NFL-Giants: NY Giants football news

5 running backs is a little surprise but here is the Giants final 53 man roster. Go destroy the Redskins!

Offense: 25

Quarterback (2): Eli Manning, David Carr.
Running Back (5): Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, Ahmad Bradshaw, Reuben Droughns, Danny Ware.

Fullback (1): Madison Hedgecock.

Wide Receiver (6): Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer, Steve Smith, Mario Manningham, Domenik Hixon, Sinorice Moss.

Tight End: (3): Kevin Boss, Michael Matthews, Darcy Johnson.

Offensive Line: (8): Shaun Ohara, Rich Seubert, Chris Snee, Kareem McKenzie, David Diehl, Kevin Boothe, Adam Koets, Grey Ruegamer.

Defense: 25

Defensive Line (8): Justin Tuck, Mathias Kiwanuka, Fred Robbins, Barry Cofield, Renaldo Wynn, Dave Tollefson, Jay Alford, Rodney Leisle.

Linebackers (7): Antonio Pierce, Gerris Wilkinson, Danny Clark, Chase Blackburn, Zak DeOssie, Bryan Kehl, Jonathan Goff.

Defensive Backs: (10): Aaron Ross, Corey Webster, James Butler, Michael Johnson, Kevin Dockery, Sam Madison, R.W. McQuarters, Sammy Knight, Kenny Phillips, Terrell Thomas.

David Carr played well since Coughlin decided not to play Manning and a lot of other starters. Throwing to everyone but Plax, Toomer, and Boss he went 20-of-29 for 192 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. Plus he helped the Giants put points on the board.

Of course soon the Giants have to be at 53…

Kiwanuka was the other big story for me and I thought he played well. He said himself he needs to get better but that for having only one week to practice DE he felt he had done well enoguh. I pretty much agree.

Manningham also impressed with several clutch 3rd down catches. That dude is going to do some things this season…

Strahan wants to stay retired. He felt he couldn’t commit 100% and the Giants acknowledged it was a longshot.

Are the Giants in OK shape?

With Kiwanuka and Tuck as our defensive ends, we’re still in OK shape at the position. But I can’t help but worry that what worked to win the Super Bowl last season isn’t here for 2008.

In addition to losing Strahan and Umenyiora, we also lost 3 other defensive starters: Mitchell, Wilson, and Torbor. I know they weren’t the greatest players but they were good enough for the Super Bowl and we don’t know if their replacements will be.

Our linebackers may look something like: Wilkinson, Pierce, Clark. Kehl being the outside backup and Blackburn backing up MLB.

I guess on paper it doesn’t seem much worse than 2007. We certainly lost some Depth. Tuck used to be our 3rd DE. Now who’s the primary DE backup?

Crap! DE Osi Umenyiora suffered a torn lateral meniscus in his left knee and is out for the 2008 season.

There is at least one doctor saying there’s a glimmer of hope, but don’t get your hopes up. If they can’t do the repair then yes, Osi would recover in time to play this season but long term his knee would be in bad shape. Better to repair it now and have him healthy next year and beyond.

I wanted a statement. What I got was something else…

First, let’s hope the injuries to Umenyiora, Clark, Dahl, and Goddard are not too bad. Uncharecteristically, Coughlin said Umenyiora should be OK (he doesn’t usually talk about injuries so soon): “I am thinking it is going to be okay. We won’t know until tomorrow what exactly they will have to do if they have to do anything. We are just going to have to wait and see. The doctors told me there was no ligament damage.”

Coughlin also said he wasn’t pleased with the offense. They didn’t score any points thanks to Huston missing a 42 yarder. It would have been closer but Manning was sacked for a 16 yard loss on the play before. He was sacked 3 times in the half – not very good…

The Giants first team defense held the Jets scoreless so they did their job although certainly there were some ugly missed tackles and things.

All in all, not the statement I asked for yesterday.

Brett Favre and the Jets are getting ready to take on that other local football team, the Giants. The Giants happen to be defending champions this season but you might not know it from reading press coverage this summer because of all the attention being paid to Brett Favre and the Jets.

Brett Favre’s arm is tired, Brett Favre beat up on the Redskins. Brett Favre will do for the jets what Tom Brady did for the New England Patriots. Brett Favre got curfew cancelled by answering Coach Mangini’s question. Brett Favre wants to play a full game against the Giants.

In this humble Giants fan’s opinion, the media should spend more time talking about the Giants and less time talking about Mr. Favre. We all know what Favre did against the Redskins, but the media didn’t pay quite as much attention to what the Giants did to the Cleveland Browns.

What Brett might not realize when he says he wants to play a full game Saturday is that the defending champs, the Giants, punished the Cleveland Browns’ starting quarterback, Derek Anderson. The Giants knocked Anderson out of the game with a concussion. Now you tell me: if the Giants didn’t let Anderson finish the second quarter do you really think they will let Brett Favre finish an entire game?

If you’re not sure, keep in mind that this is the same Brett Favre who has been stealing media attention from the defending Super Bowl champs ever since he arrived in New York. In fact, many of us Giants fans are hoping that the Giants players and coaches treat this meaningless third preseason game as something else.

You see, every preseason the Giants play the Jets. And every time, the Jets take this game far more seriously than the Giants do. The annual preseason matchup has become a statement game for the Jets, a chance to show the world that they are as good or better than the Giants. The Jets actually won in 2007. The Giants won in 2005 and 2006. I can’t remember further back.

It’s time for the Giants to make a statement. It’s time for Eli Manning to show that outplaying Favre in Green Bay during last season’s NFC Championship game was no fluke. It’s time for the Giants pass rush to show that being a media darling is no protection (see Brady, Tom). It’s time for the Giants to remind the Jets why Big Blue are the defending Super Bowl champs and why Gang Green is the area’s second favorite professional football team.

The Giants starters looked good. The backups, not so much.

The Giants front 4 (front 7 really) looked very strong. Good defensive ends, good tackles, good defense.

Danny Ware and Domenik Hixon made strong cases to be on the team. And Ware’s main competition, Reuben Droughns made a sweet special teams play when he pushed that Brown into the punt for a safety.

Anthony Wright looked pretty bad so for now you’d have to say Carr is likely to be Manning’s backup on day 1. Wright is day to day with a pinched nerve.

Here’s an article on how the Lions preseason gmae showed the Giants that they will have to handle more rollouts and things this season. The article doesn’t offer any specifics on how they can gameplan against rollouts, but the players seem to think they can handle the new challenges without difficulty.

Some have complained about the NFL cracking down on player celebrations. Now the NFL is cracking down on fan fun. The NFL fan conduct code says no more drunkeness so the next time you go to a Giants game, be aware of the rules. You can’t start tailgating as early and you could lose your season tickets if you misbehave.