Tom E. Curran • E-mail

ALBANY - No Shockey, no Plaxico, no Tiki, no Strahan, no contract squabbles, no random brush fires kicking up. Ahhhhh ... peace and quiet in the pines of Eastern New York.

Welcome to Camp Tranquility, otherwise known as the the New York Giants 2009 Training camp.

The Giants aren't without concerns heading into this season – the wide receiver position needs to settle itself, and there are some key players on defense with nagging dings – but they are without turmoil and drama.

There's one word on the marquee: "Football." And too often during Tom Coughlin's five previous seasons, it's been football plus a whole lot more.

While going through the dramas of the past half-decade weren't easy, these Giants are now pretty much imperturbable.

"The way in which this group of young men has responded no matter what the situation is has been a real plus," Coughlin said Friday as he strode purposefully to sign autographs after a hard-hitting afternoon practice.

"If you want to go back to ‘07, the way they responded at the end of the year and into the playoffs," Coughlin noted. "And then last year, we obviously had a couple of things that may have thrown a team that didn't have that kind of mental toughness, but these guys responded. They've been able to demonstrate that over and over. It's a good thing, and it's a strong aspect of this teams' personality."

There was abundant evidence that the 2008 Giants were going to have a tough go of it. Not many surprise Super Bowl winners – which the Giants were in 2007 – deal well with The Year After. The drag of being the hunted, the shortened offseason, being told how great you are ... it all conspires to make a team go flat.

But the 2008 Giants put up the best regular-season record of Coughlin's tenure – 12-4. And they did that despite the "couple of things" that Coughlin referred to: namely, Burress' season-long effort to distract culminating with him shooting himself in the leg in November.

The Giants limped some down the stretch, going 2-3 after an 11-1 start. But it wasn't for lack of focus, Coughlin said.

"This is a very resilient group, and you try to build that, but it really comes from the quality of the young men."

Still, the 2-3 finish and a flat, 23-11 home loss to the Eagles in the Divisional Playoffs has provided the 2009 team with a mantra.

"We're still establishing the identity of this team, but the mindset for this team right now is 'finish,'" center Shaun O'Hara said. "Finish your blocks, finish your runs, finish each play, finish games, finish the season. That's something guys are really focused on."

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For starters, though, the Giants are going to need to hash out their offensive identity. They have a terrific offensive line, monster back Brandon Jacobs and slasher Ahmad Bradshaw. They have a very capable tight end, Kevin Boss, and, of course, the usually very good Eli Manning at quarterback.

Then they have a collection of promising wideouts – Domenik Hixon, Steve Smith, Sinorice Moss, Mario Manningham and rookies Hakeem Nicks and Ramses Barden. Does the group have a true "No. 1" that makes defensive coordinators stay up at night? No. But the collection of talent is certainly good enough, and it's on Manning – heading into his sixth season – to wring the results from them.

Defensively, the Giants arguably have the best and deepest front-line in the NFL. But that line – ends Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka and tackles Fred Robbins, Jay Alford and Barry Cofield – are going to have to play at a high level because the Giants linebackers and secondary are just average.

But as O'Hara points out, that's what the Giants are at SUNY-Albany for.

"I don't think anybody's solved anything right now. We're in the early parts of training camp," he explained. "As players, we just put our heads down and go to work and let everybody else figure everything else out. The biggest thing Coach Coughlin preaches is preparation. You win and lose games based on that. And it's something that's carried us through tough times and good times."

Given the tenor of this camp and the talent of the team, it stands to reason times are going to be good.

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