Lt. Col. Gadson had lost bough his legs, above the knee when fighting in Iraq.  The former West Point football player gave such a moving and emotional speech that each and every player on the 2007 team reached deep down inside and found something.

“You don’t get to pick your circumstances. It’s your obligation to be your best no matter what you’re asked to do.” Lieutenant Colonel Greg Gadson said, and it stuck with every play that wore a NY on their helmet that year.

Osi Umenyiora is a very good football player and has the knack of making other players around him that much better.  I have faith that at the end of this year, Jerry Reese will do the right thing and take care of No. 72.

But for right now…three weeks to opening day kick off I seriously hope that Osi can find that motivation, that pride, that special something that brings out the competetive edge that makes him great.

Growing up watching Lawrence Taylor play you could always sense a feeling of greatness ooze from him when an opposing team challenged the Giants.  LT took it as such a his personnel mission to be the best and no man, no player was going to stop him.

I want Osi to let it all go and play like there is no tomorrow.  Show the world he can be better than Jared Allen, John Abraham and Dwight Freeney.

Maybe now the NY Giants can find some of that old magic.

Michael Strahan used to say that on game day he and Osi used to challenge each other and how Osi used to talk about how “he” was the better athlete.  Strahan rebuts his comments his comments, but loved the thought that Osi believed it.

The New York Giants have a very tough road schedule.  Outside their traditional inner-division schedule, Big Blue has New Orleans, Green Bay, New England, and the New York Jets all on the road.

Becoming 10 & 6 will take some of that “road warriors” magic that Osi Umenyiora knows all too much about.

When asked about his thoughts on Philadelphia WR DeSean Jackson, Coughlin was quick to reply….

“You’re trying to ruin breakfast and lunch?”

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Now that the NFLPA is represented by…a lawyer, a wizard of words and ligation you can now settle into the fact there maybe no football on the horizon.   With the recent, and may I add laughable statement made from NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith I can only wonder if there was another choice to head up this once strong union.

Smith looks pretty transparent when he puffs out his chest and screams “our internal deadline” has come and gone all the while claiming headlines across the country.

Then seconds later…an answer comes.  TROY VINCENT!   Yes, Troy Vincent the former president of the NFL Players Association would have been the most logical choice.   The 5 x time pro-bowler would be less concerned with “internal deadlines” and more about representing football players and their needs, while keeping football on your TV.

Smith is an NFL outsider who has no labor law experience, and just happens to be buddies with the President.  Not bad!  Known for being a trial lawyer…I ask myself is if this guy is making  progress or balancing on the edge of a very damaging proposition.  The game is so healthy and has become our nations most popular sport.

Mr. Smith seems to be comfortable that he is about to change the lives of millions of NFL fans and ruin alot of Sundays for hard working people.

OUT: G Shawn Andrews (back), CB Will Blackmon (chest), WR Hakeem Nicks (lower leg), C Shaun O’Hara (foot)

DOUBTFUL: T David Diehl (hip, hamstring), WR Steve Smith (pectoral)

PROBABLE: S Brian Jackson (hand), CB Aaron Ross (back), DE Osi Umenyiora (knee)

It’s to be expected that his timing might be off coming in cold off the sidelines, but that is no excuse for poor mechanics and bad clock management.   Bringing in Sorgi was an easy decision for NY Giants GM Jerry Reese as the coaching staff agreed that the connection between Sorgi and the Manning brothers would breed a comfort zone.

It is going to take some time for Sorgi to learn the offense and get comfortable with his new role, but watching Sorgi throw off his back foot time and time again was unsettling during his first few series.   But then something happened!

The practice tandem of Jim Sorgi and Victor Cruz(UMass) caught fire…as Jim Sorgi hooked up with Cruz for two long “bomb” touchdowns.  Now that we know Jim Sorgi can get the job done after he warms up…the bigger question is  where do you find a slot for Victor Cruz.

He deserves it.

Last year, injuries turned the Giants’ proud defensive team into a disorganized, nearly non-existent, group.  Four months later, circumstances have radically changed.

The Giants have loaded up at nearly every position, which will make for a very competitive and interesting summer in East Rutherford (and Albany).  While the cameras are following the Jets around, the Giants will be the ones going through a real-life version of Hard Knocks.

Coach Tom Coughlin has not been in the media much lately, still reeling from his team’s historic defensive meltdown.  After the draft, he was back talking about his defense (and running game) with ESPN’s Suzy Kolber.

WATCH

According to Mike Garafolo of NJ.com and SNY, Alabama MLB Rolando McClain and several others were in attendance to meet the Giants’ brass and coaches on Monday.

Among the group were highly touted Penn State LBs Sean Lee and Navarro Bowman and a player we featured last week on GFB: LSU Safety Chad Jones.

