ALBANY, N.Y. — The Giants came into training camp looking for a No. 1 receiver. On Monday afternoon, it seemed as if they had found one. But by Tuesday morning, he was gone.

First-round pick Hakeem Nicks wowed the crowds, his teammates and the coaching staff with a display of catches Monday night, including two one-handed grabs on deep passes. It was the first time in camp that Nicks has looked like a first-rounder and he attributed it to the resolution of a nagging hamstring problem.
“A lot earlier in the practices, the hamstring (injury) came and that was a setback,” Nicks said. “It’s just a football injury, but it was a lot to think about. I was thinking too much at the beginning and now I feel like I’m playing within the team and within the system and playing my game.”
Tuesday, though, Nicks dropped three passes. So much for becoming a go-to guy. But at the end of the session, a glimmer of hope. Nicks made an athletic catch on a deep pass from Eli Manning down the right side for a touchdown in a two-minute drill.
“He came back with a play,” Coughlin said. “That was good to see at the end.”

End of an era?
The Giants still have not announced a decision on training camp in 2010, but Coughlin said Tuesday that there are pluses and minuses when it comes to taking a team away for camp.
“For me, if you’re looking at one thing, it’s to meld us into one, somehow, someway,” Coughlin said. “It can be done a lot of different ways. There isn’t just one way of doing it.”
The Giants have trained at the University at Albany the last 14 years. This year, they set an attendance record with 46,960 fans watching them work in 26 practices over 17 days.
Giant steps
DT Chris Canty returned to the team after seeing doctors in Manhattan on Monday. Coughlin said there was no new information about the extent of Canty’s torn hamstring. “I know they did some other procedures to try to speed the healing,” he said ... LBs Antonio Pierce (foot) and Danny Clark (chin) missed practice ... The team returns to work on Wednesday at its new facility at the Meadowlands.