Andre Woodson's first taste of the NFL wound up being a false start.
With a little more than four minutes to go in the preseason opener Aug. 7, the Giants forced and recovered a fumble from the Lions. That was Woodson's cue, and he trotted onto the field for his professional debut. Then came the flag.
Not a yellow one, a red one. The Lions wanted the play to be reviewed, and after the officials took a second look, they determined that running back Artose Pinner was down before he lost the ball.
Woodson left the field, the Lions went on to score the winning field goal, and by the time the Giants had the ball back, veteran David Carr was at quarterback. Tom Coughlin said later that he wasn't comfortable with Woodson running a hurry-up offense because he hadn't done it in practice yet.
Still, Woodson savored the experience, even if it was a Moonlight Graham moment.
"It's like a dream come true,"
he said. "You get to run out there wearing the uniform of the world champions, it's an awesome feeling to live that out. Hopefully this time, I'll be running on the field and actually snapping the ball."
He more than likely will be. Woodson is the third quarterback in Coughlin's four-player lineup for tonight's game against the Browns. In all likelihood, he'll have the first possession of the second half and play through the third quarter before handing things over to Carr. Eli Manning and Anthony Wright will play in the first half.
It's been a difficult training camp for Woodson. After a stellar college career at Kentucky that included an NCAA record of 325 passes without an interception, he might be close to throwing as many picks this summer as he did in four years for the Wildcats (25). That's taken a little bit of a toll on him.
"You have your ups and your downs, you just have to go with it and be positive about everything,"
he said. "I've learned a lot and I'm better than I was a month ago but there's still a lot more to improve on and hopefully I'll get back that confidence that I had when I was at Kentucky. Right now, I'm kind of low with that because of not knowing the offense as well."
The Giants also tweaked his delivery, removing a hitch from his throwing motion. Woodson said he was never told he had the hitch in high school or college, and it wasn't until NFL types started to break him down for the combine and draft that the topic came up. A strong Heisman hopeful last fall, he dropped to the sixth round of April's draft, where the Giants plucked him as a project player. Quarterbacks coach Chris Palmer worked with his mechanics.
"He's throwing the ball well,"
Palmer said, "but it's hard for a guy that's not getting as many reps as the top three quarterbacks to show what he can or can't do."
And it's hard to learn the complex Giants offense. Woodson said, in which the quarterback is responsible for so many of the checks and front-calling. Making a mistake identifying the correct player as the middle linebacker can change the entire blocking scheme, and all of a sudden a play goes for a loss. Without the reps, Woodson relies on asking questions whenever he gets the chance.
"Andre, he's a rookie quarterback, first time into the NFL, and we've all been there and he asks some good questions, which is good,"
Manning said. "If he doesn't understand something, he's stepping up and asking questions, which is important for a young quarterback. You try to explain things so he understands it."
Added Palmer: "He is like a lot of young quarterbacks, he has it all upstairs as far as what the plays are, but he is still working on being able to pull it out."
Tonight, he'll be able to show how much he's learned. His expectations, however, are in line with his sagging confidence.
"It's been a while, so I'll probably look a little rusty, but I'm just excited to have this chance to showcase what I have,"
he said. "Hopefully, I'm in there for a while, but if not, then I still got a chance."
Which is more than he got in the first preseason game.
