This morning Paul Schwartz of the Post writes about how Sinorice Moss, Jared Lorenzen and James Butler are going to feel some heat this summer from draft picks made this past weekend (Manningham, Woodson and Phillips respectively). Reese is always preaching competition in camp to make players better and make the team better.
Why do I continue to complain and ask for a LT? Because Diehl gave up the second most sacks in the league last year.
The Giants did not draft ANY Offensive Linemen. None. Add that no (veteran) free agents were signed either (the Giants only signed two), and essentially there is no competition here. The Giants will talk about how Guy Whimper will be in the mix, but how many of you think that is going to shake any trees? How many of you have the Super Bowl on tape, DVR or Tivo? Do yourself a favor and watch the game again. Watch the second quarter when Manning gets sacked and fumbles the ball. Watch the last drive. It is scary. Diehl is going to get Manning killed.
Reese says that Diehl is improving all the time. I agree. Diehl has improved. But not enough to play one of the most elite positions on the field, LT. Yes, Diehl did play LT well enough for us to win the Super Bowl. But you can bet your bottom dollar that the tapes of the Super Bowl Champion are being dissected right now and the competition sees a huge opening. You can make a Tackle into a Guard but you cannot make a Guard into a Tackle. Reese is betting that Diehl will improve some more during training camp. Granted, this will be his second camp at LT and he will be able to get incrementally a little more efficient. But David Diehl is the weakest link on this offense and his weakness in pass protection is a major liability.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
New York Giants draft: where is the competition ABSENT?
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6 comments:
I'll never understand and maybe you can explain this to me:
I agree that Diehl is the weakest link on this line, but one of the strongest links is on the other side; Kareem McKenzie. Why didn't the Giants move McKenzie to LT and Diehl to RT where his weaknesses won't expose the team as much?
Remember that Petitgout was still at LT in 2005, so it was very easy to put McKenzie into his natural position at RT (having played there for 4 years with the Jets). Diehl moved to LG that season while Seubert was still rehabbing from 2003. By the time Petitgout was cut, McKenzie already was solidly entrenched at RT next to Snee for a few years and they were not moving McKenzie.
On another note, this commenter on Mike Garafolo's blog on nj.com brought up an interesting point:
With the addition of Manningham, will the Giants carry 7 receivers?
We have: Plax, Amani, Smith, Manningham, Tyree, Moss, and Hixon.
I think all of these guys are worth keeping on the roster. I'd be disappointed if we parted ways with Hixon -- he has natural talent as a kick-returner and is a good special teams player in general.
Thoughts?
Also, speaking of special teams, we're really accumulating some athletes: DeOssie, Kehl, Goff, Thomas, Blackburn, Phillips (though he'll probably start.)
We're not keeping 7 receivers. I don't see both Moss and Manningham making the team. Let's be real - there are 3 good receivers on this team, Plaxico, Toomer and Smith. Tyree caught 4 passes last year until the playoffs. He's in the NFL b/c he's been to the pro-bowl on special teams. Hixon is the best returner we've had in the last 30 years, for 1 year. 2 years and counting, the only thing Sinorice has in common with Santana is his last name. Worse comes to worse, we keep 7 receivers and make 1 inactive on gameday, or trade him for a draft pick, a la Ryan Grant. But this is still the Giants. We've never had too many receivers; we've only had the converse.
I cannot fathom why the Giants were willing to spend a 6th rounder last year on a tackle with the limited upside of Koets, but be unwilling to spend a 5th rounder in the supplemental on a potential monster like Gaither.
Wonder comments on Gaither, et al...:"Gaither was GREAT value..but if I remember he had off the field issues that scared some wimpy GM's...yet Jints took Manningham..go figure...don't remember Koets...but they should have DEF taken Nicks...more 'off the field' issues.. but big AND talented.."
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