Monthly Archives: August 2009
Pierce Will Not Play Vs Jets
MLB Antonio Pierce (foot) will sit out tomorrow’s game against the Jets. OGs Chris Snee and Rich Seubert are still uncertain. CB Aaron Ross (hamstring) is considering undergoing the same treatment as DT Chris Canty did for his injury.
Hurricane Report: One Coming and One Possibly Going
Hurricane Danny is will in our area by tomorrow afternoon. Although meteorologists are predicting the New York Metro area will be spared a direct hit, the weather will play a factor at the Meadowlands in tomorrow’s Jets-Giants game.
Tom Coughlin is concerned that the passing game will reeled in and team will once again not be able to analyze the wide receiver situation.
Ed Valentine of Big Blue View is suggesting the Giants deal WR Sinorice Moss. His reasoning is solid. Moss in the #4 WR right now behind Domenik Hixon, Steve Smith and Mario Manningham. He won’t see much action.
With high hopes for rookies Hakeem Nicks and Ramses Barden and Derek Hagen playing his way onto the roster, Moss is the odd man out.
His value has further decreased with his marginal performer as a returner. Ahmad Bradshaw is the primary kickoff returner and Danny Ware has apparently won the punt returner job.
Other Notes
Pat Triana of Inside Football tells us to to keep and eye out for these two players tomorrow night: WR Hakeem Nicks and DT Rocky Bernard.
The Giants want to see Nicks catch passes from Eli Manning. He will have to play in the first half for that to happen. Bernard is way behind due to an earlier injury and the team is escalating his progress with a crash course in their DL rotation.
QB Michael Vick is about 6 hours away from seeing his first game time on NFL turf since Dec. 31 2006.
Matt Mosley of ESPN.com lists his 5 things to look for going into tonight’s much anticipated preseason game with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Among those five questions Mr. Mosley asked, one was “How will he handle the spectacle of the evening?”
Michael (not Mike) Vick will handle this night like its his and his only. It’s his coming out party once again, just like it was when he first came into the league. However, this time as much as we thought he had a lot to prove coming into the league years ago, now he has even more to prove.
First he’s got to earn the playing time, and I assure you, if he starts running around and throwing bombs like he used to back in his Atlanta Falcons days, it will be very hard for the Eagles not to find some PT for the ex-convict. (its funny that I can refer to him as that…because its true)
Eli Manning met with reporters after the Giants‘ first full practice as a team at the new Timex Performance Center.
Two things: he was non-committal when asked if he had a favorite wide receiver. He claimed he had full confidence in the entire group, but we see a growing trend of him giving first looks toward Mario Manningham.
The other point was that he felt the starting offense would get extensive work on Saturday vs the Jets because they run a 3-4 defensive scheme. The team did not face a 3-4 defense vs either Carolina or Chicago in their first two preseason games.
What’s Goin’ On With Marvin?
Harrison, that is. Jason Cole of YaHoo! Sports outlined the current situation with the future Hall-of-Famer in his latest article.
Apparently the 37-year-old Harrison has no current offers and his career may be over. Cole reported that Tennessee had some interest but then backed off. Harrison may not have the physical ability he once did due to injury and age, plus he won’t play on special teams any longer, a must for back-up wide receivers.
Too bad, because this receiver group is green and could use a savvy vet. If the Giants brought him in, odds-on he’d end up getting cut.
A Possible Pardon For Plaxico?
Pro Football Talk is running a story about a possible pardon deal for Plaxico Burress.
The pardon stems from a groundswell of “distaste” for the way Mayor Bloomberg handled his case. PFT claims New York governor David Patterson may issue Plaxico a pardon to weaken Bloomberg’s position in the upcoming mayoral election and to solidify his own political future.
Huh?
Aaron Ross (hamstring) is now questionable for the team’s regular season opener vs Washington Sept. 13th.
The New York Giants are officially out of Albany and back in the swamps of East Rutherford, New Jersey. Their homeward arrival, however does not come without some new fields and facilities to practice on.
When asked what he thought of the new fields, Coughlin did not hesitate to say how much he enjoyed them, being as today was the first time the team has practiced on them.
“They are very nice, and they are ours, which is really neat,” said Coughlin. It was good to be out there. Players seemed to really enjoy it. It is a faster track than what we have been on up at training camp, so I think they enjoy that part, too.”
Coughlin did reiterate to reporters that the new facilities in East Rutherford do not necessarily mean an automatic move to the home practice field for training camp.
Regarding being back to the home base, QB Eli Manning also said he was happy to be home.
“It’s great to get back to the stadium and our own locker room. Get out on the new fields for the first time,” said Manning. “We were kind of out there all spring but weren’t really on them so it was kind of a tease. Just to get back into a regular schedule like our season schedule will be good and we had a good practice today.”
For teams as talented as the Giants, the only news that can make headlines is bad news.
It is only natural for the media to try to expose the negatives of something publicly deemed as positive. In the Giants’ case, every injury, every dropped pass, every little failure has been exemplified and magnified to the tenth power.
Blogs, talking heads, pundits and beat reporters are all looking for and angle. It’s a very competitive business.
We realize that we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that the Giants’ corp of young receivers has not distinguished themselves. We are also under no illusions that injuries have not, and will not hurt this team.
That being said, the Giants are still a powerhouse in the NFC. They were 12-4 in 2008 and this year’s roster is definitely deeper.
Their offensive line is still one of the best. Their running attack, tops in the league in 2008, may be better than ever.
