NFL-Giants: NY Giants football news

Here’s an article about how so many NFL teams have questions about their qurterbacks. The Giants of course have Manning and Warner. San Francisco has an injured Rattay and no Jeff Garcia. Kerry Collins will be competing with Rich Gannon in Oakland. I suppose most Giants fans will be rooting against Mark Brunell in Washington…

The Giants plan to treat and pay Manning like a #1 pick. Accorsi says having limited funds in the rookie cap is no problem, but isn’t missing the beginning of camp a problem?

The Giants have signed their sixth-round pick, WR Jamar Taylor (four years, $1.4 million) and one of their seventh-round picks, OL Drew Strojny (three years, $960,000). Accorsi said he’s “pretty close” to signing several more. Manning and G Chris Snee, the Giants’ second-round pick, are the only two of the Giants’ seven picks who don’t figure to be in camp at the University at Albany on time…

First, the Post has an interesting interview with Tom Coughlin. They ask him questions like:

If you could pick the brain of one football man, who would it be?
Q: What would you ask him?
Q: Favorite Lombardi saying?
Q: Your definition of mental toughness?
Q: Most mentally tough player you’ve been around?
Q: The most heroic sports performance you’ve witnessed?

There’s another article about Coughlin, this one from Newsday. It focuses on past training camps and Coughlin’s philosophy. There are some interesting bits about how Coughlin corrects mistakes.

Here’s an overview of how the Giants look heading into training camp, but there’s not actually much new information. Still, it’s worth reading if you need a review or if you haven’t been keeping up with all the Giants news.

Kurt Warner says he can explain every mistake he made in 2002-2003 and that physical ability is not the problem. The thumb and everything else is fine according to Warner, and this article does have a positive slant, pointing out that Warner shouldn’t have been left in against the Giants with concussion but that even with a concussion Warner passed for 342 yards. Of course, beating the Giants defense wasn’t all that uncommon last year…

I wrote about Ron Dayne’s second chance a few days ago. Here’s a similar story worth reading because it has new information. For example, Dayne heads into training camp at 235 pounds, which is good news for Giants fans who want to see him hitting holes harder and quicker.

Still, Coughlin cautions that Dayne will need a strong training camp. Barber expresses confidence in Dayne, but I get the feeling he’ll say anything to get fewer carries. I can’t really remember any other running backs saying they want fewer carries, but I guess he’s concerned about his durability. Fewer carries would mean a longer football career. Interestingly, Dayne is looking forward to his next contract…

The Cowboys will probably sign Eddie George, who was released by the Tiatns (who quickly signed Antowain Smith for 660,000 dollars). A veteran backup for Julius Jones makes perfect sense for the Cowboys and should remind us of our own running game questions: Tiki Barber’s fumbling and Ron Dayne’s ability to produce like he did when he was a rookie. Then there’s Delvin Joyce and Antwoine Womack…

Drew Stojny is signed. The Giants have a lot of work to do if they want to sign their other free agents before training camp. Of particular interest will be how the Giants sign Eli Manning. Manning was drafted #1 but the Giants can only afford to pay him #4 money because of the rookie cap. Accorsi doesn’t anticipate a problem:

“We’ve got fourth-slot money, and you can’t change that,” Giants General Manager Ernie Accorsi said by telephone yesterday. “But I don’t think it’s going to be a problem. We and Condon can be creative enough to overcome that. Obviously this is not a player that you’re going to cut early in his career, so you can do some things with the structure of the contract to overcome it. That, so far, has not been a problem. . . . We have a good relationship with Condon. If there is a delay, I don’t expect it to be a major one.”

One has to imagine that Manning will be easy to work with considering how adamant he was about not playing in San Diego and all the marketing money available in New York.

Here’s an interesting article about how Coughlin began his coaching career. On Oct. 10, 1970, Coughlin was 24 and coach of Rochester Institute of Technology. Bob Ford, coach of UAlbany, beat Coughlin back then and is still the coach their 34 years later.

This article form the New York Post talks about Ron Dayne’s second chance. One interesting observation is that he’s worth some risk because he’s only going to make 700,000 or so this year, meaning he won’t be a huge cap burden. In case anyone needs to be reminded of Dayne’s stats:

Can he play? It’s a great debate within the Giants hierarchy and even inside the locker room. Even before Jim Fassel buried Dayne on the bench, refusing to activate him for a single game last season, the leading rusher in big-time college football history was viewed as a wasted draft pick. Taken No. 11 overall in 2000, the Giants hyped Dayne, despite his blockish 245-pound physique, as a formidable weapon possessing wonderful footwork and instincts. Dayne peaked as a rookie with 770 yards and has since dropped (from 690 to 428 to last year’s implausible zero) while convincing no one that greatness was merely an opportunity away.

Here’s a Post article about Coughlin visiting the traning camp facilities at the University of Albany. There’s some indication that this training camp will be tough:

“I’m anticipating us having the pads on twice a day, I would imagine,” said linebacker Barrett Green, a free-agent pickup from the Lions. “I’m gonna prepare myself for the worst circumstances possible.”

In the same article we get news of a new tight end:

The Giants yesterday signed tight end Joe Dean Davenport, who spent the past three seasons with the Colts. The 6-6, 268- pound Davenport has 11 career catches for 93 yards.

Obviously the Giants needed another tight end in training camp (Shockey, Rivers, and Dinkins are injured), but you have to wonder if Davenport will stick around as a blocking tight end.