Tag: Bobby McCain

Giants’ Darren Waller activated from IR, Bobby McCain waived

The New York Giants have activated tight end Darren Waller from injured reserve (IR) and waived veteran safety Bobby McCain.

The New York Giants officially activated tight end Darren Waller from injured reserve (IR) on Saturday, just days removed from his designation to return.

Waller took part in two practices this week and should have a limited role on Sunday against the New Orleans Saints.

“I’ve been used to doing is like 70-80 snaps a game. So, coming out the first week, probably not that but as far as a number that’s solid that can contribute in whatever ways he needs me to contribute but also be fresh, assuming that’s realistic but yeah, I plan on contributing given the opportunity,’ Waller told reporters this week.

In order to clear room for Waller on the 53-man roster, the Giants waived veteran safety Bobby McCain (no recall).

McCain was signed during the offseason to compete at safety but has been largely relegated to special teams. He had taken just 19 defensive snaps in comparison to 119 special teams snaps.

In Monday night’s stunning upset of Green Bay, McCain had a punt go off his arm which was subsequently recovered by the Packers.

“Just got to get out of the way. It’s kind of hard, you got a high, short punt,” special teams coordinator Thomas McGaughey said. “I think it was just one of those deals where Bobby (McCain) was about to react and as soon as he was about to react, the ball hit him. And you see guys kind of moving away from it, but you just hope that he can react quicker and maybe be a little more animated as a punt returner just alerting the guys, letting them know.”

The Giants did not make any practice squad elevations ahead of their Week 15 game.

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Giants report card: How we graded Big Blue in Week 14 win

The New York Giants defeated the Green Bay Packers, 24-22, in Week 14 and the Giants Wire team grades reflect that performance.

The New York Giants defeated the Green Bay Packers, 24-22, on Monday Night Football.

The Giants pulled off a big upset in primetime to keep their playoff hopes alive. They have now won three straight and improved to 5-8 on the season. They will have an opportunity to build on that next week as they face another potential wild-card team in the New Orleans Saints.

Here’s a quick breakdown of what we saw during the game and how we graded the Giants in this win.

Giants injury report: Dexter Lawrence continues to miss practice

New York Giants NT Dexter Lawrence missed his second consecutive practice on Thursday due to a hamstring injury.

The New York Giants held a brief practice on Thursday morning before players and staff were permitted to leave early and attend their respective Thanksgiving celebrations.

“We’ll bump it up a little bit,” head coach Brian Daboll said of Thursday’s practice. “I talked to the captains last week relative to how they wanted to approach the week, if they wanted to push it up and practice on Tuesday, give them off on Thursday.

“They wanted to keep it a normal week. So, we’ll push up the time that we start, and then they’ll get out a little bit earlier than they would. Fairly normal.”

East Rutherford facilities were closed to the media, so there were no press conferences or Zoom calls held, while practice was closed.

The Giants’ full Thursday injury report can be found below:

Did not participate: NT Dexter Lawrence (hamstring), OL Evan Neal (ankle)

Limited participant: WR Darius Slayton (neck), LB Bobby Okereke (rib/hip), DL A’Shawn Robinson (back), CB Tre Hawkins (shoulder)

Full participant: OL John Michael Schmitz (finger), RB Saquon Barkley (rest), LT Andrew Thomas (knee), RB Eric Gray (ankle), OL Tyre Phillips (knee), WR Sterling Shepard (hip), CB Adoree’ Jackson (concussion), S Bobby McCain (illness)

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Giants elevate Randy Bullock, Tyree Jackson from practice squad

The New York Giants have elevated kicker Randy Bullock (again) and tight end Tyree Jackson from their practice squad.

The New York Giants have elevated two players from their practice squad ahead of a Week 11 game against the Washington Commanders — tight end Tyree Jackson and kicker Randy Bullock.

For Bullock, this is his third and final elevation. Beginning next week, the Giants must sign him to their active roster and cut Cade York, sign Bullock to the active roster and burn two spots on kickers or leave Bullock on the practice squad.

They could also cut Bullock off the practice squad, but that would call into question why they used a gameday roster spot on him for three consecutive weeks.

