NY Giants OL Greg Van Roten on the Importance of Preseason Reps

Daboll, who said he did a lot of research into the matter over the offseason, needs only look at the results of the last two seasons in which the Giants have been outscored 68-6 in Week 1 games, and have scored just three points in the first half of both contests.

With the Giants facing two NFC East opponents to start the season and with Daboll and his staff in particular facing what many believe is a make-or-break campaign in which if they don’t show progress as a team, jobs could be on the line, it’s hard to fathom the fourth-year head coach not being a little more generous with snaps for his starters this preseason  

Van Roten believes this would greatly benefit the team, particularly with the new quarterback and the lack of simulating live reps in practice.

“I think it's important, especially if you have a new group of guys, you want to get some live action together,” he said. 

“I just think you don't want Week 1 to be the first time that you're all out there together for the first time. You'd like to have maybe a dress rehearsal where there's no chance of something bad happening.”

Will the need for a quick start lead to a change in thinking?

Daboll is undoubtedly aware that this team can ill-afford any more Week 1 disasters. He’s also smart enough to know that there is no substitute for live reps.

“I think you need to do what's best for your football team,” he said. “Is it a series? Is it two series? Is it a half? You talk about that as a staff as we get going. Take a look at the practices that we've had–there's no substitute for playing the game. You have to tackle. You don't do a whole lot (in practice).

“There's no substitute for a quarterback when he knows he can get hit. There's no substitute for an offensive guard cleaning the pocket or being very physical in the run game in gang tackling. That's the game of football. So you try to balance that with what you think is best for the football team.”

The only logical reason for Daboll’s past and perhaps current reluctance to play his starters in preseason could be related to injury concerns. But as he’s seen each summer, injuries can happen any time, anywhere, such as the unfortunate Achilles injury suffered by receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton on the team’s grass field last week. 

“You're always going to have injury risk,” Daboll said. "But we'll sit down and do what we think is best for our football team. If that's playing, it's playing. If it's not playing as much, it's not playing as much. 

“We've had a good camp up to this point. I think we've accomplished a lot. It's been a physical camp. And we'll continue to have a physical camp here leading up to the first game.” 

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