Butler Does It

ALBANY, N.Y. – James Butler loves going home. One of the reasons? There’s a roadside sign in his native Climax, Ga. signifying his membership of the Super Bowl champion Giants.

“I got my name on the road,” he said. “I was very proud of that. If you go there, you’ll see my sign.”

Giants fans have been seeing plenty of signs of good things to come for Butler, who has improved by leaps and bounds from last summer’s camp.

“I’m way more comfortable since it’s my second year with the defense,” Butler explained. “I’m way more experienced. What a difference a year makes.”

One of the major areas in which Butler improved is his ability to read receivers’ route combinations.

“I think I’m reading route combinations faster than I did last year,” he said. “Last year I was just trying to do what I was coached to do and get in my spots. This year I’m reading route combinations, which makes you play faster.”

Regardless of Butler’s progress, two new players arrived this offseason looking to grab some, if not all, of his playing time. The Giants drafted Kenny Phillips in the first round after signing veteran Sammy Knight during free agency. Butler won’t allow himself to worry about what he can’t control.

“I’m just out there doing what I’m supposed to do,” he said. “The Giants have to bring guys in. We were lacking in depth. Sammy Knight and Kenny Phillips are great additions to the secondary. But I just have to go out there and do what I’m supposed to do. I don’t (worry). My motivation is to be the best player that I can be.”…

Work to be done: After the Giants final training camp practice, Tom Coughlin was asked if he was satisfied.

“Never satisfied,” he said. “We’ve done a really good job – and I told the coaches and the players this – of taking mid-stream adjust to a whole new level. I flipped a practice around and then I went back to the original way. We’ve flipped some things around quite a bit and we made adjustments to accommodate our team like every team in the league is doing.”…

Training table: Ten players missed Big Blue’s final practice: wide receivers Plaxico Burress (ankle), Amani Toomer (knee), Steve Smith (hamstring) and Mario Manningham (quad), linebackers Mathias Kiwanuka (groin) and Jonathan Goff (back), kicker Lawrence Tynes (knee) and cornerbacks Sam Madison (sports hernia) and R.W. McQuarters (hip flexor). Wide receiver David Tyree (knee) remains on the physically unable to perform list…

Crowded house: Attendance for the final practice session was 2,640. That increased the camp total for 18 practice days and 28 practices to 43,760. That is the second-highest total in the Giants’ 13-year history at UAlbany, topped only by the 45,050 that watched practice in 2004.