What are your plans for the break? “I’m going to go down to train in Atlanta, I believe. I’m either going to stay here and train, or I’m going to go to Atlanta, but I’m pretty sure I’m going to go to Atlanta and train where Osi (Umenyiora) trains. I heard from a couple of people they give pretty good work, so we’ll see what’s up. Osi’s an athlete, he goes out there and works hard and gives 110 percent. You need people to push you and to make you better, so I believe he’ll push me and get me to where I need to be.”

What are your individual goals for this upcoming season? “I want to hopefully do like D. Ward did, try to average 50 yards a game to end up with over 800 to 1,000. I want to get about 800 yards and about 50 catches. That’s just going to come with trust and playmaking and having the ability to be out there. It’s pretty much just whatever situations they put me in, I want to be able to go out there and be effective and do the right things and be a productive player. Whatever happens, happens, but those are kind of some goals I have for myself. I think me and D. Ward had the same, kind of similar, running styles. He had pretty good hands, and I think I have pretty good hands. When I used to watch the film, I couldn’t tell if it was him or me in a game, it was like we’re kind of the same type of back. Hopefully I can be in the same situations he was and have the same opportunities as he did.”

Fan submission: Why is this offense going to be better this year? “Well, I think we’re hungry. We’ve got some guys that are ready to step up, and older guys that are ready to get back to business and finish stronger than we did last year. I think we’re going to be a little dangerous. Everybody wants to get back to that Super Bowl, so we’ve got to be hungry.”

Article via NJ.com, written by Jenny Vrentas/The Star-Ledger – http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2009/07/running_back_danny_wares_new_y.html

When the Giants released Plaxico Burress during the off-season, it was evident that they’d at some point need to come across a receiver for Eli Manning to get the ball to. Rookie receiver Hakeem Nicks seems to be the guy who will be replacing Burress as Manning’s favorite target. However, the Giants did try and acquire Braylon Edwards from the Browns or Anquan Boldin from the Cardinals, but the price wasn’t right and they passed on those opportunities to bolster their passing game. Can Nicks come into the NFL and be a productive receiver right away as a rookie or will he experience growing pains and have to work his way into being productive?

The one thing that made the Giants a tough opponent for whoever they faced on Sundays was the running game. Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward did a lot of damage on the ground, making it easier for Manning to find his receivers down the field because defenses had to respect the fact that either of the two monsters could bust through the hole and taking it the distance on any given carry. That’s the same kind of production the Giants will need from their two-headed monster going into this season, especially with a receiving corp that is not too polished and doesn’t have a lot of big impact players in the vertical passing game.

I would like to welcome you all to the giants central blog, and I will be updating this as often as I can, I will start a weekly article for our games.