If you'll recall, I was thinking it would be nice to have someone who could send most of his kickoffs into the end zone. However, the giants have cut Mark Gould who can kick off and punt. His teammates from college say he belongs in the NFL:
In recent years, NAU had one of the most gifted kickers in the country: Mark Gould. He was a household name for NAU fans -- not to mention Big Sky coaches who developed stomach ulcers while thinking about the edge he gave NAU in field position time after time, thanks to his punts and routine touchbacks on kickoffs. As a junior in 2002, Gould led Division I-AA with a 48.2-yards per punt average. He is one of Ernster's closest friends."He's a great punter. There's no doubt in my mind he should be somewhere (in the NFL)," Ernster said of Gould's future, which is up in the air after he was cut by the New York Giants during the preseason. "He works so hard. I was blessed to be able to work out with him."
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Newsday reports that Warner was excited and relieved, but that Manning wasn't very emotional. Coughlin says that MAnning is a competitor and will work hard to become the starter. Warner suggests that if he struggles we'll see Manning soon but Coughlin says Warner won't be on too short a leash.
Another Newsday article says most Giants are relieved to have Warner starting. Still most Giants have been impressed with Eli and Hilliard said it was too bad there was only one ball.
That's an example of how to lose a football game right there. I mean your not going to have blatant disregard for the ball and have a chance to win, it just doesn't happen. It's been a problem here since last year, and it's a problem now.
Inside Football reports that Dayne, Mallard, Legree, and Torbor "flashed" while Petigout had problems with Abraham. The article is worth a read.
The Giants lost to the Jets. That Eli Manning played poorly: 4 of 14 for 20 yards is not as serious as the fact that the Jets defense outplayed the Giants offensive line. The good news is that Warner played well: 9 of 11 for 104 yards.
By the way the the Giants and the NFL even make the news in England.
The Giants have signed Solomon Page, a lineman who has started before and plans to compete for a starting job with the Giants. He can play guard or tackle and has lots of experience at right tackle but is practicing at left gurad for now.
The Giants also signed Brandon Winey (way at the bottom of an article about Quincy Carter) who started 3 games at left tackle for the Redskins last year. He played pretty well, and having someone who can step in for Petigout if his back acts up is a big relief.
The rotation continues, meaning Warner will start. Not that Manning cares:
''It really didn't matter to me whether I started or didn't,'' said Manning, the brother of Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, last year's co-NFL MVP. ''When I get my name called, I try to go in there and do my job.''
Is Shockey tough enough? The bad news is that he pulled a hamstring jumping for a ball from Jessie Palmer. The good news is that he was able to keep practicing. Shockey might or might not play against the Jets on Friday.
This is old news, but I was on vacation in Malaysia (our third anniversary). Anyway, seems like Eli is reminding people of Peyton which is good news for Gaints fans. This AP article concludes that Eli probably moved ahead of warner in the competition to be the Giants starting QB.
Here's an analysis of the Eagles which is generally quite (and hopefully too) optimistic. One thing that might make Giants fans smile is that the Eagles have little depth at offensive line - a mistake that made the Giants a laughing stock last season. The conclusion (I take exception to the part that says Dhani Jones is an improvement):
Philadelphia has been an elite NFL team for the past three seasons, and has seemingly gotten better with the addition of Owens, Kearse, and a pair of solid linebackers in Jones and Trotter. If they remain relatively healthy, the Eagles have the makings of a Super Bowl team. But make no mistake, depth will be a huge issue on this club. Reid's squad is thin at running back, wide receiver, on both lines, and in the secondary. Significant injuries to Owens, Kearse, Westbrook or either of the starting corners would be catastrophic. The Eagles will need an uncharacteristic streak of good luck in the injury department to be NFC champions. If they're still playing on Feb. 6, and the opponent is someone other than the deeper, more talented Patriots, Philadelphia could have its first-ever Super Bowl title.
Remember all that talk about shortening the NFL preseason last year thanks to injuries to Vick, Pennington, etc.? Well the injuries are back this year. Of special interest to Giants fans will be that Carlos Emmons is practicing and that the Eagles "signed 34-year-old Dorsey Levens to help fill the spot vacated at running back when Correll Buckhalter was lost for the season with a knee injury." Of course Levens was a Giant last year and an Eagle before that.
When the Giants signed Warner, most people in the media presumed Warner would be the starter, but many are not so sure these days. Manning will get a chance to start the next preseason game. The Giants will be playing the Panthers. Also interesting is that Warner has lots of good things to say about manning.
Giants players are whining about Tom Coughlin:
Some of the rules have left players wondering just how long they'll last under Coughlin. .
"There's a lot of older guys already talking about getting out," one veteran said. "They're willing to give up money in order to play elsewhere for someone else." ."Guys have already started to tune him out," another player said. "He really takes all the fun out of it." .
One unwritten rule Coughlin has focuses on injuries. He truly believes that very few players that miss time actually need to do so, according to several players. He'll go right to that player and question his toughness in order to try to get him back on the field. Some veterans have said they've had to convince younger players to remain out of action in order to prevent them from further injuring themselves. .
"No doubt a lot of guys need to get tougher," a vet said. "But injuries are part of football and sometimes you just can't go." .
