Jay Cutler and Josh McDaniels

Not sure if you have been paying attention to the soap opera in Denver, but it is certainly interesting.

It all started when Josh McDaniels was brought in as the new head coach of the Denver Broncos to replace Mike Shanahan.

And then it was all downhill after that. McDaniels wanted his former QB at New England (Matt Cassel), and missed getting him in a 3-way deal that would have sent Jay Cutler to Tampa Bay. But the damage was done.

I know very little about Josh McDaniels, but I know this: Cutler is the real deal and to NOT work with him for at least a year is patently absurd. For what it is worth, the moment that Cutler expressed his disatisfaction that he was being peddled and that Cutler's availability was in play, Wonder started foaming out the mouth...

On March 1st: Jets should trade T.JONES, CLEMENS, and a 2nd-round pick to DENV for J. CUTLER; Denv desperate for RB and a rift b/t McDaniels and Cutler is a real problem...they'll have Clemens for now and can draft a QB to groom...Freeman in the 2nd?

Point? Getting rid of Cutler makes no sense. He is a FRANCHISE QB. I lost track of the number of times Phil Simms endorsed him and his abilities. Is Cutler acting a little like a primadona for this? Yes. But in this sport, your #1 QB is the bedrock of your franchise and could easily be there well after the head coach. That Bowlen had to get involved to try to put this fire out so quickly after hiring McDaniels obviously means this is a burgeoning nightmare. Someone is going to have to explain to me why McDaniels could not at least TRY to work with Cutler for 1 year before deciding he wanted something better. If you say that it was all about Cassel, then I will reply- SO WHAT?!!! Tough brown that Cassel is on the market in your first year as a head coach. How many times have we seen a replacement shoot up the charts and then flame out just as quickly when he tried to anchor another franchise? The difference is that Cassel COULD be a franchise QB. We already know that Cutler IS the franchise QB of Denver.

Part 7: PSLs through the eyes of Phil Mushnick and Roger Goodell

This morning, Phil Mushnick has taken a seat in the PSL stadium and he does not like the view. Echoing the opinions expressed here on the Ultimatenyg New York Giants football blog, the words are unambiguous.

"..the most disgraceful, greed- based story in NFL history"

"the Giants are.. desperate to find suckers to purchase personal seat licenses"

The latest wrinkle that Mushnick uncovers in this PSL mess is how NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell defends the Jets and Giants seat licenses as 'good investments' while the Jets explicitly say otherwise.

Warren Buffett defines an investment's return as the sum of (the present value of future) retained earnings over the period of the holding. So for PSLs, they are licenses, not shares. When the stadium closes in ~30-35 years (about the length of the current Giants Stadium), it will be worth zero. Check the fine print, I am sure it says that the license is for this new stadium, not a license forever. Add that you have to PAY for all preseason and seasons tickets, and that is the reverse of a dividend. Yes, you get entertainment, but no, the endpoint of the license WILL be zero. And just for the exclamation point, we'll throw in there that in 30-35 years, if you hold the license until it is worthless, you (or your heirs) will be on the queue to pay for another stadium (license) yet to be built.

Political Jeopardy

Answer: Holt released, Boldin on the block, Burress gets traffic tickets

Question: What WRs developments are the Giants rumored not to be interested in?

In the spirit of Jeopardy, a little fun with Jay Leno.



And back to a little football humor,

"The Top 10 Unluckiest Plays"

Classics, all of them.

Butler - Brown = $1.9M; Tisch the con artist (PSL Part 6)

Butler's 4 year deal is $3.5M/year. Considering that we signed CC Brown for $1.6M for 1 year, this is far better than spending $3.5M for Butler. Is Butler that much better than Brown? Doubtful, considering how slow Butler is.

This one is 3 days old: Tisch says that the PSLs are well-received by Giants fans. Tisch was there in September at halftime when he was roundly BOOED in reaction to the PSL. So for him to say that the Giants fans are supportive of them is either

(a) delusional or
(b) an outright lie

Since I do not believe that Tisch was born yesterday, I'll pick (b).

TISCH IS A LIAR. Sure, he is trying to push his product, and he has every right to do that. But please do not take Giants fans for being stupid, gullible, vacuous patsies that are ready to be brainwashed by any public relations that you inject into the media. If you would be kind of enough to at least show your customers a modicum of respect and admit the truth, then perhaps there would be a little less resentment about the situation.

