New York Giants

Posted: August 28
Updated: Today at 3:40 AM

TOM CANAVAN AP Sports Writer

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Being forced to adjust their schedule because of the weather isn’t anything new for the New York Giants.

They got used to it last season when a blizzard first delayed their trip to Minnesota, then forced the game to be moved to Detroit when the Metrodome’s roof collapsed.

The Giants are adjusting again with the East Coast being hit by Hurricane Irene. The category 1 storm forced the Giants, Jets and the NFL to move Saturday’s game at MetLife Stadium from Saturday to Monday night.

The Giants announced the postponement on Friday night, with the team learning about it while in meetings. The team practiced on Saturday.

“I thought the guys adjusted,” quarterback Eli Manning said. “We came in today and I thought we really had a crisp, sharp practice. Guys were flying around, moving around. I got to see a few more Jets looks, since we had a short week in the first place. I think guys are now set on going home, resting up today and tomorrow.”

Coach Tom Coughlin sent his players to their homes after practice on Saturday to be with their families. They have been told to return Monday for a team meeting and pregame meal. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

“First and foremost, our thoughts are for the safety and well-being of everybody who has been and will be impacted by the hurricane system,” Coughlin said in quotes released by the team. “We pray that all those people have taken the necessary precautions and that the aftermath is something that can be managed effectively.”

Coughlin isn’t worried about the Giants (1-1) being ready for the annual preseason game against the Jets (1-1).

“We’re getting good at mid-stream adjustments,” Coughlin said. “I don’t know if that is something you necessarily want to perfect, but I think we’re close.”

Manning said this year’s delay is different.

“Last year, we were traveling around and staying in hotels and we didn’t know where we were going to play or what was going on,” he said. “That was different. With this game, we know when we’re playing, we know the time. We adjusted and got to have an extra practice.”

The delay might help the Giants. They had a short week to prepare for the Jets, having played the Bears on Monday night.

The negative is the Giants won’t have any time to prepare for the preseason finale against the New England Patriots on Thursday night in Foxborough, Mass.

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EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP)—Being forced to adjust their schedule because
of the weather isn’t anything new for the New York Giants.

They got used to it last season when a blizzard first delayed their trip to
Minnesota, then forced the game to be moved to Detroit when the Metrodome’s roof
collapsed.

The Giants are adjusting again with the East Coast being hit by Hurricane
Irene. The category 1 storm forced the Giants, Jets and the NFL to move
Saturday’s game at MetLife Stadium from Saturday to Monday night.

The Giants announced the postponement on Friday night, with the team
learning about it while in meetings. The team practiced on Saturday.

“I thought the guys adjusted,” quarterback Eli Manning(notes) said. “We came in
today and I thought we really had a crisp, sharp practice. Guys were flying
around, moving around. I got to see a few more Jets looks, since we had a short
week in the first place. I think guys are now set on going home, resting up
today and tomorrow.”

Coach Tom Coughlin sent his players to their homes after practice on
Saturday to be with their families. They have been told to return Monday for a
team meeting and pregame meal. The game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.

“First and foremost, our thoughts are for the safety and well-being of
everybody who has been and will be impacted by the hurricane system,” Coughlin
said in quotes released by the team. “We pray that all those people have taken
the necessary precautions and that the aftermath is something that can be
managed effectively.”

Coughlin isn’t worried about the Giants (1-1) being ready for the annual
preseason game against the Jets (1-1).

“We’re getting good at mid-stream adjustments,” Coughlin said. “I don’t
know if that is something you necessarily want to perfect, but I think we’re
close.”

Manning said this year’s delay is different.

“Last year, we were traveling around and staying in hotels and we didn’t
know where we were going to play or what was going on,” he said. “That was
different. With this game, we know when we’re playing, we know the time. We
adjusted and got to have an extra practice.”

The delay might help the Giants. They had a short week to prepare for the
Jets, having played the Bears on Monday night.

The negative is the Giants won’t have any time to prepare for the preseason
finale against the New England Patriots on Thursday night in Foxborough, Mass.

“That’s why this game is so important,” Manning said. “I thought getting
in another practice and running around today was helpful. This game coming is
going to be very important. We’re going to get some looks and see how we stand
against a 3-4 team, a team that does some exotic blitzes and a top-quality
team.”

Coughlin said earlier in the week that he planned to play his starters for
roughly a half.

It’s possible that the starters may now play a little longer and then very
little in the final preseason game.

The Giants and Jets will have to cut their rosters from 90 to 75 players on
Tuesday.

“Listen, there is nothing we can do about the current set of
circumstances,” Coughlin said. “We have to adjust and adapt. We have been
evaluating our roster since the start of training camp. All we can do is take
what we have had in terms of the totality of the preseason and make our
decisions based on that. There really has been no precedent for this entire
preseason.”

The New York Giants and Jets have postponed their preseason game from Saturday to Monday due to the threat of Hurricane Irene.

Giants president and CEO John Mara said today that moving the game two days later was the best course of action for the safety of all.

Hurricane Irene was on track to reach the New York area by Sunday.

New York City planned to shut down the entire mass transit system by noon on Saturday.

The game had originally been scheduled for 7 p.m. on Saturday, but had been moved up five hours on Thursday because of the Hurricane.

TWEET-ENHANCED: If the action on the field isn’t enough for fans, the New York Giants will now display selected fan tweets on the main video screens around MetLife Stadium’s. Next time Brandon Jacobs tears off a run like this, he can do it to a fan’s Tweeted commentary. (Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

NEW YORK—This could be interesting. The Giants announced plans, starting with this Saturday’s pre-season matchup against their cross-town rival Jets, to display fans’ real-time tweets on freshly named MetLife Stadium’s video boards and other stadium distribution channels, as well as for those watching the live televised broadcast.

Does this mean gripes about penalties, play calls, and player miscues will be on display for everyone to see? Probably not, according to Communications Manager DeAndre Phillips, who said: “Essentially, there are filters set in place. If the tweet passes those filters, then they are put into a queue. A Giants employee reads through those tweets and approves which tweets will air. Think of it in terms of a live game broadcast with a slight time delay.”

This should be a game-changer. 

The first-of-its-kind plan in the NFL is part of a larger social initiative, as the team has partnered with Mass Relevance to enhance the game atmosphere for Giants’ fans everywhere. In addition to airing the in-game tweets, fans will also be able to have a little halftime question-and-answer Twitter session with radio announcers Bob Papa and Carl Banks.

Finally, the Giants will tally tweets pertaining to the three preselected game MVP candidates (Twitter hash tags for each one are to be determined) for a specific time period during the game, and the player with the most tweets will have his online merchandise at the Giants store discounted for the following week.

How this will change the game-day experience remains to be seen, but either way, the New Meadowlands Stadium has changed.