A final option is signing Bullock to the 53-man roster, waiving York and then signing him to the practice squad if he clears.

The fact that the Giants haven’t been able to settle this kicker conundrum for nearly a month is jarring.

Meanwhile, Jackson is being elevated for the second week in a row. He took 12 total snaps last Sunday in a loss to the Dallas Cowboys but did not register any statistics.

Finally, safety Bobby McCain has been added to the Giants’ injury report and is listed as questionable due to an illness. The team initially said he would not travel to Landover but he did end up making the trip a few hours later.

It remains to be seen if McCain will suit up against his former team on Sunday.

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Giants-Cardinals Week 2: Offense, defense and special teams snap counts

The New York Giants won their Week 2 game against the Arizona Cardinals. Here are the snap counts on offense, defense and special teams.

The New York Giants rallied from 21 points down in the second half to secure a 31-28 victory over the Arizona Cardinals in Week 2. The historic comeback was the largest for the team since 1949.

With the win, the Giants improve to 1-1 on the season and get a little momentum going ahead of a Thursday night showdown with the San Francisco 49ers.

Although there is a lot to feel good about, there are also multiple areas the Giants need to improve upon or clean up. But before we look forward, let’s look back.

Here are the snap counts that contributed to the Giants’ miracle victory.

Offensive snaps: 68
Defensive snaps: 65
Special teams snaps: 28

Rookie wide receiver Jalin Hyatt saw more snaps (14) than Sterling Shepard (10), which is an interesting substory coming out of the game. It could be because Shepard is still working his way back but it’d be interesting to hear head coach Brian Daboll address that.

There was almost no running back rotation to speak of with Saquon Barkley taking every single snap prior to injuring his ankle with just under 2:00 to play.

The fact that linebacker Kayvon Thibodeaux was on the field for 94 percent of the defensive snaps and had almost no impact at all is alarming. It’s equally concerning that defensive lineman Leonard Williams had little impact on 38 snaps.

Reserve safeties Dane Belton and Bobby McCain barely touched the field.

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Randall Cobb fined for hit on Giants safety Bobby McCain

Randall Cobb fined for the hit on Bobby McCain.

The hit heard around the world — or at least highlighted on Hard Knocks — just made Randall Cobb’s wallet a little lighter.

The Jets wide receiver was hit with a fine of $13,889 for his hit on Giants safety Bobby McCain during their preseason meeting, a hit that put McCain in the concussion protocol and caused Giants linebacker Jihad Ward to believe Cobb and quarterback Aaron Rodgers were laughing at McCain and the hit in the huddle. That started the budding feud between Rodgers and Ward that saw Rodgers call Ward a liar.

“He thought we were laughing at his teammate? That never happened,” Rodgers said earlier this week, via ESPN. “That never happened and I think he’s making (expletive) up. I don’t care.”

Whether they were laughing or not, Cobb now has to fork over some money as a result of his hit. So not only did he hear it — even if jokingly — from Rodgers, he now has heard about it from the league.

Giants’ Jihad Ward explains why he shoved Aaron Rodgers

New York Giants LB Jihad Ward rips into the New York Jets, QB Aaron Rodgers and WR Randall Cobb for their “sucker (expletive)” last week.

During their final preseason game against the New York Jets last Saturday night, New York Giants linebacker Jihad Ward exchanged a few words with quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

The back-and-forth jawing appeared to begin after Ward shoved Rodgers late, which the veteran quarterback took exception to.

After the game, Ward was uncharacteristically mum when asked about the exchange. Rodgers also refused to comment, telling reporters they’d have to wait for the next episode of HBO’s Hard Knocks to see what happened.

The episode did not disappoint and showed the exchange between Rodgers and Ward . . . kind of.

The clip makes it appear as if Ward was in the wrong but as it turns out, there was much more to the entire situation that cameras didn’t catch (or producers simply chose not to air).

Following practice on Wednesday, Ward opened up about exactly what happened, what he thinks of Rodgers, and why he bumped the quarterback late to begin with.

As it turns out, Ward was responding to a cheap shot from Jets wide receiver Randall Cobb that left Giants safety Bobby McCain concussed. The undeniably illegal hit drew a flag. It also drew a laugh from Rodgers, who apparently found amusement in McCain’s serious injury.

