The Detroit Lions’ pads and cleats were already laid out for them on plastic folding chairs in a makeshift locker room area at the Giants’ training facility on Sunday — a reminder that these upcoming Monday and Tuesday joint practices are a big deal.
They matter because the Lions are a Super Bowl contender. So Brian Daboll’s Giants have a chance to set a strong tone for the season and test how large or narrow a gap exists.
“It gives us an opportunity to kind of validate our identity as a unit,” veteran tight end Chris Manhertz said Sunday after a light practice. “I’m pretty excited about it. I think it will show a lot about what our strengths are and what our deficiencies are, what we need to work on.”
The identity the Giants are striving to create is no different than what Detroit has built under head coach Dan Campbell: tough, relentless, intimidating, physical.
It’s one thing to talk about it and do it against teammates in camp, though. It’s another to go head-to-head with a hard-nosed team that nearly knocked off the San Francisco 49ers in last year’s NFC Championship Game.
“It’s a team that’s full of grit, hard-working, got a little confidence and something to them now,” safety Jason Pinnock said. “So we’re ready to test what we got going on.”
Backup Giants offensive tackle Matt Nelson played in Detroit for the last four years. He said the Lions built their identity through a determined daily grind.
“Coach Campbell always strived and preached toughness and discipline,” Nelson said. “It’s the chipping away mentality. It’s the stone-cutter’s analogy where it’s not the 101st blow but all the blows before it. So you just keep chipping away.”
Nelson said he sees “a ton of similarities” in Daboll’s Giants program, led by players like left tackle Andrew Thomas. He believes the “smart, tough, dependable” Giants mantra can get them where the Lions have gone if they stay the course.
“Teams always take the personality of their head coach,” Nelson said. “I feel like the vibe of the locker room is everyone’s 100 percent, 110 percent behind [Daboll]. We want to play for him and compete for him.”
Daboll said he and Campbell aim for their teams to “practice the right way with one another… staying off the ground” in East Rutherford, N.J., the next two days. He anticipates “good work” against the Jared Goff-led Lions, who hosted and humbled the Giants last year during joint practices in Allen Park, Mich.
Daboll tried to prepare his team for this ramp-up in physicality, too, with the hardest practice of Daboll’s Giants three-year stint on Friday — a drastic change from the past two seasons.
Manhertz, who is on his fifth team since 2016, liked seeing the team put through the fire during the dog days of camp. He said that’s how it should be.
“That was probably one of the harder practices I’ve been a part of, or at least that’s what it felt like,” said Manhertz, who is entrenched as a first-teamer on this year’s offense. “I don’t know if it was because of volume, intensity or the weather — maybe a combination of everything.
“But these are the days that you kind of build that callous, that toughness,” he continued. “Because at the end of the day, this is the best time to do it. The hardest part of this game should be practice. When you go out there on gameday, it should be — I wouldn’t say easy. But it should be, ‘We’ve seen it before, we’ve done it before, we’ve trained our minds and bodies to execute.’
He added: “So there’s a method to the madness there, and we trust that process.”
Joint practices now are commonplace in the NFL as teams de-emphasize preseason game participation for their starters. So Manhertz said he treats joint practice “like preseason games.”
It would serve the Giants well if the entire roster did the same. They’ll need everything to compete with Lions star offensive lineman Penei Sewell, star edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson and two imposing Detroit fronts on both sides of the ball.
“It starts with your mindset,” Thomas said. “If you embrace that type of physicality, that kind of toughness, if you practice like that every day, it translates to the field. That’s the mindset we’re trying to build.”
Manhertz said he likes the direction the Giants are headed.
“I think we’re definitely on our way there,” he said. “We have the talent, we have the personnel to have that identity. More importantly it starts from the top, our head coach instilling that culture, and us as players allowing it to permeate through the whole offense.
“Leaders on the line, whatever position group it is, it’s on us to really set the tone and build that culture we talk about every single day as a unit.”
Setting the tone starts Monday.
DABOLL KEEPS NEAL TIMELINE MURKY
Daboll would not, or could not, provide any clarity on Evan Neal’s return to practice or play despite a peppering of questions about the former No. 7 overall pick.
“I think he’s doing a little bit more each day. They’re backing off on him some days. And when he’s ready, he’ll be ready,” Daboll said in a vague and unsettling non-update.
Neal, 23, is on the physically unable to perform list with a left ankle injury. His issue dates back to a fracture in his ankle last season that was initially misdiagnosed as a sprain.
He had surgery in late December but suffered a setback during spring practices. And he has only done rehab on the side with trainers since camp started.
The only information Daboll could provide was that Neal won’t be available for this week’s preseason opener against the Lions and that Neal will “be working at tackle,” and not guard, whenever he does return.
Daboll wouldn’t commit to Neal starting for the Giants when he returned, though.
“That’s down the road,” he said. “Let’s get him healthy first, and when he comes back, we’ll deal with that.”
GM Joe Schoen said at the start of camp that Neal was “not far” from coming back, but Daboll said that day that “it could be sooner, it could be later.” Eleven days later, there is no more clarity on where Neal stands.
SCHMITZ STILL OUT
Center John Michael Schmitz (shoulder) remained sidelined, doing light work with director of strength and conditioning Frank Piraino. Daboll said of Schmitz: “He’s getting better. I don’t think it’s anything long term. When he’s ready we’ll put him back out there.” Greg Van Roten took most of the snaps at first-team center in Schmitz’s place … Tight ends Jack Stoll (concussion protocol) and Lawrence Cager (hamstring), linebacker Carter Coughlin (lower-body), edge rusher Tomon Fox (hamstring), wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton (lower-body), running back Jashaun Corbin (undisclosed) and safety Jalen Mills (non-football injury) also didn’t practice … Wide receiver Darius Slayton returned to team drills after one day off due to tightness, although his workload was light. And defensive tackle D.J. Davidson was on the field after leaving practice on Friday.
