NFL-Giants: NY Giants football news

The Eagles get some credit for trying to succeed the way the Patriots have. They draft well, they don’t overpay for players especially injured, older ones. They get good value from guys like Trotter.

The Redskins, Cowboys, and Gaints obviously haven’t done as well:

The Giants, for example, went to the Super Bowl in 2000, then gave big money to defensive back Jason Sehorn, who declined markedly because of injury. That and some questionable drafts put the team in cap trouble and the Giants were 4-12 in 2003 and 6-10 in 2004.

They neglect to mention overpaying for guys like Shaun Williams.

This fantasy football analysis notes that Manning should be a good fantasy pick because the NFC East is going up against some bad defenses.

He also calls the Giants pass defense “toothless”:

- Anquan Boldin, Cardinals. The true test of a schedule’s teeth is examining the five out-of-division road games. Next season the Cardinals visit the Cowboys, Giants, Texans, Colts and Lions, all of which ranked 19th or worse against the pass in 2004. In a word: toothless.

For college players who aren’t scared away by Tom Coughlin, the Giants go a bit further and have them take a test. But what are they testing? The AP reports one question:

He put in about two hours filling out the New York Giants’ infamous questionnaire that asks a grab bag of strange-sounding questions.

Cody’s favorite: “Give two reasons why food is better cooked.”

His answer: “It tastes better and it’s healthier, I think, but I was like, `What’s this question about?’”

Pat Kirwan is writing about the prospects at the Senior Bowl and has the Giants listed as one of the teams that really need a good draft:

9. N.Y. Giants (no first-round picks): They don’t have a first-round pick, but it will be critical to do well later in the draft. My impression after a few days at the Senior Bowl is that the draft will be loaded with solid second-, third- and fourth-round picks.

Kirwan goes on to talk about a few of the prospects at each offensive position.

Sports Illustrated has a pice on how tough/mean you have to be to recover a fumble. Pepper Johnson had a knack…

JASON FERGUSON, Jets Nosetackle

“My rookie year, me and [then teammate] linebacker Pepper Johnson were on the bottom. I heard Pepper yelling, ‘Get the ball!’ and I remembered something he told me: ‘You’ve always got to grab a finger in a pile.’ Well, he grabbed somebody’s finger in that pile, and sure enough he came out with the ball. Just like proving an old rule.”

So the Giants have signed Cris Luzar. I don’t have much on him, but based of his 2002 draft report, I’d say the Giants will try to turn him into a blocking TE… He is 6’8″ and 270 pounds…

The Giants signed him to a two year deal, but they shouldn’t have had to give him a big bonus or anything so if he needs to be cut hopefully the cap impact will be small.

Eddie Johnson was an average punter for the Vikings in 2003: 14 games, 56 punts, 2191 yards, 39.12 average, 55 long, 12 inside the 20, 5 touchbacks. I’m still wondering what happened to Mark Gould…

Now that the Giants have a Manning, we have to be careful not to follow in the Colts footsteps. Not that they are a bad team, but theya re a team that can’t seem to win the biggest games. I am still surprised that the Colts lost to the Patriots. Don King offers two parts of the reason why:

1. The Colts didn’t test the Patriots corners deep.
2. The Colts aren’t tough.

I think one NFL coach spoke for many when he told me last night: “New England’s by far the tougher team than Indianapolis, mentally and physically. It showed in their game. The Patriots have about five guys who will take you by the throat, throttle you and absolutely not accept losing. I don’t think the Colts have one. They better find a few of those, or they’ll always lose those kind of games.”

The Giants need some of those people too.

Here’s an article covering the depth at running back and defensive back in the 2005 draft. This whacked out mock draft has 3 running backs going in the first, which would leave plenty of talent at the start of the second and possibly when the Giants pick.

Of course running back is not an immediate position of need with Barber the clear starter and Ward and Womack fighting for the backup spots. A player in the secondary would be nice, but we have to remember that the overpayed Shaun Williams is likely to be back.

Ultimately, the Giants have enough holes to fill that I’d like to see a best player available strategy minus quarterbacks, with emphasis on wide receiver, offensive line, linebacker, secondary in the case of players rated closely together.

Starting QB and defensive line seem to be the strongest positions we have, but even there more youth at DE wouldn’t hurt. We should be looking for an eventual replacement for Strahan just as we need to find one for Barber.

Dr. z’s analysis of how the Chargers blew the game against the Jets (you’ll ahve to go down to the bottom of the article to read this part) really intereste me becuase I saw Coughlin making play calling mistakes all season. Anyay, here’s what he said:

The Chargers, approaching the mark of 70 scrimmage plays called, are driving on an exhausted Jets defense. An eight-yard screen pass to Tomlinson takes them to the Jets 48. Jonathan Vilma, the rookie MLB, misses the tackle. He is a little guy, and he’s just about spent. For some reason they hadn’t been relieving him with Sam Cowart, as they normally do. One yard needed for a first down, Brees sneaks for two against a worn out Jet D-line. On second and seven on the Jets’ 43, Brees throws a circle-in pass to Tomlinson, who runs over Vilma, literally, for 10 yards. Then Tomlinson picks up nine, then Brees, needing one, picks up two on a sneak, down to the 22. The Jets are done, finished. All that’s needed is to apply the coup de grace, another pass over the middle, a sweep, anything that would make the Jets run on their tired legs and move the ball into gimme field goal range. Chargers call time out. Give the Jets a breather. First bad idea.

Then Tomlinson goes off right tackle, a poor choice because LE Shaun Ellis has dominated RT Shane Olivea all day, and now he stops Tomlinson at the line. Then they hit the middle with Tomlinson, and two Jets linebackers sell out, shoot the works, and stop the play, and now it’s pretty obvious what Schottenheimer is doing, killing the ball to set up a 40-yard field goal. Given new life, the Jets rise up and stop the third-down play, which positions the ball on the right hash, sheer lunacy, because 90 percent of all kickers want it on the left hash, or, barring that, the middle of the field. The rest is history. Very few times in my life have I seen a coach blow a crucial game situation as badly.