You can read Mike’s observations here

It is also being reported that several players that were tendered contract offers earlier this spring will sign them soon.  OT Guy Whimper has already signed his and WRs Sinorice Moss, Derek Hagan, Domenik Hixon are expected to sign theirs this week along with DT Barry Cofield and LB  Gerris Wilkinson.

This morning I will be at the Timex Performance Center for a charity event.  The 2010 Youth Football Experience is co-hosted by Trinity Financial Sports and Entertainment Management and Athletes in Action.  The event is intended to take 100 youngsters from the surrounding areas and have them interact with Giants’ players in an exercise to build football skills and character.

The Giants, unlike the Jets, do not feel the need to make a huge splash in this uncapped off-season.  If you look up and down their roster, you pretty much see a playoff team – providing they stay healthy.

Last season, just about everything went wrong: injuries to the entire offensive backfield, a QB battling a bad heel and a defense that was in the wrong scheme and that suffered an usual amount of key injuries.

With those facts in mind, you would think the Giants were a four or five-win team.  No, they went 8-8 despite logging in some of the worst numbers in franchise history on defense.

This off-season, GM Jerry Reese had one goal: make the team better without giving anything up.  He has done that thus far.  He brought in two seasoned safeties to bolster the defensive backfield: Pro Bowl safety Antrel Rolle and 11-year veteran Deon Grant. In the process, he dismissed Aaron Rouse and revoked a tender offer to C.C. Brown.  Win-win….

Reese has also re-signed punter Jeff Feagles (for what may be a final season) and his possible replacement- Jy Bond, the Australian.  They made other small moves such as picking up Peyton Manning’s caddy, Jim Sorgi, to back up brother Eli.  Reese also grabbed Broncos’ OT Herb Taylor off waivers and is in negotiations to sign OL Darnell Stapleton, formerly of the Pittsburgh Steelers.

With the draft approaching the Giants have 68 players either under contract or bound by a tender.  After April 24th, they will have 75 players and will still look to sign undrafted free agents immediately after the draft.

From what has been reported by the media and the team itself, only one of those players may not be ready for training camp.  That would be safety Kenny Phillips, who the Giants are being extra cautious with. Other than that, they are coming back healthy and should have anywhere between 7-10 news faces on the sidelines come September.

You can figure on Reese picking up an impact player on defense in the draft, but it may not be any of the suspected names currently being bandied about by draftniks.  You can also count on him looking to get faster on both sides of the ball.

The Giants, by doing very little except convalescing,  will be back at the top conference again.

But this is not a normal year.  Both players, who would have been unrestricted free agents under a normal, capped off-season, suddenly find themselves restricted free agents.  Normally, they would’ve needed four years of accrued service, but in this tenuous time of no salary cap, they now need six.

Neither have it.

Ruud, 26, has led the Bucs in tackles the past three seasons. Morrison, 28, has been the Raiders leading tackler for five consecutive seasons.  Needless to say, both players would have garnered major interest this past off-season had the league’s economic landscape not shifted beneath their feet.

At this juncture, neither has signed their tender offer from their current employer.  Ruud was tendered at first-and-third round level at a one-year salary of $3.168 million.  Morrison did not receive as much love in Oakland, only warranting a third-round level offer at $2.525 million.  Unless something breaks in the coming weeks, both will have no option but to stay with their failing organizations.

Ruud is basically untouchable. No team is going to surrender a first and a third round draft choice for him. Not in this draft.  He knows that, too.

“The explanation is pretty clear throughout the league,” Ruud told NFL columnist Rick Stroud. “It’s a very unlucky time to be a free agent. A free agent is not a free agent right now. You’re sort of stuck. If I had come out one year earlier in the draft, I’d be fine. There’s definitely no animosity right now…I know it’s a business, and I’d like to get something now. But I’m approaching it like a one-year-prove-it thing.”

Morrison is a bit bewildered at his both his modest tender rate and the fact that no team has floated an offer sheet his way.

“It’s hard to really kind of fathom it,” Morrison said in an ESPN interview. “You understand that, OK, here I am, putting in this hard work, feeling like I was deserving of being put on a higher pedestal, but the organization doesn’t feel that way.”

There is a reason why Morrison has not been receiving offers.  Teams are playing it close to the vest. With no salary cap and the draft approaching, they are keeping their options open.  The deadline for signing offer sheets is April 15th and the deadline for old teams to match is the 21st.  Only problem here, is, part one isn’t happening so part two won’t, either.

What will happen? Who knows.  Many assume once the draft is over, teams will assess their rosters and RFAs will either be dealt or be forced to come back into the fold for another year.

But that would leave many teams with a glut of players they may not have planned on keeping.  That is why there may be some trade scenarios brewing.  It may have to wait until training camp, when the free-agent sanctions on the “elite eight” are lifted.

The show was an inside look on how players at the lower levels are being trained and what experts are doing to assist athletes from devastating injury.

LISTEN HERE