Tisch says there has not been a "backlash." This is his proof. Does he mean no marches through East Rutherford? Giants fans are too busy trying to earn a living (SO THAT THEY HAVE THE MONEY TO PAY YOU FOR YOUR TICKETS AND PSLs) to have time to organize 'backlashes' against an entertainment entity.

No backlash? So what was the halftime booing all about? Be so bold, Mr. No Backlash, and try showing your face for some other halftime promotion this September and see what kind of response you get then, and then tell Ralph Vacchiano and the rest of the media that there is no backlash. There were tons of comments off of the Daily News piece. I read the first 30 of them and of the ones that were positive or negative, it was 21 NAY, 0 YAY. 100% against and negative, spewing their ire at Tisch.

No backlash? Go try walking the corridors of your stadium (hint: NOT the club seats) at intermission... I suspect the reception will be somewhat akin to wearing a Giants jersey at the old Vet or Linc.

It cannot be stated enough times that Tisch and Mara have a right to do anything they want with their franchise. We as fans have plenty of choices. This is not bread or water they are selling us. We may all be emotionally tied to this team, but we can also live without them. It could be a lot worse. That $1K big screen hdtv never looked so good. The beer is reasonably priced, and the only thing I will regret is not being able to boo Tisch. But somehow I suspect that there will be a few people at the game who will want to do that for the rest of us.

WR or LB?

Before people freak out, rest assured that Reese is almost a lock to take at least 1 WR and at least 1 LBer with his first 3 picks (assuming he does not package to trade up).

You can say that amongst the WRs we have, none are the kind of talent to draw a double team the way a Boldin, Fitzgerald, Burress et al can. So if that is the case, how is this team going to go all the way and win? The answer is that you still have a set of WRs who can move the chains and make enough catches to help the offense win games. Relatively speaking they are all babies, ANY of which can have a breakout year. Which one does it? Perhaps 2 or 3 of them. Perhaps only one. Perhaps NONE! But given their age and experience, this is the time when pros make that leap.

Steve Smith certainly has it in him. He'll play in Toomer's old spot and has been on the biggest of all stages, so he can certainly (not only handle but) excel in the starting role. While on the subject of biggest of all stages, that 3rd and 11 catch and run for the first down vs the Patriots on the penultimate offensive play may be the asterisk sandwiched in between Tyree's helmet (wtbrown did they ever finally name that play?) and the TD, but there aren't many bigger than that.

Sinorice Moss should have gotten way more work when Burress went down. We were one of his biggest detractors, but he stayed healthy last year and delivered whenever called upon in limited snaps. I do not know why (other than the fact that the OC is a browning terd) he did not get more involved. He's got the speed to give any defensive coordinator a problem if they think they can cheat the safety. Stretch the field with him.

Domenik Hixon has had flashes. How much his production dropped off when he was playing hurt cannot be quantified. But when healthy he certainly has demonstrated some big play ability. Consistency is the question.

Manningham missed camp, and the raw rookie never got in the offense.

Sure, would we all love a Crabtree or a Heyward-Bey? Of course. But there is enough talent on this offense to win a championship. No, w/o a WR who can draw a safety, the offense will lack that extra explosiveness. But the 1986 and 1990 Giants had a platoon of ordinary WRs.. Bobby Johnson, Lionel Manuel, Stacy Robinson, Stephen Baker, Mark Ingram. None of these guys were anywhere near Plaxico Burress in terms of talent. Yet they had the kind of defense to win a title, because those guys helped move the chains and made some big plays along the way.

I can only speak for myself on this one: I cannot trust Kevin Gilbride to carry my team, whether he has Larry Fitzgerald at WR or the league's #1 OL.

So let me put my faith in the defense. Sheridan is keeping the system in place. Give me that impact LBer with speed that we want. Trade up for Maualuga, now THAT gets me excited. Go blockbuster and trade UP UP for Curry. Very excited.

When Burress suggested the vaunted Patriots offense, 18-0, would be held to 17 points, Tom Brady chuckled. The Giants held them to 14. And that is why DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS.

PSL- Part V

PSL Part V - update on sales.