They have Eli Manning, who despite his detractors, IS a franchise quarterback. They also have Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Antonio Pierce and Jeff Feagles. Pro Bowlers.
They have young bucks coming up through the ranks who show enormous promise: Kenny Phillips, Mario Manningham, Clint Sintum and Bryan Kehl.
They have Kevin Boss.
So, they have a few injuries, big deal. Didn’t they win the Super Bowl without Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey?
Don’t read too much into the negatives, Giant fans. The positives are too great to ignore.
CB Aaron Ross re-aggravated his sore hamstring in practice this morning. His status is currently unknown. Ross went down covering WR Steve Smith during a scrimmage and complained of excessive cramping. The situation has gotten frustrating for both the third-year defender and the coaches.
“The poor kid cannot get beyond that,” Coughlin said. “He starts working his way back and he obviously made a sudden move to try to catch back up to a receiver that was going by and…it’s very frustrating because he’s not had a lot of time on the field.” Tom Coughlin told Michael Eisen of Giants.com.
The team broke camp in Albany this afternoon. Their return hinges on several concessions, one being a place to practice on rainy days. Coughlin admitted that getting away helped the camaraderie of the team, but he was disappointed that the team could not get their conditioning runs in on days when the weather was inclement.
Training camp is all but over for the New York Giants, and the receiver situation is looks pretty much the way we all thought it would. Heading into the season, it looks like the wide receivers are going to be run “by committee,” a term football fans are more used to hearing when talking about runningbacks.
“I think it could be receiver by committee,” Eli Manning said in response to a question. “Some guys are stepping up and doing some good things. Still, I think we’re going to rotate some guys in during the preseason and during the regular season. Some guys are doing well, but we need to keep improving.”
Eli also said that he really didn’t feel any player among the group of receivers truly elevated themselves above his peers.
It’s not that any of these receivers performed poorly, its just that none of them really performed spectacularly. Yes, Ramses Barden is a rookie and does show a lot of potential…but he’s still a rookie. Unfortunately, it is very rare that you see a rookie wide receiver make an immediate impact on the football field.
Both Hixon and Smith, who entered this off-season as the day one starters, look to be in good position to hold their starting jobs. Maybe Smith can be that possession slot receiver, and Hixon can be that explosive deep threat. And then, just maybe, Sinorice Moss starts playing like the Hurricane he is, and Manningham like that Wolverine.
some quick tid bits…………
Are The Giants Leaving U Albany?
The Giants will break camp today in Albany. Although they set a single-summer attendance record, they may opt not to return.
One of the possibilities is the new Timex Performance Center across from Giants’ Stadium, but co-owner John Mara did not rule out a return to Albany or perhaps “another destination.”
The Giants have held their training camp at the University of Albany for the past 14 summers.
Carr Falling Into Old Habits
QB coach Chris Palmer and Head Coach Tom Coughlin are concerned that David Carr is regressing back to his old form. You remember, the one that made him skittish and ineffective in his days in Houston? Palmer used a horse analogy when describing the action plan.
“We’re in the process of retraining him” said Palmer.
Injury News
DT Chris Canty is in New York to have his torn hamstring evaluated. He could be headed to IR.
CB Aaron Ross practiced lightly. He has missed both preseason games thus far with a sore hamstring.
DT Jay Alford is on a two-week medical watch. Doctors have stabilized his knee in hopes of saving him from the knife. No decision on his status will be made until the brace is removed.
OGs Chris Snee and Rich Seubert both practiced and may see action vs the Jets.
OLB Michael Boley (hip) is still relegated to individual workouts, but his progress has seemed to please Coughlin (“He’s looking better”).
Rookie WR Hakeem Nicks looks to finally have gotten this hamstring injury off his mind as he presented his best on the field performance today in afternoon practice.
Head coach Tom Coughlin, who also admittedly agreed that Nicks showed his best performance today also said that he has been seeing steady improvement in the young receiver every day.
Nicks had four separate spectacular catches this afternoon in which Ralph Vacchiano summed up very nicely on his blog “The Blue Screen.”
Two of those catches were one handers.
Finally, something out of camp about our first round pick. I almost felt like he was non-existent throughout this first half of training camp, but it’s nice to hear some noise coming out of Albany about the Tar Heel. Up to this point, it’s pretty safe to say that fellow rookie Ramses Barden had out-shined Nicks, but perhaps today is a sign of some change in the battle of the WR depth chart.
Philadelphia Eagles: On GCOBB.com, QB Donovan Mcnabb spoke to reporters this morning, and needless to say, had a lot of words about his current backup Michael Vick. Among other things, Mcnabb said that Vick has been showing progress and working on his game in practice. He said that Vick (like him) needs to learn to rely more on his team and less on his running ability.
WR Kevin Curtis also is healthy and practicing as well.
Dallas Cowboys: Explosive backup RB Felix Jones will not be returning punts this year for the Cowboys. In a report from the Dallas Morning News, Wade Phillips said that he thinks WR Patrick Crayton will field the ball more cleanly than Jones would, and the Jones simply isn’t ready to take on that role.
““I don’t know if he has the confidence or we have the confidence yet that he can be clean with the football every time.” said Phillips. Patrick Crayton will probably be the Cowboys’ primary punt returner.
Washington Redskins: 2nd year QB Colt Brennan has some competition at the 3rd string QB job in Washington this year. That competition comes from rookie standout from Missouri Chase Daniel. Daniel threw for two touchdowns in Washington’s 17-13 victory over Pittsburgh in their last preseason game.
Head coach Jim Zorn said that Daniel is “right in the mix” for the third string QB job.
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