Category Archives: Opinion
I don’t see any reason to stray from a formula that has been working. Especially when it is extremely appropriate for this particular scenario. So while I don’t intend to be too agitated today, I will be utilizing yet another comparison to the 2007 championship season.
In 2006, Tiki Barber served as the face of an underwhelming Giants franchise. In the fall of 2005 (a season in which he would break off a 95 yard run and accrue 235 rushing yards in a single game), he would accompany Jeremy Shockey to the bedside of a dying Wellington Mara. The two were described as the football patriarch’s favorite current stars.
But after years of serving as the lightening rod for an otherwise underachieving offense, Barber abruptly left pro football. His departure left a significant hole in the Giants roster. The hole was not much unlike the one that Jerry Reese found himself staring at when Steve Smith hobbled out the door and into the Eagles arms.
Between ’06 and ’07, the Giants finally gave up their attempt to mold project slot receiver Tim Carter into a dangerous weapon. Carter, who is the cousin of former MLB Outfielder Gary Sheffield, appeared to be a physical specimen. He was easily one of the fastest players in the league. Unfortunately, he lacked the ability to consistently haul in catches.
Tagged aaron rodgers, Brandon Jacobs, Eli Manning, Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Reuben Droughns, Tiki Barber |
Osi Umenyiora will almost certainly go down as one of the most dominant defensive lineman the Giants have ever produced. At the ripe age of 29, he has 60 career sacks and his finesse playmaking ability creates an almost poetic tandem with the power-rushing defensive ends that line up opposite of him i.e. Michael Strahan and Justin Tuck.
In addition to being a major contributor on the 2007 Super Bowl team, Osi had one of the most memorable individual performances in Giants history against Donovan McNabb and the Eagles during a Sunday night win in which he recorded a Giants-record six sacks.
He has a playmaking ability that other pass-rushing players envy, and every time he gets a step on a left tackle, there is a strong possibility that he will force a turnover with his signature sack-fumble, something he was able to maneuver 10 out of the 11.5 times he got to the quarterback last season.
All of these feats are pretty impressive, especially for a guy who barely wears shoulder pads, which is why he was rewarded with a six-year contract extension for $41 million with $15 million guaranteed in 2006. That contract legally binds Umenyiora to play for the Giants through the 2012 season unless traded or released.
Tagged New York Giants Blogs |
We received this from freelance writer Tom Keenan, a Giants fan who was compelled to write about yesterday’s stinging loss to Philadelphia….Tom puts the loss in proper perspective: It’s only a game – and one game at that…
Let me get a few things out of the way, first. This is about sports and purely from the perspective of sports. I understand that sports is not real life (unless it is actually your job) and I understand how a sports fan does not understand how thoroughly entrenched in sports a fan can become. My goal here is not to make you understand. My goal here is to try to come to grips with a painful loss suffered at the hands of a most hated foe. (And, yes, I am aware of just how pathetic I am for getting this upset about a game.)
On this Monday afternoon, there are no other fans out there more red-faced and embarrassed than Giants fans. Even Carolina Panther or New York Islander fans can look at Giants fans today and say, “I am glad I am not them, right now.”
Tagged New York Giants Blogs |
Giant fan and frequent GFB contributor John Maloney (“Give Me Liberty of Give Me a Championship”) tries to quantify the Giants’ unfathomable, historic and sickening fourth quarter collapse today against Philadelphia.
Eli's 4 TD passes weren't enough this afternoon
Worst. Loss. Ever.
I bailed.
I bailed the second the punt actually went to DeSean Jackson and he ran free along the sidelines. He was gone. I didn’t wait around to see him agonizingly showboat along the goal line before mercifully entering the end zone. I didn’t want to sit and process the epic choke job that I just witnessed. I threw down my beer, threw down my cash and walked right out the bar. Right past my Philly buddy, who was respectfully (yes, a Philly fan) going outside to go ape crazy. I’d congratulate him later. I needed to go.
Tagged New York Giants Blogs |
I didn’t like the Texans’ chanced going into this game, and people told me I was crazy. I kept thinking about what Perry Fewell said about the defense as the team ended the preseason.
He basically told us this defense of his would take some time to get rooted. I think that’s happened. The Giants are stopping the run and daring opponents to pass against them, exposing quarterbacks to their unending pass rush in the process.
That pass rush has looked like a flash flood as of late – a quick, powerful deluge that wipes out even the most prepared victims.
The Giants either sack, hurry or hit the quarterback or force an error on nearly every snap. Matt Schaub, who usually slices up defenses in methodical fashion, looked stunned early on and never recovered. Granted, his top receiver – Andre Johnson – was basically rendered useless by a high-ankle sprain, but he is not Houston’s only weapon.
The Texans had the best rushing game in the league coming into yesterday’s game. Arian Foster was running rampant over opponents. He finished yesterday’s game with a mere 25 yards. Some will point to the fact the Giants had a quick 21-0 lead forcing the Texans to pass. Other will be quick to point out the Giants stopped him early on, leading the Texans to turn to the pass.
The Giants secondary – which may have been one of the worst in NFL history last year – is now a strength and is augmenting the front seven very nicely.
Above the great defensive resurgence is the play of budding superstar WR Hakeem Nicks, last year’s top draft pick who leads all NFL wide receivers with six TD catches.
He came here billed as a player who can make something out of nothing. He had shown last season that he can make plays – big ones – and this season he is building on that promise.
So everyone (including myself) who was ready for another long season, may be in for a treat this year. The defense is back and the offense has some home run hitters. Special teams are still not where they should be, but that will come.
It’s nice to have a calm feeling on Monday for the second week in a row….
