soup to nuts

1) You cannot make too much about preseason. What was the Giants' preseason record in 2003 when they went 4-12? What was it when they won the Super Bowl? The correlation between success in preseason and success in the reg season is very low. So when the Giants looked really bad against the Panthers and the Ravens looked really good their first game out, what happened next week? The Giants were much more focused, came ready to play, and the Ravens were busy coasting. Does the result shock you? A narrow Giant victory where the team executed does not mean very much + or -.

2) The uptick for Eli? Do you think that I am going to wave the Eli flag after the weakest link played well for 1 1/2 quarters in a preseason game? The only thing that proves is that ... Eli played well for 1 1/2 quarters in a preseason game! BFD! Pardon me for asking (well, not really): when have we ever seen Manning play a COMPLETE 4 quarter game? Name a game. NEVER. The best game of his career was against the Chargers early in 2005 and he did not play an entire game in that contest either.

3) Injuries are a part of football. Deal with it.

3a) When Reese cut Petitgout, who was going to take his place? Moving Diehl over is not considered a satisfactory (long term) solution. But also note that it reduces our depth at OL dramatically, because now we have Seubert starting instead of coming off the bench. So the injury game is going to be far more costly. Not only did we lose a LT, we also lost depth. Here we make the distinction between a costly injury and the administration's job to provide the talent that is available behind those who do get hurt as a statistical reality of the game.

4) I really like Tiki but he is starting to annoy me. When he was backstabbing Coughlin I loved it because Coughlin was not the answer and no one else wanted to take the coach to task for his ineffective and outdated methods. But lately Barber has been taking shots at anything and everything in his new job. Be nice to the people on your way up because you are going to meet the same people on your way down.

5) Ahmad Bradshaw got my attention. The Giants have 4 RBs. That is the most depth we have had at that position in MANY years.