’t, a surgical procedure might be required which would take him out of action for around a month. Ernie Accorsi is still optimistic about Snee returning for opening night. Interesting that Garafolo was scooped anonymously – it’s against Coughlin’s policy to discuss injuries.
• Also in Garafolo’s article: LaVar, Emmons, Shockey, Moss, and Rob Johnson will not play against the Ravens. Joseph, Demps, and Short could be out of action as well.
• Arthur Staple tells us not to expect much in the Giants preseason opener in Baltimore in terms of starters or anyone else of consequences playing big minutes. He suggests keeping an eye on Brandon Williams, a fast rookie cornerback from Michigan.
• Staple on the beef between the Giants and Jets over the design of the new stadium, which was first broken by the Star-Ledger yesterday. The project’s press people seem to be in damage control, insisting that this is just a small bump in the road and that the stadium will open in 2010 as planned.
• Tiki confronts his football mortality, and he wants to win a Super Bowl, writes Adam Streicher. He’s made it pretty clear that he wants to retire after either this season or next. But the article makes the point that though he’s 31, he doesn’t have as much wear and tear as many backs his age because his carries were so limited early in his career.
• Fortunately, Paul Scwartz writes that Brandon Jacobs is doing a good job this year of mastering the more subtle aspects of playing running back, such as pass protection and releasing as a receiver. With Derrick Ward out, Jacobs seems to have solidified the backup running back job. Let’s hope he gets more carries in non-goal-line situations than he did last year. He’s too talented to be pigeonholed.
• Adrian Wojnarowski revisits Tiki’s comments about his team being outplayed outcoached in the game against the Panthers last year. He also speculates about Tiki’s Hall of Fame credentials – interesting topic, and one that I will revisit, so keep reading this blog.
• Mike Garafolo runs down the day in camp, including a profile on Harry Williams, who may be headed for the practice squad. Rookie tackle Guy Whimper has struggled in camp. E.J. Underwood, an undrafted free agent corner who began his college career at Ohio State but transferred to Pikeville College because of academic problems, has a shot of making the roster.
• The CBS broadcast guys weigh in on the hypercompetitive NFC East.
• John Branch with a nice profile of Michael Jennings, the former Florida State track star and five-time NFL cut-ee. Jennings has been the talk of training camp because of his quirky and uninhibited style, which includes a souped-up 1995 Chevy Caprice, complete with speakers attached to the outside of the car.
• Paul Schwartz on Will Demps’ return to Baltimore, the team that took a chance on him as an undrafted free agent out of San Diego State in 2002. I remember Demps from that HBO series on the Ravens’ camp, where he impressed coaches with his physicality and savvy. Demps will see very limited action, if any, as he comes back from an ACL injury sustained on November 27.
• The Giants wouldn’t take no for an answer from Jeff Feagles, writes John Altavilla. Here’s my analysis of Feagles from this website.
• Chad Morton is completely recovered from a knee injury and 10 pounds lighter than was was last year. As a result, he feels much faster, writes Aron Angel. As always, he’s working his ass off. Here’s my analysis of Morton and the rest of the potential punt/kick returners from this website.
• Vinny DiTrani on the Giants talented defense that needs to become a cohesive unit by September 10.
• Ernie Palladino writes that Rob Johnson, coming off Tommy John surgery, doesn’t look so good on long throws so far, and is behind both Hasselbeck and Lorenzen on the depth chart. It makes sense that he needs surgery – he used to be a pitcher, and was once drafted in the 16th round by the Minnesota Twins.
• Sinorice Moss will make a cameo on “General Hospital.”

One of the toughest regular season losses in recent Giants history took place last November 27th in Seattle. In a Week 12 battle in which the winner would have the inside trace to the NFC’s number one seed, the Giants went into Qwest Field and thoroughly outplayed the Seahawks. They amassed 490 yards to Seattle’s 355, and with the game on the line, they were repeatedly able to stifle the Seahawks on defense and move the ball into a position to score on offense. On numerous occasions, it appeared certain that victory was at hand.

But Jay Feely’s choke-job for the ages rendered the effort moot. He missed consecutive field goals of 40, 54, and 45, each of which would have won the game for the Giants and sent them home in the driver’s seat in the NFC. His teammates said all the right things afterwards about how football is a team sport, and that how no one man can single-handedly win or lose a game. But in this case, those platitudes rang hollow. So horrendous was Feely’s performance that it was parodied six days later on Saturday Night Live, immortalized as an all-time gagger.

The loss went a long way toward knocking the Giants out of a first-round bye, which itself went a long way toward making the end of the Giants season a bitter disappointment. Had they had that first-round bye, perhaps they would have gotten some of their linebackers back and healthy. Perhaps Eli would have gotten a chance to sort out his mechanics. Perhaps Plaxico would have gotten a chance to recharge his batteries. Perhaps Coughlin and Hufnagel would have had more time to prepare for a Panther defense that was single-mindedly committed to stopping the run.

Whatever would have happened if the Giants had a first-round bye, the result surely would have been better than that dismal 23-0 loss.

And Jay Feely’s performance in Seattle was to blame. A game like that, one would think, would make for a pretty bad season all by itself.

But in Feely’s case, that one game diverted attention away from what was actually one of the best years of any kicker in the NFL, and one of the best seasons by a Giant kicker in recent memory.

Feely connected on 83% of his field goals, compared to the league average of 80.9%, and drilled all of his extra points. More impressively, he hit 8 of 10 field goals from 40-49 yards and 3 of 5 from over 50. All this despite playing his home games in the tricky conditions of the Meadowlands – Pro Football Prospectus’ measurements say that Feely kicked in the most difficult conditions of any kicker last year.

With his field goals alone, Pro Football Prospectus calculates that Feely contributed 7.0 points more than the league average, placing him fifth in the league and ahead of such notables as Adam Vinatieri and Mike Vanderjagt, as well as 25 other kickers. Yes, Giants fans: judging by field goals alone, we had one of the very best kickers in the league last year.

His numbers on kickoffs, the other component of a kicker’s job, aren’t too shabby either. He averaged 63.4 yards per kickoff, tied for eighth in the league, and boomed 12 touchbacks to finish sixth in that category. All told, Feely contributed 2.6 points more than league average with his kickoffs (based on a footballoutsiders statistic that translates yards of field position into points, based on the average next score that an NFL offense gets from that point in the field). Combining field goals and kickoffs, Feely contributed 9.7 points more than the league average, finishing as the fifth best kicker in the NFL.

Going into this year, it’s hard to know what to expect. Feely’s accuracy rate of 83.3% last year was the highest it had ever been – his career percentage is 78.7%, which is slightly below league average. And after a blistering first half in which he only missed only one field goal, he came back to earth in the second half by hitting only 18 out of 24 attempts for a 75% rate. To his credit though, he rebounded from an awful November by drilling 12 out of his 14 December attempts, including all three from 40-49 yards out. His kickoffs have always been excellent, and should continue to be. At 30 years old, he can be expected to continue at his present level for the foreseeable future.

Of course, a performance like his in Seattle is bound to have a scarring effect on a fan-base – seeing somebody melt down like Feely doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. But if we can give him a mulligan on that day and credit him for bouncing back strong, we should realize that we have one of the better kickers in the NFL, and if he is as accurate as he was last year, one of the very best.

I couldn’t find anything written about it, but MSG did a training camp report on Lavar Arrington yesterday. Despite missing many practices, Lavar continues to downplay his injuries. Yesterday, he repeated his mantra, “You don’t have to be injured to miss a day of practice.” He went on to say that the game-product will be worth the wait, and that games weren’t won and lost on the practice field. He also said something – and I don’t remember the exact quote – like “I’m looking forward to getting out there Friday night [against the Ravens], so the fans of New York know that I’m making hits in the name of the Giants.”

MSG’s Mike Crispino was tough on him, and claimed that his comments were Iverson-esque in the flippant attitude that he showed toward practice, but I disagree. Lavar has his aches and pains, and to play hard he needs to take it easy a little in practice. Get used to it, Giants fans, and look forward to the guy going all out on Sundays.

Ok, onto the news:

• Very well-written article by Ernie Palladino about Tim Carter and his burning desire to succeed this year. The patellar tendonitis that he reported with still bothers him at times, but he’s playing with a sense of urgency – he wants that third receiver job. I didn’t know this, but apparently Carter’s related to Gary Sheffield, Doc Gooden, Ozzie Newsome, and Darrin Nelson (80’s Vikings RB).
• Shockey has big problems with the grueling nature of training camp, saying that all it really does is get guys worn down. Interesting thought, and I tend to agree with him, but it seems like Coughlin is giving Shockey a lot of leeway to pop off.
• Mike Garafolo profiles Chad Morton, who was a Pro-Bowl alternate last year. Morton’s lost 10 pounds from last year in the hopes of getting faster. Last year, it seemed like he had all the moves and all the instincts, but lacked that top, top gear of speed that he showed on opening day of 2002 with the Jets when he took two kickoffs back to the house against the Bills.
• Garafolo on Fred Robbins, who has to fill Kendrick Clancy’s big shoes. Robbins’ work ethic has always been an issue, but he shed ten pounds during the off-season and has impressed the coaches during camp.
• The Star-Ledger reports that the Giants and Jets are squabbling over the design for their new shared stadium, which might delay its expected 2010 opening. Apparently, the Jets want a more glitzy glass and steel structure while the Giants favor a more traditional – and inexpensive – design. The problem is, with steel and concrete costs rising sharply, delays are costing a lot of money in themselves. Interesting, the design choices of the two teams.
• There’s no timetable yet for Chris Snee’s return, writes John Altavilla. He hopes that he’ll be back for the regular season, but it isn’t definite. Also, Barry Cofield has been working with the first team in place of William Joseph and will start this Friday against Baltimore.
• Mike Garafolo suspects that Snee’s injury is a partial meniscus tear, but Snee and his father-in-law are being tight-lipped about it.
• Sinorice Moss’s quad injury is a recurrence of the one that kept him out of the combine, and he won’t play this Friday, writes Vinny DiTrani. It would be nice if this guy gets back soon – rookies really need training camp.
• Rich Seubert, now three years removed from a horrific leg injury, capably steps in to fill Snee’s position. Having Seubert back and healthy is a testament to his hard work, writes Steven Sormani of Giants 101.
• Joe Lazauskas, writing for Giants 101, files a comprehensive fan camp report, complete with a burgers ‘n’ beer joint recommendation.