Tagged New York Giants Blogs |
From John Maloney’s blog “Give Me Liberty….or Give Me a Championship”……
One of the popular talking points about Tom Coughlin is how much of a disciplinarian he is. A successful disciple of the Bill Parcells’ school of hard-ass coaching, Coughlin would do things like fine his players for not arriving to meetings five minutes earlier than the stated time. Thus the mainstream thought process went that Coughlin was a disciplinarian so therefore the Giants would be smart, well-drilled team.
So when the Giants put on a performance like Sunday, the announcers will always express surprise that the team is playing like this under such a “stern taskmaster” and “drill sergeant”. They’re excused for saying things like that; they don’t watch the Giants as often as the fans do.
But the fans know better. This is the seventh season under Tom Coughlin and we’ve seen WAY too many games like the one against the Titans. Way too many games where the team looks overmatched, or plays dumb, or gives up or all the above. The transition 2004 season and the 2008 Super Bowl notwithstanding (and yes, it’s a big notwithstanding), all other Giant seasons under Coughlin have ended in car-crash fashion with griping and bitterness.
Each week throughout the 2010 NFL season, Jon Wagner (Sr. Writer At-Large for Football Reporters Online, columnist for Pro Football NYC, and writer for NY Sports Day), picks the full weekly NFL slate of games based on confidence scores, going from highest (most confident) to lowest (least confident) that a certain team will win. Submit your own confidence picks in the comments sections at FRO, PFNYC, or NYSD, and see if you can beat Jon’s total confidence score each week! Here are Jon’s season results and picks for this week:
#8 INDIANAPOLIS (0-1) over NY GIANTS (1-0)
It’s not often (okay, actually never!) that I’ll look to a preseason game to make a regular season pick, but I can’t shake the image of Ravens’ tight end Todd Heap torching the Giants’ defense in the middle of the field (the same way many teams hurt the Giants last year) a few weeks ago, in August. I see Dallas Clark (who had 11 catches for 80 yards and a TD in Houston last week) having the same success, and after a loss, an extra motivated Peyton Manning finding not only Clark, but Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon, and perhaps Austin Collie, as well. Older brother Peyton makes it two-for-two over younger brother Eli, but each will have good seasons after this one.
Tagged NFL Week 2 |
Not much to say accept….the Giants won. Don’t look under the rock, just keep walking….
I will say this…..
Eli Manning is becoming a great passer. Some of his deliveries yesterday were a tad high, but it’s his decisions that excite me. He is at a point now where this is his team and his game. If you’re out there with him, you better pay attention….
Just like the Lakers with Magic, the Celtics with Bird and Oilers with Gretzky…..if you were out there with them, you needed to keep your head up. Some of the Giants’ receivers seemed surprised to see the ball. Wake up, guys, it’s gonna be like this from now on….
The Giants’ defense played with some intensity yesterday. I enjoyed that. I still do not understand how receivers are getting so wide open on so many plays. If the quarterback is not hurried or sacked the Giants are prone to giving up big chunks of yardage.
Tagged New York Giants Blogs |
Regardless of which side of the Bradshaw/Jacobs argument you’re on, you’re wrong.
Sure, the Giants will need both players to be effective in their roles if the team is going to be successful this season. But what will those roles be?
Who starts matters not. Neither does who finishes. What matters to fans is that the Giants get back to that 5.0 yards-per-carry average that helped win them a championship three years ago.
Jacobs was once the battering ram that softened up defenses for the second and third-gear backs. The Giants no longer have a second gear. They never found a capable replacement for the departed Derrick Ward.
Ahmad Bradshaw, the third gear, has the talent to do both jobs. The Giants are relying on him to do just that this season. They have reversed the order of speeds of the rushing attack in order to implement the idea.
Bradshaw will be charged with tiring out defenses early on with his speed and elusiveness. Jacobs’ job will be to relieve him by throwing haymakers into spent opponents in the second half of games.
The idea is a novel one, providing neither man gets hurt. But they always do.
The Giants only have the fragile, amorphous DJ Ware behind those two, leaving one to speculate if the Giants are trying to emulate the Indianapolis Colts.
And why wouldn’t they? They have a Manning at the helm, a fleet of talented receivers and two tight ends that can catch better than they can block.
The NFL is a passing league these days. You pass to open up the run. The Giants have realized that. Last season, they tried to go back to the future by running the football. It failed.
This year, they will follow the blueprint of the teams they will have to go through to get back to the Super Bowl. The Saints, Packers, Vikings and Cowboys are all pass-first teams. They will need to beat those teams at their own games.
Rushing the football has become a secondary strategy for the teams with the elite quarterbacks, aka – the Super Bowl contenders. We just had the ultimate ground and pound team – the Baltimore Ravens – pass through here (pun intended). They got the memo. They’re a passing team, now, too….
So quit arguing who should be the Giants starting RB. It’s a moot debate. The Giants are taking their offense to the next level.
After watching last night’s game from the press box and witnessing first hand the re-vitalization of the New York Giants, I feel better than I recently have about the upcoming season.
The offensive line was intact, sans C Shaun O’Hara (Adam Koets got the start in his absence) and they finally began to get some traction. Of the substitutes, FA pickup Shawn Andrews simply kicked butt during his time out there last night. He could be a steal and and half for this team. He was manhandling his men and picking up the missed assignments of others.
Kevin Boss is my favorite Giant, (O’Hara is second and Mathias Kiwanuka is 3rd) in case you haven’t noticed. Not only because their classy guys, but because they are tremendous competitors. Nothing excites me more during a game when one of those three do well.
Tagged New York Giants Blogs | ← Older posts
