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.''
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.
The Eagles plan to sign Trotter if he passes his physical. His contract would probably be a one year deal for the minimum 660,000 dollars. The 260 pound Trotter will compete with the 235 pound Simoneau who could be moved to weakside linebacker.
I've been thinking about joining a fantasy football league so when I saw this fantasy football mock draft, I was pretty interested. The first round is all running backs, but Tiki Barber doesn't get picked until the second round. Considering that he's asking for a lighter workload, that certainly makes sense from a fantasy perspective. If he goes back to being a third down back he'll see fewer carries and that'll mean fewer yards. Plus if someone else becomes the short yardage back we might see fewer touchdowns from Tiki.
It's hard to say where Shockey will be drafted because of his foot. No one knows if he'll play every game at full strength... In this mock draft Tony Gonzalez is the first tight end taken and that's in the fifth round. I expect that Toomer will be drafted before the seventh in many leagues, but in this mock draft that's where he ends up.
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Here's an article about how Peyton thinks it's best for rookie QBs to get in the game right away as he did in his first year in Indy. They went 3-13, but Peyton seems to blame the defense for some of that.
''You've seen it both ways,'' he said. ''You've seen (Donovan) Donovan McNabb and (Daunte) Culpepper and (Chad) Pennington sit for a year or maybe two years, then come out and play their third year, so it's worked both ways. My preference would be to play, if you ask me, but it's Tom Coughlin's plan and he knows what to do, and he's going to do whatever's best to help him win. Eli's on board for that.''
This interesting article about how the Manning name equals endorsement money talks about the difference between Eli in NY and Peyton in Indy:
To illustrate the difference between markets, Peyton hasn't signed a radio or TV deal in Indianapolis because the offers have not been substantial enough to justify the time investment. Eli already has a "six-figure" offer from WEPN-AM radio in New York City that requires him only to conduct a weekly 10-minute phone interview on Mondays during the season.However, they won't go for the big bucks right away:
"In that first year, the inclination is to go out and get all these endorsement deals, but that's really setting up something bad," Archie said. "The first year is going to be a struggle. In Eli's case, he has a couple of arrangements in Mississippi, and that's fine. But for him to jump out now and accept a bunch of deals in New York, that's not very smart. It's better to let those relationships develop. We want him to become a veteran before he jumps out there. That's what we did with Peyton, and it worked well."
Pat Kirwan discusses the prime time appeal of the NFC East:
Interestingly, the Giants don't seem to be getting much prime time attention. I guess that's punishment for being the worst team in the division last year.
(July 8, 2004) -- The NFC East is the premier place to be in NFL circles, like it or not. No team from this division has won the Super Bowl since the glory days of the Dallas Cowboys back in the mid-1990s, but it still draws the most attention on a national level.
Giants stadium is 28 years old and the Giants want to renovate or replace it. What kind of money are we talking about?
A new stadium would cost about $600 million, compared to renovations of about $300 million, The Record of Bergen County reported Thursday.Wellington Mara might justify the extra 300 million for a new stadium based on a potential increase in revenue from more luxury boxes and suites.
Arrington, Dawkins size up the NFC East by talking about each others' teams and the Cowboys a little bit. For example, Arrington says Terrell Owens is the biggest new name in the division while Dawkins says Portis and Julius Jones (Cowboy's rookie back) are the most important newcomers. They mention Coughlin but don't seem to to be thinking about the Giants at all.
The magic will return is a bit old (June 30) and basically says that even though Gibbs can still coach, the Redskins won't win much.
Eli Manning Makes it to San Diego, After All by Jerry Magee goes through some of the old stuff about Manning and Rivers but has an interesting quote from each about how they are friends. It's from June 30.
More old news (from a June 22 press release) that I missed cause of the dog bite:
Jeremy Shockey elected to have surgery on his foot today. The surgery took place at the Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C. The surgery was performed by Dr. Robert Anderson, an orthopedic foot specialist, and the procedure involved the placement of a screw to the fifth metatarsal of his right foot. Shockey elected to have the surgery now so his foot will be healed and healthy for the start of the football season.Posted by James Trotta at 7:09 PM | Comments (0)
Here's an interesting article from Giants.com about Brent Alexander who is expected to compete with Omar Stoutmire for the starting free safety job. Apparently Coughlin thinks he did OK in practice:
Twice he acted as if he was going to the hash to turn his back on the quarterback, only to lure the ball and then turn back in and make interceptions or knock down the ball," Coughlin said. "He made another play where he was dropping into coverage and he noticed that the linebacker was really not quite into his zone. So he turned back to kind of try to split the difference and the ball appeared - when it looked like the ball would easily get in there - and he made a one-handed interception on that ball. He did a few things to show that he really has a great grasp of the mental part of it.
Gil Brandt has a few things to say about each team in the NFC. It seems like the Giants have more question marks than any other team. Brandt mentions Eli Manning, Kurt Warner, Ron Dayne, and Jeremy Shockey. Most Giants fans would add Tiki Barber's fumbling, the offensive line (right tackle), and MLB (greisen). I suppose we fans just have to trust our front office and coaches that many of these questions will be answered the way we want...
Brian DeLucia looks at only the NFC East. He manages to say nice things about everybody, even the Redskins. He seems especially fond of the Eli Manning deal.
Here's an interesting description of 4-3 defensive fronts. It's a bit technical, but there are diagrams to help illustrate differnt positions and their responsibilities on running plays. This one is not Giants specific.
One of the things I missed while recovering from my dog bite was this Giants.com article on Greisen. There's actually nothing new. Just some old quotes from Coughlin who is pleased with what he's seen so far. There's a reminder that we have to wait until the pads go on to see if Griesen's really ready.
One thing that was interesting was that Carson warned Greisen not to miss any tackles. Greisen still says he's ready for the job and there's an overview of his significant colelge accomplishements.
The Yankees YES network is going to air three Giants programs. Soon, in addition to This Week in Football and New York Football Sunday, YES will air Giants Training Camp Report, Giants Online, and a young adult related football show ‘still to be determined’.
Sorry I haven't been posting as often as I usually do. My dog went crazy and bit my nose, sending me to the ER. I just got the stitches out today. I've been getting shots in my butt, my arms, and when they ran out of veins in my arms they started doing them in my hands. Ouch!
Anyway, I'll try to catch up on the old news and keep you up to date on new news...
The Post talked about Coughlin on June 27. The gist was that a strict coach needs some veterans on his side and that Coughlin doesn't have the support he probably needs. I'm not sure I agree (and I certainly don't want to agree cause it would be bad news for the Giants) considering how many veterans have been willing to sign with us for relatively low salaries.
Giants.com announced the signing of a back up tackle on June 23rd:
Nkwenti, who is 6-3 and 300 pounds, has played in two regular season games, one in 2001 and another last year. He played his only game of the 2003 season at Denver on Oct. 12, playing primarily at left tackle in passing situations. He also played a few snaps at right tackle. Nkwenti was inactive for four games and did not play in another. He was placed on injured reserve on Oct. 22 after undergoing back surgery.Naturally you'd like to see a more established player who doesn't have a back injury like one of the left tackles that hit free agency. Still an extra linemen is nothing to complain about...