Training camp is almost here

by Ed Valentine on Jul 21, 2008 7:00 AM EDT in News Comment 5 comments

It's getting close now. Training camp begins Friday in Albany for the DEFENDING SUPER BOWL CHAMPION New York Giants.

So, the title defense is about to begin for real, and there was plenty of season preview material floating around the Inter-Google over the weekend. Let's cover some of the highlights.

The biggest question as we enter the season is how the Giants will handle being defending champion. From what they are saying, the Giants seem to understand that they still have a lot to prove.

"You do it once and people can call it a fluke, but if you do it twice, they start to really respect you and understand your talent," Giants center Shaun O'Hara said.

Other Giants have heard the naysayers, too.

"We still feel a little bit of a sense of people saying that the Patriots lost," defensive tackle Barry Cofield said in the team hotel the morning after the miracle. "We still feel like a poor man's champ."

Nearly six months later, the Giants don't seem to feel any richer, and they've yet to discover a wealth of national respect. They've already heard predictions that they won't even win their division this season, and they've seen the power rankings that have them somewhere below the upper echelon of the league.

"I'm not surprised," said running back Brandon Jacobs. "But if we haven't shut up a lot of doubters yet, we can still shut them up next year."

AS IS PREDICTED HERE, I suspect we will read over and over again in the coming weeks that the Dallas Cowboys, and not the Giants, are the team to beat in the NFC.

Gary Myers of the New York Daily News knows the Cowboys, with their roster full of Pro Bowl caliber talent, are a threat to the Giants. He also looks at who else has a shot at knocking New York off its throne.

Newsday's Bob Glauber understands the road ahead for the Giants, but is unwilling to write them off.

Repeating as Super Bowl champs is one of the toughest feats in sports; it has been done just eight times before. The Giants do look good on paper, even with the retirement of Michael Strahan, although they'll have some new faces defensively. It is awfully tough to repeat in this league, and the Cowboys and Eagles remain viable threats. But I will not write off the Giants until I see definitive proof that they've taken a step back from last season. Barring key injuries, this is a serious Super Bowl contender.

SPEAKING OF STRAHAN, the retired star and now FOX analyst sat down with Steve Serby of the New York Post for a Q&A.

Here are a couple of the highlights.

On the Giants' chances to repeat.

Yeah, I mean anything's possible. It's all about your focus and your commitment to doing what's best for the team, and not as an individual.

On Jeremy Shockey.

He's a great teammate. There's not a guy in that locker room who would say, "I don't like Jeremy Shockey. He's a jerk." If you want to learn how to work hard, if you want to learn how to be intense, if you want to learn to believe that you're the best and work for it, if you want to learn how to always require and demand the best out of yourself, you watch Jeremy Shockey.

On where Mathias Kiwanuka should play.

I think he's a natural end. I think he picked up linebacker pretty well for a guy who never played it in his life, but I think you can find guys who can play linebacker who always play linebacker. Kiwanuka is a natural, explosive defensive end. (Justin) Tuck is a hybrid, and I think Tuck is probably better served rushing from the inside. They can't stop him on the inside, whereas on the outside, he's not as natural as Kiwanuka is. I think that would just be a much better setup.

I don't know about you guys, but I'm fired up. Let's get started already.

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interesting

so strahan decided not to try to establish instant journalism cred by transparently throwing his old tam mates under the bus the first chance he got, unlike his stupid ex team mate tiki barber. how very interesting indeed. its odd that he would choose an alternate strategy than tiki’s, considering how intelligent and multi talented tiki has been telling everyone he is since he retired.

i can only woner if strahan will also follow his buddy brett favre awesome example and try to un-retire after his former employer had moved on and made key personel decisions based on his retirement.

by kendynamo on Jul 21, 2008 1:54 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Strahan

I don’t think you have to worry about Strahan. He’s done.

by Ed Valentine on Jul 21, 2008 2:07 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Mathias move back to the DE position

I am not sure the giants have enough depth at LB to move Mathias back to the DE position. I think it would make an unbelievable DL with Tuck rushing from the inside and Mathias and Osi on the outside.

Do you think the giants look to add an LB during training camp?

Did Strahan’s retirement and now Shockey’s trade give them some additional cash in had to pick-up another player that would put Mathias back at the DE position?

by losangelesmets on Jul 21, 2008 5:12 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

I doubt it

What impact player is out there? The Giants reportedly looked into swapping Shockey for Jason Taylor, but that didn’t happen obviously. I think you’ll see Kiwanuka as a hybrid DE/LB and Tuck playing both DT and DE in different situations.

As for an impact LB, I think the Giants are hoping Gerris Wilkinson is that guy.

by Ed Valentine on Jul 22, 2008 9:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

kiwi

You can’t play every down with DE, Tuck is stout against the run in that alignment, which is why it works, but there’s a difference between getting by a slow guard that’s backing up (for pass protection) and a 300lb guard mowing down a smaller player like Tuck on a four down basis. At least I think that’s what you meant. If you meant just in passing situations, I’m sure that’s the alignment we’ll use, Kiwi came inside last year, but I imagine, this year in the All-End alignment, Will be Osi, Tuck, Alford/Coefield, and Kiwi on the other end. I’m 90% sure Kiwi is the first LB to come out in a sub package regardless

by queler on Jul 22, 2008 3:57 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs