How many of these 98.6 degree bodies did YOU hear of?

DT Marcus Bell, DB Michael Stone, QB Anthony Wright, K Marc Hickok, P Cory Ohnesorge. WTF are these people? I'll tell you who these people are- they are "stabilizers." Please please I hope and pray that Reese has a plan.

DEFENSIVE mindset for the draft

We must rid ourselves of the offensive head coaches and return to our defensive roots. This is why I highlight the absence of a LB as a first round pick.

a) when you pick at #20, all of the 'expert' analysis is mostly gone and out the window... all it takes is one player, LB or otherwise.
b) in the first round you ALWAYS draft for TALENT. Go for the impact player and get the role players in later rounds to work around HIM. You do not draft a "versatile" player.. that means he's a tweener, and the first round is about finding a DOMINANT player at a SPECIFIC position.
c) when I say pick a LB, I merely point out that in a macro sense that we have lost our defensive identity over the past 15 years. the only time we had one was when NOT COINCIDENTALLY Armstead was there growing into (and being) that dominant player. Strahan, Sehorn and Armstead was the three-headed monster in 1997 that was the second best defense we have ever had (in my lifetime). Getting guys like Barrow and Pierce are savers... they lose another year of their prime getting into your system so you only get that 2-3 years of juice and then they are already going downhill. If they are a part of your draft they give you 6 years of dominance.
d) I really like going back to statistics.... in theory over the past 23 years the draft has been equally weighted with the same talent level in all positions. So how can it be that a position that has 3/22nds (or even 4/22nds!) of your team be 1/24th (or 0/23rds) of your 1st rounders?!!! There is obviously systematic neglect. And this is because we have had FOUR SUCCESSIVE OFFENSIVE HEAD COACHES. These f'g idiots draft high WRs (in the first, 2nd, 3rd rounds) when wide receivers today (more than ever) are meathead loser primadonas that do not control the game the way a defensive end, linebacker, left tackle, and quarterback do. If anything, LBs should have an even GREATER weighting, because teams do not normally draft guards and safeties and fullbacks in the first round.

We won two Super Bowls with guys named Manuel, Johnson, Robinson, Baker and Ingram. Only one of those was a first rounder (#28 1987), and he was not exactly an impact player either.

1991-present (offensive identity)
HANDLEY (running backs)
REEVES (running backs)
FASSEL (quarterbacks)
COUGHLIN (wide receivers)

1983-1991 (defensive identity)
... Parcells (linebackers)

This is not a coincidence. This is one of the main reasons why imo we are not winning a Super Bowl until we can get a defensive coordinator back in there as our new head coach. This is about architecture. Defensive coordinators know how to build good houses. They play good defense, control the game, and when they get close they pick up a fringe WR who is good enough to put them over the top.

e) There is even more irony here... think about guys like David Patten and Joe Jurevicius. They came from our system and then got picked up for Super Bowls (NE, TB) ELSEWHERE. Interesting how the Eagles picked up Stallworth; if not for a few injuries they could have WON THE WHOLE THING last season. WRs are not building blocks. They are pickups.

Schedu-hell

3 evening games and 1 415pm. And two of the evening games are scheduled at the end of December. How do they want fans to go to games when you get the Meadowlands winds at 11PM in late December? Freezing rain. A cold front. More 'flex' games where the NFL bumps you unexpectedly to the evening. Start without me. The NFL is slowly but surely whoring itself out to the television ratings (West Coast, primetime) to the point where the 1PM game is going to be extinct. To quote Andy L., Wellington Mara must be rolling in his grave.

1984

NO, not George Orwell. Not Van Halen. This is a Giants blog! When was the last time the Giants picked a linebacker in the first round? You are so smart!- 23 years ago in 1984... Carl Banks.

TWENTY THREE YEARS AGO! HOW SAD IS THAT?!!!! Don't you think it is high time we picked a LB? Considering there are 7 major food groups (WR/TE, OL, QB, RB, DL, LB, S/CB), we should have picked more than one LB in the last 23 years at that impact spot. We have gone WR-happy and this is the cost: a defense that is without an identity. By some miracle we had a pro bowler out of the 8th round named Jessie Armstead, but those kinds of things happen to a franchise about once every 5 or 10 years, if you are lucky. So quit the prayers and stop with the Thomas Lewises, the Hilliards, the Tim Carters and Amani Toomers and Brian Alfords, the Sinorice Mosses and Joe Jurevicious WRs. I have just mentioned SEVEN WRs that went before we took a SINGLE LB the past ~13 or so years! We have used free agency to snap up Barrow and Pierce, or else we would be total dung. DRAFT A LB, prioritize defense.

Drafting for Nerds

On the right side is a link to a very good article which includes a draft value chart.(addendum.. the NFL took down the article from its site, but the values are available on the February 25, 2008 posting linked here.)

We cannot change the past. Manning is our QB. Let's be fair to Accorsi and look at the numbers. What is a first round choice worth? If you answered 1000 points, the value for the 16th selection, that is incorrect. If you answered 975 points, the midpoint of the 16th and 17th pick, you are getting closer, but you are STILL incorrect. The correct answer is 1157. That is the expected value of the 32 picks (summed and then) divided by 32. We need to know that because the Giants gave up the next year's #1. But is THAT fair either? We are talking about a 4-12 team, a new coach, new schemes the players will need to use, and likely a new QB that will not be sending his team to a winning record. Without stats for the next year's record (or better yet, the draft spot) of a 4-12 team, we can fairly assume they will be something like 6-10 and get the 12th pick. That falls at 1200. And considering that #13 is 1150 (7 points BELOW our 1157 math), I think 1200 is fair. Add the #3 pick at the same position (210), this year's #1 and #5 (1800 +40), and your total is 3250. The Giants received 3000. So the Giants overpaid by 250, which is equivalent to a high 3rd rounder.
Fwiw, if you used the 16-17 midpoint, your sum is 975+187+1800+40= 3002. I would not be surprised if this is how Ernie botched, er I mean added it up.

Stabilize? we are gonna s**k!

Reese: "We’re excited to have (LB Mitchell Kawika) and we feel like he will stabilize our linebacker situation." STABILIZE? Translated, he has a body temperature of 98.6 degrees, and we'll stick him in so that we don't totally implode this coming season.

Hitler, Coughlin and a 12 point lead w/ < 6 minutes left

What do the following things have in common?

1) Coughlin opens his mouth and puts himself in the same category as Hitler when it comes to media assault.
2) Coughlin physically takes the legs out from his players at the end of each season by having multiple practices in full pads.
3) Coughlin elects to kick the extra point with 3:45 secs left and a 12 point lead in the (week 6) Atlanta game. (After the game, Coughlin admits his error.)
4) Coughlin elects to kick the extra point with 6:13 secs left and a 12 point lead in the (week 17) Washington game. Subsequently, the Skins march down the field, score a TD, stop the Giants on their next possession and get the ball back for ONE last drive down by SIX points with 2 mins to go.
5) Coughlin runs a Pisarcik instead of taking a knee on that final possession (Week 17) to close out the game.


ANSWER: COUGHLIN IS A MORON.

Al Wilson fallout

5 time pro bowler Al Wilson of the Broncos was brought in but failed his physical. What we learn from this is that (a) the Giants are at least trying (b) their needs at LB are so acute that they are willing to take a good MLB and move him to OLB.

From an NFL standpoint the irony is palpable. In a year in which more money than ever was available to all teams (due to a big jump in the cap), it coincided with an anemic crop of free agents. So much money to spend and not a player worthy of it. The Giants even tried (and will fail on Monday when the Texans match) to spend gazillions... on a FULLBACK!

You'll be hearing my rants all spring and summer, but the preview is that we have so many glaring needs that will be unaddressed. Unless we get a few miracles and immediate impact players from the draft, 2007 is a rebuilding year... a polite way of saying we s**k.

The dynamic of a weaker team and Coughlin in purgatory could get ugly. No, Barber will not be there to take shots at Coughlin from his untouchable perch. This time it will be the Shockeys and Burresses who tee off. Unless Manning finds NFL religion and all of a sudden makes dramatic improvement, I do not see how the year gets anything but ugly. The antics of hard Coughlin practices combined with a losing record gets old really fast. That happened in Year 1, but Coughlin's status as a new coach was unassailable. In Year 2 and 3 they came into the second half of the season with 6-2 records, so the natives could not get (too) restless. A team that will have gone 4 years with this loser screwing them yet again in the late November and December shells/pads will smell blood. Reese's first big move as GM will be to fire Coughlin, a year too late.

Wasted year coming up.

2 more years of Manning

Manning's contract has been extended. Not a surprise, but it is a little distressing to me that someone with a 73 QB rating can be so 'automatic.' The only incentive I see in this guy's play is his unwillingness (TO HANG IN THERE LONGER) to take a hit. This guy needs COMPETITION and he needs it NOW. If you missed my post from March 1st ("Want to make the Giants better?"), I urge you to read it. It is even more timely than ever before.

Actions speak louder than words

In this case, it is inaction that speaks louder than words. Consider:
1) the MANY needs of the New York Giants
2) that each team loses ~4.5 players to free agency (we have lost 8) and we have gotten ONE back through a trade
3) that Left Tackle is now going to be filled by Diehl or a high draft pick, after Petitgout was let go
4) that McGahee (Ravens), Curtis (Eagles), Rhodes (Raiders) and Davis (Cowboys) were all players we had interest in but nothing even remotely serious happened

We have to wonder aloud whether Reese is rebuilding in 2007. We have to wonder whether Coughlin is someone that players and their agents know to stay away from. As we have feared all along, is this a lame duck season for Coughlin? And if so, why NOT trade Strahan for a high draft choice while he still can play so that we can rebuild?... if we are throwing away 2007, he is 35 1/2 now, then he will be ~37 by the time we can 'compete' again.

this is a deal I could like

let me get this straight- I get to unload Tim Carter, and the price I get charged for this fee is to take Reuben Droughns? Okay. I'll take a chance.

No hard Feely-ings

Re-sign Feely for more than a couple of dollars? NOT! Goodbye! We had two Feelys while he was with us. Feely #1 was the one who was very solid in 2005 and could hit consistently from short range and hit some longer ones too. Feely #2 was the one who (in 20-20 hindsight) cracked after the Seattle game of 2005, became less consistent unless he was kicking from 30 or less, could not hit ANYTHING beyond ~40 yards, turned extra points into adventures, and generally became one UNRELIABLE Kicker. This week they kept shoveling this stat about him making something like 80% of his kicks... BULLBLEEP! Coughlin stopped letting him kick from beyond extra point range. The Giants were horrible in the red (oh, pardon me, moron Coughlin calls it the green) zone and the beneficiary of that was Feely kicking the gimme FG. GOODBYE. Next.

Free Agency, trading update

From the Washington Post: In something of a long shot, the Redskins also could be in the running for left defensive end Michael Strahan, who met with New York Giants officials this week in an attempt to be traded. Strahan has two years left on his current contract.

There has been ZERO followup (by the NY media) in the 24 hours after this article hit, so my guess at the moment is that it is more conjecture and less fact.

Giants: Dominic Rhodes of the Colts visited the Giants yesterday. The Giants have also expressed immediate interest in Cardinals left tackle Leonard Davis and Patriots linebacker Tully Banta-Cain. Though no visit has been scheduled with Banta-Cain yet, they are trying to get Davis (who visited Dallas yday) in for a visit. They are also looking hard at Eagles safety Michael Lewis, but are not optimistic about getting him. The only action they have taken is signing O'Hara, and tendering Wilson (RFA) for a 2nd rounder if the Giants cannot match someone else's offer.

Gone are Garcia (Bucs), Plummer (Traded to Bucs), Thomas (Patriots), Clements (49ers), Stinchcomb (Saints), Stenibach (Browns), Smoot (Redskins), Fletcher (Redskins), Bly (trade to Denver).

Another RB enters the mix as Travis Henry is no longer a Titan.

Want to make the Giants better?

Three step plan for greater success:
1) Get an incredibly competent backup like Jeff Garcia (who will be available, fyi).
2) Order Manning to stop with the backpedal away from the hit as he releases the ball.
3) Put in your backup if Manning is unwilling to take the hit or if he gets hurt.

Plain and simple, Manning is not giving the team 100% as long as he ducks the hit. It is part of the job as QB to take the hit. And it is definitely part of the job when hanging in there with the proper (FOOT) mechanics means better throws and more hits. Take the high road and break this guy's bad habits. If he gets hurt and we need to go to the backup, so be it. Incidentally, if you signed a guy like Garcia he should be your STARTER. Imagine HIM throwing to Burress, Shockey, Toomer, Moss and Jacobs. TFB Eli. Think about how well Garcia did WITHOUT guys like this. NFL means 'not for long,' and without a quality backup, the Giants are not going to push Manning.

One more thing in defense of Manning- I would be willing to bet that Manning's dropoff in performance in the second half of the season is tied to the Coughlin grind. Yet another reason to get onto the next coach so that Eli loses the free ride and (he and his teammates) also gets an easier one late in the season.

Schlereth on Barber and Coughlin

Former All-Pro Offensive Lineman Mark Schlereth weighed in on the Barber-Coughlin remarks... he said that Mike Shanahan added 4-5 years to his career because as a coach Shanahan managed his veterans and understood the grind. It is a 12-month per year career and Schlereth says that veterans who have delivered results for many seasons need to get less reps in practice as the season winds down. Veterans loses their legs. Even the younger players lose their legs. Think about all those games down the stretch where the Giants scored first and then disappeared. Don't think for a second that these guys were not acting out or that their bodies were simply not ready to go for 60 minutes. Coughlin is a grinder, period. AND HE HAS NOT FIGURED IT OUT.