Wake up and smell the coffee. These 4 sections are the dregs. Does it surprise you they are down to the last 5 years remaining on the waitlist?! THERE IS NO WAITLIST ONCE THE SECONDARY MARKET STARTS. Repeating- they are doing their best to make the obligatory contact of the waitlist so they can get to the real people they can fleece, the corporates. They spent all of about 3 minutes on me. It was a single email, I called THEM back, they showed me the website for where the sections were that were still available (the same 4 still available), and they never bothered with another email or a phone call back. They are in a rush to get through these people so that they can get to the corporates before the corporates realize just how bad business is and only buy 2 instead of 4, or buy none instead of 2.

They mispriced Field 3.

They priced the Terrace so cheaply that many oldtimers in the first tier and second tier from the current stadium switched down. When they see how reasonable the seats are in the upper deck, they'll be happy they paid 4K for 4 seats (or 20K for 4 loges) instead of upwards of 80K.

This is not rocket science. The sections that sold out will have firm demand in the secondary market and the seats that are still unsold now will be underbid, all things being equal. In fact, it should be amusing to see how the secondary market re-equilibrates the Coach's Club (20K, $700 per game) with Field 1 (20K, $160/game). Somehow I am willing to bet that the seat license for Field 1 will be a more expensive right than Coach's Club. Any takers of the other side?

Wonder Draft Thoughts Part II

In Part I last Tuesday, Wonder talked about the cream of the draft class and specifically the possibility of:
1) trading up to the top 5-10 for a Crabtree if he falls
2) trading up to the top 15-20 for Heyward-Bey if he is available there

Part II: A wider discussion by Wonder

If "all" gone, Wonder actually likes Robiske (Ohio State) and Kenny Britt (WR) to Jints in first round and/or to Jets in 2nd... If no Burress, and no trade for Boldin, likes NYG to draft Robiske..he's "NFL-ready"...more so than anyone but Crabtree.

Wonder sleeper: Dominique Edison, WR, Jints 2nd round or Jets/jints 3rd... 60-90th pick...just have to understand it will take him a couple of years to develop..after that, watch out...

Still...Crabtree, Maclin, H-Bey, Nicks...also like Louis Murphy, FLA, late 2nd-3rd...guy just "got it" for the Gators...don't know if Harvin is right for either as Leon/Bradshaw that type of player..he would be UNBELIEVABLE for the Colts on that turf with Peyton...Colts should GRAB HIM and/or move up to get him...can run PLUS play in the slot..could make that offense unstoppable at home...lots of draws, screens, swings...

Also, these experts don't know sh*t...the best RB from this draft will be D. Brown..assuming he's on decent team with decent line...f Wells and Moreno...Broncos should draft Brown in 2nd round if he's avail...another Terrell Davis.

Summary: For Jints, THEY should use their 2nd round pick from N.O. to grab BROWN...trust me on this one...in 2-3 yrs., after Jacobs has been abused, Brown will be a GREAT pro..in the meantime, he can be "WIND"...Jints should ALSO get the best WR avail at end of 1st round assuming "he's" still avail...nicks, bey, britt, robiskie, etc...UNLESS LB Maualuga/USC is still available.

Tom Coughlin radio interview

Tom Coughlin spoke to local radio in Jacksonville.

1) On the playoff loss to the Eagles: "But you know, we held them to a reasonable amount of points where we should have had a reasonable opportunity to win. We were on the fringe of the green enough times to win, but we just didn’t get it done." We'll let you connect those dots.

2) "Chris (Canty) is as excited about being a NY Giant as anyone I've ever been around."

Free Agency Update

Courtesy of Garafolo, C.C. Brown's contract. $1.6M cap for 2009.

Also note the ex-Giants free agents with 4+ years still not signed. James Butler, S; John Carney, K; Jerome McDougle, DE; R.W. McQuarters, CB/KR; Grey Ruegamer, G/C; Rich Scanlon, LB; Amani Toomer, WR; Anthony Wright, QB; Renaldo Wynn, DL.

from the St. Louis Dispatch:
The lack of space (in the Rams' salary cap) could be one reason nothing has happened with free agent safety James Butler of the New York Giants, who visited Rams Park last week. The other reason could simply be that Butler's agents, Kevin and Carl Poston, aren't known for striking deals quickly.
The early deals signed by safeties Gibril Wilson and Yeremiah Bell came in at about $5 million a year or more. The Rams are believed to be offering significantly less to Butler. To date, Butler is not known to have taken any other trips.

Terrell Owens

What some of the silent email crew said to Ultimatenyg today about the idea of the Giants getting Terrell Owens for 1 year:

Andy L.: "Bring him on-what the heck we just signed 2 guys who were arrested for domestic violence-1 year of TO in the Big Apple-that would actually be sort of fun."

Marvelous: "Great Blog Today! B*LLLSYYYYYYY & on target too!! I'd take him --period!! We NEED him & he'd LOVE playing the Big Apple & BEATING the Dallas organization too!! +++ all the others. Our D is FAB & we are in dire need of some EXPLOSIVENESS on O!! YESSSSSSSS!!"

Rob: "He is a poison and a cancer. He will destroy your team and he will not get you the ring. He is 'fools gold.' I pass without any regrets."

Ron: "ANDY, I COULD NOT AGREE WITH YOU MORE. THE GIANTS HAVE EVERYTHING TO GAIN BY GETTING T.O. THOSE IN THE LOCKER ROOM ARE BIG BOYS..THEY CAN HANDLE ANYONE WHO GETS OUT OF LINE..INCLUDING T.O.THE GIANTS HAVE NO EXCUSES TO PASS ON HIM..AND TO TALK ABOUT ATTITUDE IS PURE B.S..THE GUY CAN PRODUCE AND WILL GIVE ELI MORE CONFIDENCE IN THROWING THE BALL THAN LOOKING AT ALL THE PAST TAPES IN THE WORLD..I DON`T SEE THE DODGERS QUITTING ON M.R AND HIS MURDEROUS AGENT BOROS..WINNING IS WHAT COUNTS..AND T.O. WOULD HELP THE GIANTS DO THAT."

And then the not-so-silent Wonder: "ABSOLUTELY...make it TOTALLY INCENTIVE DRIVEN WITH TEAM, TEAM, TEAM goals!!! I guess the Giants are too 'Coughlinesque' to CHANGE!...remember Moss going to NE for a #4 pick? "Oh, he'll be a locker room cancer,etc."...JUST bring T.O. in and TALK to him with REESE,COUGHLIN, MANNING, PIERCE, and TUCK right there !!! If it's not "unanimous", fine...forget about him...butttttt, make an EFFORT for crying out loud."

Ultimatenyg here.

(1) malcontent Corey Dillon came into New England and all of a sudden became a model citizen. The Patriots won a title THAT YEAR. And everyone forgot what a cancer he was on the Bengals.

(2) If it does not work out, you lose THIS SEASON. At least you tried. 31 teams lose each year.

(3) Only 1 year: we will have much more visibility on where Manningham, Hixon, Moss, BurressBailJail and the highdraftpickrookie are.

Reese took some risks in opening up the wallet for Canty. It was a move we applauded because it said we needed to get better. This is a unique oppty for the Giants, where Burress and Toomer are not there and the team could use a 1 year WR shot of adrenaline. Everyone who wants to runrunrunJacobs will have an easier time of it with TO on the corner. TO is a helluva blocker too, and you don't think he could be the difference in springing #44 on a huge run? Manning is an inaccurate passer, but TO is a big and strong WR that can make him better.

Gilbrown's lack of aggressiveness and lack of risk-taking meant we ended up as one of the 31 losers last season. I'd rather take a chance and go down swinging than take a call strike three. Jacobs. Bradshaw. Owens. Smith. Boss. 1 year.

Safety and Tight End signings, TO released

CC Brown signed as third safety.

Jerry Reese's formula is no secret. He addresses his needs in free agency so that he can draft for as much value as possible and not feel constrained by need to fill any one particular position. Plus, he looks at the strength of the upcoming draft at each position and then targets free agents where the draft is going to be soft. Logical and sound. Everyone on the blog could have set their watch by him addressing the safety need in free agency. The only thing surprising about this year's free agent signings was the profile of Canty and (to a lesser extent) Boley. But obviously Reese shed his dogma of building exclusively through the draft.. and quickly at that. It is good to be unpredictable. Other teams that were mixing it up with Reese on players like Canty and Boley and Haynesworth did not know what was coming next. Keep them guessing wherever possible.

Look at the older players on the Super Bowl team:
Strahan gone.
Robbins replaceable by Canty and Bernard if he cannot stay healthy.
Madison gone.
McQuarters gone.
Toomer gone.
Ruegamer gone.

O'Hara better stay fit or else he'll be supplanted too.

Time is relentless.

And guess who will be 32 by the start of the season? Plaxico Burress. Just remember it's bail before jail so you better not fail.

Speaking of diva WRs, overnight we learned that TO was released. Rule 24: # of headcases <= strong head coaches. (If you have a strong head coach you can have up to 1 head case in the locker room. If you have a weak head coach you cannot have any. A strong head coach with 2 head cases means a locker room infestation and problems.) So let's do the inventory down there in Dallas when TO came in...

TO=headcase. Parcells=strong head coach. 1<=1. Check.

And when they made a coaching change...

TO=headcase. Phillips=weak head coach. 1<=0. That math did not work. Either the head coach or Owens was going to have to leave. This is a win for the Giants as long as that weakest link, Wade Phillips is there.

Okay, I know what you are thinking... hmm, if we got TO, we would be over the top and would win a Super Bowl title. There is ONE way to do that. The idea of letting that toxic nightmare into anyone's lockerroom opens up a can of worms. But the one way I would do it is to give him a one year deal (assuming we have the cap space left). He needs to rebuild. The Giants need a 1 year answer to Burress. He seems to be able to behave for one year before starting to cause trouble wherever he goes. You know he would be a nightmare, running roughshod over Manning. But probably not in the first year. "We are not in the business of well-adjusted human beings." One thing about Owens, he plays hard and wants to win... joining the Giants and staying inside the division would be quite logical for him. ONE YEAR! One title. The Giants offense could be so scary good with him, it is seducing me to the dark side. Coughlin is the unquestioned, strong head coach. 1<=1. A 1 year deal and a title.

Giants Draft Ideas, Safety, Ward

Wonder's draft ideas:

1) a LB or WR rates to fall to the Giants at #29.

2) Heyward-Bey is going to make an excellent WR in the NFL.

3) Philadelphia should take Heyward-Bey at #21.

4) If we reach 15-18-20 in the draft and Heyward-Bey is there, go up and get him to front the Eagles.

5) Draft is strong in OT and WR, two things Reese has not yet (likely, intentionally) addressed.

6) Andre Smith was great in college, will make a solid pro, his stock has fallen, do not mind why, he could fall to the Giants at #29, take him. (I think Wonder is wrong, 0.0 chance he falls THAT far, maybe I misheard him.)

7) Another player who may (more likely than others we are discussing here) make it down to #29 is WR Hakeem Nicks of North Carolina. Do not pay attention to his 6' 0 3/4" height, he is like a Chris Chambers, plays bigger than his size.

8) Anyone who takes Cushing or Matthews before Maualuga in the draft is out of their minds. All 3 USC LBers are good, Maualuga is the pick of the USC litter, no question. He is second only to Curry at LBer in the draft.

9) Reiterating, Curry and Crabtree are the nuts, they are the stars of an overall weaker draft.

10) There has been a stink about Crabtree's height and foot fracture. If he drops at all, it is an oppty to trade up and GRAB HIM.

Summary: Curry, Crabtree, Maualuga, Nicks, A Smith, Heyward-Bey are players to get excited about. At #29 realistically look at someone like Nicks if not prepared to trade up.

Btw, that didn't take long, Craig, here comes Reese going after Safety.

Ward to Bucs for 4 yrs, 17M. Glad Reese spent that money on Canty. Nothing against Ward, nice player... he was not the reason why we lost this past season. But if not employing Ward kept our cap space for Canty, then it was once again Jerry Reese making all the right decisions. Ward had to cash that $6M check- as a 28/29 year old RB, this is his final (meaningful, and ONLY) signing bonus.

LBer/LBer/LBer

Hope springs eternal. This is said with ALL HONESTY... I would not care if the Giants drafted LB/LB/LB with the first 3 picks in round 1 and round 2 come late April. Throw in a Safety for Craig if we don't get a cheaper upgrade in the next wave of free agents. STARVE GILBROWN of any and all talent, he'll just waste the damn thing anyway. Serial underachiever. 1950's-1960's flashback: I can see
Tuck/Osi/Canty/Robbins/Kiwi/Boley/Pierce/Webster/Ross/Phillips/#1/#2 LBers coming off the field and telling Gilbrown and Manning: "Just hold'em until we can get in there again."