“There’s a reason why I acted like that (in) the first place,” Ward told the New York Daily News. “There’s a reason why I shoved him like I did. The reason why is because I don’t let none of my mother (expletive) teammates get knocked over, you know what I’m saying?”

Ward called Cobb’s illegal hit, “sucker (expletive).”

“And Randall — what’s his name, Randall Cobb? — he knew what he did,” Ward continued. “That was some cheap (expletive). But it’s like, if I see anything on the field, I gotta do what I gotta do. This ain’t no rah-rah this, that and a third. I don’t do all this internet stuff. I’m gonna let them have it.

“That was some sucker (expletive) that Randall Cobb and Aaron Rodgers did. And I’m stamping on that. I ain’t hiding from nothing. So you could laugh now, cry later … They know what they did, and they (were) laughing and all that stuff. And I was the only one that was sticking up for (McCain).”

As far as Rodgers demanding respect from Ward, the veteran linebacker isn’t having it.

“I don’t praise no man,” Ward said. “I don’t be on the field . . . on some ‘Like Mike’ stuff like ‘Hey, oh my God, it’s Aaron’ — I don’t care about none of that. I don’t care who you [are]. When you’re on that field, you have no respect. So it is what it is. You don’t gotta know me. That’s fine.”

McCain told reporters he appreciates Ward standing up for him but both agreed it’s on to Dallas. They’ll worry about Rodgers and the little brother Jets come Week 8.

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Giants fall to Jets, 32-24, in Week 3 of preseason: 7 takeaways

The New York Giants fell to the New York Jets in Week 3 of the preseason and here are 7 quick takeaways from the game.

The New York Giants dropped their preseason finale to the New York Jets, 32-24, on Saturday night at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Here are seven takeaways from the final game of their exhibition season.

Giants fall to Jets in preseason finale as injuries pile up

The New York Giants dropped their preseason finale to the New York Jets and lost several players to injury in the process.

The New York Giants faced off against the New York Jets on Saturday night at MetLife Stadium in the final preseason game for both teams.

The game held significance in several ways. It was the Jets debut for superstar quarterback Aaron Rodgers and the final game for many young hopefuls on both sides who are competing for roster spots to strut their stuff as final cuts are due Tuesday afternoon.

The Giants, as the ‘home’ team, wore their blue jerseys while the Jets wore all white. Two veterans — wide receiver Sterling Shepard and linebacker Jihad Ward — served as game captains for Big Blue.

Gametime temperature was a balmy 84 degrees with 49 percent humidity and a slight wind of six miles per hour.

Should Giants attempt to trade safety Bobby McCain?

Bleacher Report suggests that the New York Giants trade Bobby McCain to the Las Vegas Raiders prior to the start of the 2023 NFL season.

NFL teams across the league are constantly looking for ways to improve. Scouting prospects is a 24/7/365 job. Players continually work to be the best they can be, which creates an ever-changing landscape.

As the 2023 NFL season opener nears, Bleacher Report suggested one trade that each NFL team should propose before the season starts.

When it came to the Giants, Alex Ballentine suggested they trade safety Bobby McCain to the Las Vegas Raiders.

The New York Giants signed Bobby McCain to a one-year deal this offseason. The plan was most likely to have McCain replace Julian Love, who left for the Seattle Seahawks in free agency.

But plans change, and McCain might have to sweat out making the roster if he remains with the Giants. That’s because of the play of seventh-round rookie pick Gervarrius Owens.

Owens has been a pleasant surprise since the Giants selected him. He works hard in practice, had a pass breakup in the first preseason game and disrupted the Carolina Panthers’ offense during the second preseason game, recording seven tackles.

There’s no reason to think Owens won’t make the cut, which means someone else has to go.

The Raiders, on the other hand, could use an insurance policy if Tre’Von Moehrig can’t step up in Year 3. McCain could slot in alongside free-agent addition Marcus Epps.

Right now, there’s no indication that the Giants plan to trade or cut McCain. This is purely speculation, and the Giants’ history with safeties suggests that depth is important at the position.

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