Giants Did Not Pass This Test

Of all the statistical indignities suffered by the 1995 New York Giants, the only one worse than their 5-11 record was this: 30th in the 30-team National Football League in passing offense. They averaged 165.6 yards per game, more than 100 behind the league-leading San Francisco 49ers. Numbers that grim represent a team effort, but for the new-look receiving corps, they present a particular motivation in 1996.

“It’s a challenge,” third-year man Thomas Lewis said between practices at the State University at Albany Monday. “Dan (Reeves) reminded us about coming in 30th of 30 teams. That’s our emphasis this year, to be a better passing team. We should be pretty good. We should be better than 30th, I know that.”

Added free-agent pickup Lawrence Dawsey: “We have to improve on it. We can only go up, we can’t go further down.”

The roster of receivers in camp was filled out Monday when second-round draft pick Amani Toomer practiced for the first time since he signed a three-year, $1.494 million contract Sunday. He had spent nearly a week in an Albany hotel, riding around town aimlessly to pass time. “It’s a relief,” he said.

Toomer is expected to inject youth, size and explosiveness to a unit that lacked most of those qualities last season. He and Dawsey begin camp behind expected starters Chris Calloway and Lewis, who replaces departed free agent Mike Sherrard. Arthur Marshall, Omar Douglas and Gary Harrell are competing for the other one or two openings.

“I’ve heard from a lot of critics our receiving corps is not supposed to be good,” Lewis said, “but I think our receiving corps is really good. We have a good variety. Some tall guys, some short guys, some speed, some possession receivers. I think it’s a good mix.”

The potential big-play men are Lewis and Toomer, who also fit the modern mold of tall receivers at 6-foot-1, 195 pounds and 6-2, 202, respectively. Calloway is a stocky, 5-10 possession receiver entering his fifth season with the Giants after signing a three-year, $3.6 million deal in the offseason. The 6-foot Dawsey is a versatile receiver who signed after the Tampa Bay Buccaneers cut him in a salary-cap move.

Dawsey had 55 catches for 818 yards as a rookie in 1991, but has not matched those numbers since. He suffered a knee injury in 1993 and was the odd man out in a group that featured Alvin Harper, Courtney Hawkins and Horace Copeland last season. He said the Giants’ corps is comparable in ability to that one. “That was more of a veteran corps, but the talent is pretty much equal,” he said.

The key might be Lewis, a first-round pick in 1994 who has missed half of each of his two seasons with injuries. He has made several spectacular catches in camp.

“I don’t think I’m a fragile person, because I went I-don’t-know-how-many years before I got to the Giants without getting hurt,” Lewis said. “It’s just circumstance, being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

The wide receivers, and quarterback Dave Brown, hope Reeves opens up the offense a bit, but Calloway (Michigan), Lewis (Indiana) and Toomer (Michigan) played in the run-oriented Big Ten, so they’re used to the team’s approach. There is reason for guarded optimism, but the Giants have been down this road before in the nearly three decades since producing their last Pro Bowl end -- Homer Jones in 1968.

Will someone from this group break that streak? “I can’t predict that now,” Lewis said, “but I hope so.”