You think I'm mad? Here is the plan.

STEP 1: Draft LBer with the first 3 picks, Safety and Corner with the next 6 picks. Draft a RB with the last pick as fodder for Training camp handoffs.

STEP 2: Gilbrown hands the ball off to Jacobs wide right enough times for a loss of 2yards to have us lose three of the first four games. 1-3.

STEP 3: The defense begins clicking on all 8 cylinders.

STEP 4: Gilbrown hands the ball off to Jacobs inside the tackles and he gains +2 yards per carry because the defense has 12 men in the box. By the time the game is over we'll have enough field position to win the game 9-0 after 3 failed red zone attempts.

STEP 5: We finish 13-3 with momentum into the playoffs.

STEP 6: Eli still can't throw in the wind of January, the offense still gets 2 yards per play, but it doesn't matter, as the defense creates more than enough turnovers and negative yardage.

STEP 7: We emulate the '85 Bears and '00 Ravens by winning a Super Bowl with suffocating defense and an offense that no one remembers who played WR. Sheridan is carried off the field on the shoulders of Tuck and Osi. Gilbrown is interviewed for a head coaching job in the Arena League but gets rejected.

GIANTS SIGN CHRIS CANTY!

The Giants signed Chris Canty.

Wonder: "Huge huge acquisition for the Giants. He goes inside and outside, long giant arms, can rush from DE standpoint, QB has to get ball over him, knocks down the ball. He can move inside, he'll play inside. The Giants are going to have an unbelievable pass rush, they can be dominant. The Giants improved their defense dramatically with Boley and Canty. Canty, by being 26, you are going to get 4-5 VG years from him. Guys like Canty do not get hurt, their body-type does not put the pressure on the knees, more flexible, weight more evenly dispersed, the Ed Too Tall Jones type who plays to an older age, the Tony Gonzalez-type. Bernard is a grinder, his best days are behind him, not thrilled with that move, fireplug guy. Now the coaches just have to integrate all of these players, but they have it assembled."

Btw, read the El Wondero numbers from Friday ("6 yrs 42M acceptable") for what to pay Canty.

Wonder on the Patriots sending Cassell to KC- KC did fine, Patriots were afraid that they would be stuck with Cassell.

Money for Haynesworth was too too much. His knees are a little screwed up, hasn't played a full season since like 2002. So the skins get 3 years, 2 very good years, but a disappointment in the post-mortm after the entire deal is in the rearview mirrow. The money for DeAngelo Hall is crazy. As in insane.

Chris Canty and the Defensive Line

How aggressively do the Giants go after Chris Canty in the wake of Rocky Bernard being signed? What are the chances of the Giants signing him?

Pros:
1) The perfect mix of age (26) and experience (4 yrs)
2) Able to play both DE and DT well
3) Cofield and Robbins both underwent arthroscopic knee surgery this winter, so need for depth important
4) Canty grew up in NY (Bronx) and would like to come back here, all else equal
5) Best free agent DL out there (next to Haynesworth)
6) You can never have enough good defensive linemen, because every single dressed player gets snaps in the rotation
7) Lack of pressure up the middle in second half of season a big reason why the Giants want to upgrade the DL
8) Kiwi did not have the year we expected of him, and Canty can line up at DE

Cons:
1) It's always the money, and this signing won't come cheap
2) Bernard's signing clearly alleviates the need for depth
3) Plenty of other teams strongly interested in him
4) Given that Boley is a 5yr/25M signing, Reese still has not made the big ticket free agent signing
5) With Osi back, Tuck can rush inside and give the push up the middle that was missing
6) Osi, Kiwi, Tuck, Robbins, Bernard, Cofield, Tollefson, Alford (and Henderson, Douzable, Bryant, Clark) make for a pretty crowded roster and enough competition

Summary: the Bernard signing really lowered the chances for this signing, but Canty wanted to play here... he would already be out of town visiting the next team by now if not for his interest in returning to NY. It still looks like Canty will play somewhere else, but all Reese has to do is offer him numbers in the vacinity of Smith and he will be in blue this season. It is up to Reese.. we'll respect his judgment.