New York Giants' Tuesday notebook

by Ed Valentine on Sep 2, 2008 6:00 AM EDT in New York Giants News

A few notes as we wait anxiously for Thursday night -- when theGiants face Washington and open defense of their Super Bowl title for real.

Turns out, the Giants have wanted defensive end Jerome McDougle for a long time. Both sides seem happy to be together at last.

"We think this is going to be a real good investment for us," coach Tom Coughlin said.

"I look good in blue," McDougle, 29, said. "I feel good to be here, staying in the division, so not really much of a difference as far as guys you are going against. I just feel good to be here, to be wanted."

McDougle seems like a talented guy for whom things just didn't work out in Philly. Is he football's Carl Pavano, as TerryByte suggested? We will see.

What is really interesting to me is that with McDougle on the roster the Giants will open the season with just three defensive tackles. That, plus just two quarterbacks and I guess you can see that GM Jerry Reese meant it when he said recently that the Giants would keep the best players regardless of position.

Giants "don't really know" what to expect from Redskins.
This is a couple of days old, but Antonio Pierce is sounding unhappy as the season draws near. My advice to Antonio: No Strahan, no Umenyiora, go earn the respect you want. It's there for the taking.
Mathias Kiwanuka is thrilled to be back at defensive end.

“I was never not a defensive end, I just played linebacker as well,” said Kiwanuka, who was drafted out of Boston College in first round in 2006 as a defensive end, a position he had played since he was 7-years-old. “Now I’m getting back into this on the first and second down, and getting the calls and the reads down. To be honest I am so excited about it that I will take any challenge that comes up.”

NOTE: Check back this afternoon. I am hoping to post this week's '5 Questions' segment with 'Skin Patrol' from Hogs Haven, our Redskins blog. I'll give you a preview: 'Skin' has gone on record as predicting that the Giants would go 7-9 this season. I have asked him to defend that statement.

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Comments

I do not think

the Giants will win 10 regular season games this year. I think they’re as likely to win 9 as they are to win 7, as 7-9 is really the low end of my prediction for the team. If I had to peg an actual number, I’d much rather go with 8-8 as that gives me more wiggle room. Hopefully that comes across in the 5 questions, as my prediction was based on a proposition bet that was structured very differently than merely having to predict the season the Giants are going to have (rather, the prop was trying to predict the season the Giants weren’t going to have)

Go register. Or else.

by Skin Patrol on Sep 2, 2008 11:15 AM EDT reply actions

We shall see

The 5 questions will be up shortly. We will see how it plays. Either way, I wanted to give you a chance to expand on your thinking in regards to that, and I thought you did a good job.

by Ed Valentine on Sep 2, 2008 11:44 AM EDT up reply actions

McDougle

Maybe he’ll be more likely to stay healthy, since he’ll only play some passing downs. Let’s hope so anyway.

Skin Patrol, I clicked on your “or else” link … pretty damn disturbing! LOL!

by potroast on Sep 2, 2008 11:47 AM EDT reply actions

I hate to post on the Giants site, but I have to ...

I am a die hard Eagles fan, and its like a cardinal sin for me to post on a competitors site. Its like cheating on my wife. But I gotta let you guys know that McDougle is absolutely a nice pick up for you guys.

He was shot 1 year and broke his leg 1 year. They guy never really sucked, just had bad luck.

He was having a GREAT camp. I mean, he was going nuts in practice and in the game. It didn’t matter if he was going against first or second teamers. They guy was constantly in the backfield. I am soo mad we let him go, especially knowing that Spags was waiting to snag him up for free. He will wind up starting for you guys by the end of the year. Trust me.

I hope he does well for y’all. though I hope he is injured when y’all play the Eagles. Not nothing bad, just maybe flu like symptoms or something.

Dallas Sucks

by yophillybro on Sep 2, 2008 12:48 PM EDT reply actions

Yo, bro

Thanks for the info.

by Ed Valentine on Sep 2, 2008 1:00 PM EDT up reply actions

keep that on the Hush, hush (Gotta keep me Eagle rep), U know what I'm sayin'

I still hope we crush you guys, but I gotta keep it reall. McDougle was I guy none of us wanted to lose. Nice pick up on your part, Spags is a really good coach man. The dude is brilliant.

Dallas Sucks

by yophillybro on Sep 2, 2008 1:04 PM EDT up reply actions