Eli Apple
Seth Wenig, AP

For the second day in a row, New York Giants backup quarterback Davis Webb struggled, but Eli Apple put forth another solid practice.

For the first time in a week, the New York Giants practiced without pads on Friday.

Following practice head coach Pat Shurmur explained why he elected not to have the team practice in pads.

“You’ll notice I took the pads off them. Four days in a row here, I thought we banged really well the last two days, very physical, went back today to a lot of individuals, a lot of isolated drill work, some ball security, ball disruption stuff, stuff you work on all the time but we put a little bit more of an emphasis on it. Then we got some good teamwork, especially stuff we did in the red zone. So, productive day, I thought it was very competitive, thought there was good energy, and now we’ll keep moving on.”

As far as practice went, backup quarterback Davis Webb once again struggled mightily. For the second day in a row, he was intercepted by cornerback B.W. Webb. Later in practice, he was picked by linebacker Ray-Ray Armstrong.

Webb still has a stronghold as the number two quarterback on the depth chart, but the last two days have been disappointing after a solid beginning to training camp.

One player who had a strong practice on Friday was cornerback Eli Apple. He batted down a deep pass that was intended for Sterling Shepard and later on he knocked down a pass that was intended for tight end Evan Engram.

The clean slate that Shurmur and general manager Dave Gettleman provided Apple in the offseason seems to be paying off as he has had a strong camp. Following practice, Shurmur praised Apple’s play on Friday.

“I think Apple had a good day. I thought Eli did a nice job. He disrupted a couple balls. He has fun competing out there, I think you can see that, and I’ve enjoyed being around him and I think he’s acting like a pro, as I said earlier.”

Another defensive back that had an active day was William Gay who took reps at nickel corner and took some snaps at safety. Gay’s afternoon was cut short however as he appeared to have tweaked his right hamstring as he spent the end of practice watching on the sideline with his right hamstring wrapped up.

The Giants will resume practice in full pads on Saturday prior to a day off on Sunday.

Jason's first love was football while growing up in northern New Jersey. For the past three years, he has covered the New York Giants, as well as several boxing events along the East Coast.