Giants Super Bowl Hero David Tyree Now Struggling to Make Team

The NFL season is four weeks and one day away, so FanHouse is at Giants training camp for Stop 5 and Mile 996 of Dan Graziano's five-camp, 1,100-mile road trip.

ALBANY, N.Y -- His situation is bizarre, unique and potentially kind of sad. David Tyree is and forever will be one of the most significant names in New York Giants history for his helmet catch in Super Bowl XLII. And yet, two years later, he's here in camp trying not to get cut. Unfair? No way. Tyree won't even admit to finding it odd.
"It's not odd at all. I think it sounds about right," Tyree said after the Giants' morning practice Wednesday. I did something good for this organization, but this organization was good to me. I look back on my first year, when I was unfair to the organization and being selfish. I could have been gone then. But they stuck with me. They don't owe me anything."

Tyree's reference is to his arrest in March 2004 for possession of marijuana. At the time, he was a talented special-teamer who came with the potential to be more but also some serious character questions. As Tyree pointed out, the Giants could easily have cut him right then and there, and he might never have played in a Super Bowl, let alone made the catch that basically won one.

So when Tyree got mad the other day in practice, it wasn't because he thinks he's been put into a tough situation. It's because he was upset with himself for dropping passes.

"I mean, if anything, I thought I might be behind on separation, running routes," said Tyree, who's coming back from a knee injury that cost him the 2008 season. "There's nothing more frustrating then when you're getting separation and you're dropping the ball."

So he didn't drop any this morning, and he said that was good -- he wants to keep it that way for the rest of camp. If he does, and if he stays healthy, you have to believe that he'll have an edge when it comes time to make roster decisions, since the people who run sports teams tend to maintain strong loyalties to players who help win them championships.

"We know David, and we know he'll do the work," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "David will pay the price to put himself in position. He knows exactly what he's doing, and he demands a lot of himself. Let's just hope he can string some practices together."

Almost sounds as if the coach is rooting for Tyree to make the team, no? Well, if that's the case, Tyree sure isn't going to let himself think that way.

"Nah, this boils down to a competition," Tyree said. "We've got a plethora of different guys out there who are all competing at a high level. For me, it's about seizing the moment and doing what I know I can do. I think, at the end of the day, it'll shake out."

And if it doesn't shake out his way, you won't hear David Tyree complaining that the Giants did him wrong.

"They've treated me right," he said. "Being able to miss the season and still be a part of this organization last year, that meant a lot. I think it's about developing a relationship, and our relationship is good."

He's just hoping it's good enough -- and that he plays well enough -- to keep him on the team.

More From New York Giants Camp

-- Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw is expecting to get a lot more carries this year with Derrick Ward having defected to Tampa Bay, and Bradshaw says he's ready for it. He said a calf injury limited him last year, and that his leg feels much better now than it did at any point last season.

"This is one of the biggest years I've ever had in my life, to get this opportunity," Bradshaw said. "I've been waiting for this forever."

Citing himself, Bradshaw and Danny Ware, No. 1 running back Brandon Jacobs said he believes -- even with Ward gone -- that the Giants will have the best running game in the NFL.

"I think, as a unit, we may be the best in the league, and the best we've had here," Jacobs said. "We led the league last year and we were (third) the year before last, so why not? We have all the right things, all the right people in place. I think we're going to be real good."

-- First-round draft pick Hakeem Nicks and veteran Steve Smith continue to sit out with injuries, further complicating the receiver competition since each one already has a spot locked up.

"You'd like to have them all out on the field," Coughlin said. "In order to put it in the perspective we want it, we obviously need them on the field."

-- Without question, the group that stands out when you watch the Giants practice is the defensive line. They are so good and so deep that the offensive lineman can basically do nothing to stop them at this point. I spoke with some of the guys on the Giants' D-line for a story we'll have here tomorrow morning. So enjoy. This is the last stop on my camp tour. The remaining 100 miles or so will take me home, and I'll catch you Friday from the Rams-Jets preseason game in NJ.