This Daily news article about Quincy Monk describes just how beat up the Giants linebacking corps is. None of the three projected starters is healthy. Carlos Emmons is still recovering from a broken leg. Griesen strained a hamstring and Barret Green has a concussion. Since the Giants have no depth at MLB, they're moving a backup OLB, Monk, to MLB. Too bad they didn't tell Monk before he lost a buch of weight to be a faster OLB...
The good news is that Reggie Torbor seems to be doing well on the strong side, but unless Griesen proves something soon, the Giants need to start looking for a MLB.
Well I've been writing about running backs for a while now. I wasn't convinced that Ron Dayne would be the answer, but if he keeps playing like he did against the chiefs I guess I'll be convinced. Dayne scored twice and the Giants beat the Chiefs 34-24. He did get stopped on 3rd and one and 4th and one. And that was in the third quarter meaning not all the Chiefs starters were in there.
Sportsline talks to some old coaches who argue that Dayne needs to carry the ball 20+ times. Even Coughlin is supposed to ahve asked "Why hasn't this guy played?" after Accorsi showed him some film. My question is "can the Giants put up with a bunch of no gains in return for a few big runs?"
If you're patient with Dayne, Childress said, you get results, and last week's game offered proof. Aside from his touchdown scores and one 14-yard dash, Dayne had runs of 1, 2, 2, 2, -1, 1, 1 and no yards. Yet the Giants stuck with him, giving Dayne the ball 11 times in six series, and their faith paid off.
That sort of performance won't help the Giants control the ball (which the defense needs them to do). Newsday has a nice recap of the game. And here's one from the Chief's perspective.
The Giants.com August 5 report talks about Coughlin's attention to detail, the siging of Stckhouse (who replaces Edgar Cervantes on the roster) and talks about Diehl playing right tackle.
The August 6 report talks about getting ready to practice football with the Jets.
Here's an article from a Jests perspective about the upcoming joint practice with the Giants. Herman Edwards also talks a little about how he used to tease Tom Coughlin.
As for Coughlin's training camp, most Giants are OK with it.
Ian Allen says he'll be the starting right tackle and is working on becoming a pro-bowler. This Newsday article says Allen started coming into his own late in the season... There's also some injury talk; Emmons leg is still bothering him, and Seubert lokks unlikely to play this season.
Continuing the injury talk this article talks about getting Shockey and William Joseph into practice. There's also some talk of Ian Allen, but it was about what most Giants fans would expect (nothing good).
Here's an article with some stories from Giants training camp. Seems that Griesen and Shockey have a litte rivalry going on. Great news: Tiki Barber hasn't dropped the ball once so far. The same can't be said for David Tyree. I had been getting excited about reading about Womack's power running, but he is on the waived/injured list. A couple rookie backs have been signed.
As usual, Inside Football has a good run down on the Giants camp - here's the one from Monday, the first day in full pads.
Shaun O'Hara is doing well at center. Many Giants fans, myself included, were not overjoyed at getting 40% of the Browns offensive line, but who knows maybe we got the right 40%. Anyway, the new Giants center has earned praise from Warner and Petigout.
Well the New York Post likes Eli Manning. What's more, so do his receivers:
"I think Eli throws the ball harder within 20 to 30 yards than any quarterback I've played with," Hilliard said. "Deep ins, comebacks, curls, it kind of surprises you."I don't know if he's throwing it harder or has more revolutions on the ball. I think it's a harder ball than Kerry [Collins, the strong-armed former Giant]. Kerry could pick his spots and rifle it in there because he has a live arm, but [Manning] can make those same throws and it's an easier catch, I guess because of anticipation or I don't know exactly what it is. It's kind of weird."
Interestingly, Fitzgerald seems to have gooten a huge contract from Arizona. Rivers, Roethlisberger, and (surprise) Winslow are proving difficult to sign.
Here's an interesting article about Coughlin's approach to training camp. Also exciting is that Jamaar taylor the injured 6th round pick is catching bombs from Eli Manning. A bunch of people on the Giants.com message boards will have to eat their words if Taylor is healthy. Many people never believed the Giants when they said Taylor was on track to be ready for camp...
Back to Coughlin and his rules:
For instance, Coughlin insists on uniform uniforms, so socks are not to be trifled with. Helmets are never to be laid on sod (I saw at least one player who didn't get that memo). And woe to the player who lounges during team meetings; Coughlin believes that indicates a lack of focus and concentration, so players are expected to face forward with both feet planted on the floor.
Seems that J-load thinks he's been cut. He's in Kentucky instead of in camp. Ernie Accorsi says he never released J-Load and that Lorenzo had better report to camp. It all sounds so strange.
At least the Giants didn't trade a second round pick to draft their guy who's not in camp. The Browns are still trying to get "the next Shockey" (Kellen Winslow II) signed. Winslow may have the same physical tools as Shockey, and Shockey may be injured, but at least he wants to play.
Here's an interesting article about Tim Lewis and a little information about his plans for the Giants Defense. The most interesting part to me was How Tim Lewis says Strahan is interested in the plan to ahve Strahan lining up in different spots; Strahan is saying that the doesn't want to move around. One has to wonder why Strahan doesn't seem more ready for a change considering how dismal the Giants season was last year. Also consider that while Strahan has some nice stats, the Giants defense hasn't been all that good the past two years. I'd like to hear Strahan saying that he'll do naything to make the Giants D dominating...