Afternoon notes: Aaron Ross lives!

by Ed Valentine on Nov 11, 2009 1:29 PM EST in New York Giants News

For a Wednesday of a bye week, sure seems like some interesting things are happening around our New York Giants today. So, an afternoon notebook.

Various beat reporters are stating that Aaron Ross actually practiced IN PADS with the Giants today. Well, wonders never cease. Oh, and I won't believe it until Tom Coughlin says it or Ernie Palladino posts the video.

The beat reporters have also all mentioned today that the Giants brought in 14 players for tryouts none of whom were signed. Pro Football Talk, of course, has the complete list.

The most interesting name of the bunch? At least for me, it was punter/placekicker Tim Masthay, from the University of Kentucky. Obviously, both Jeff Feagles and Lawrence Tynes have had their moments this season, so that was interesting.

Many of you wish Steve Spagnuolo was still making the Giants defensive calls. I know I do. But maybe this will make you feel better. Spags apparently still believes Bill Sheridan can get the Giants defense turned around.

"I absolutely think he will," Spags said. "Not 30 min ago I e-mailed Bill just to tell him. I had an opportunity to watch that game against San Diego. It’s a shame they lost it at the end. They did all the right things at the end, but Philip Rivers had a great drive.

"But they’ll be fine. There are players in that locker room that know how to win. They know what they have to do. They’ll dust themselves off. When all is said and done, they’ll be right there."

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I really hope they find someone with a strong leg in that group of kickers

If its Masthay, that’d be kinda nice to have a guy to Punt AND kickoff. I mean Tynes isn’t THAT bad…but he is on kickoffs (they even went to the squib last game…that has to backfire a few times of course).

Feagles too. His weak leg I think has been masked for awhile. The Giants just haven’t seemed to punt in their own zone (much less inside their own 20) for what seems like forever.

All these other squads seem to find kickers off the scrap heap, hopefully the Giants can do the same w/o wasting a future draft pick on one

"It ain't over till its over"---

by FreeBradshaw on Nov 11, 2009 1:39 PM EST reply actions

Spags

I love the faith he has in Sheridan, but what do you expect him to say?

by potroast on Nov 11, 2009 2:29 PM EST reply actions

True

If he was a naysayer he would never say it publicly

by MSP Giant on Nov 11, 2009 3:01 PM EST up reply actions

Let’s hope Spags has a D coordinator job open so he can take Sheridan off of our hands!

by Late for Dinner on Nov 11, 2009 3:27 PM EST up reply actions

I'm sure

Spags has faith in BS. It doesn’t mean BS can get the job done. Hiring coaches, OCs, DCs is not an exact science. Many don’t pan out.

by FrankB0318 on Nov 11, 2009 3:34 PM EST up reply actions

Very true

You make the best decision you can, and sometimes it just doesn’t work.

by Ed Valentine on Nov 11, 2009 4:35 PM EST up reply actions

Ross or Thomas at safety?

This has been discussed on this board. Can either – should either – be asked to play safety?

Safeties need coverage skills in the NFL today.

I feel like this is the only place where a lack of talent is glaring. At LB it is a matter of playing the right people (read: not Clark)

by MSP Giant on Nov 11, 2009 3:04 PM EST reply actions

Ross, Thomas, Role of Duct tape

I think we have to try anything we can to make it through this season. Obviously we can’t put CC back in because he will be picked on. Somebody needs to put a call into Rodney Harrisson quick!

by Late for Dinner on Nov 11, 2009 3:29 PM EST up reply actions

neither....

i think sheridan has officially retired this cover 2 zone defense…when we played zone it really made the S a very important position because the safety was acting as a CB and giving specific coverage responsibilities. © the play vs Philly where we asked him to cover D. Jackson all by himself.

vs. SD sheridan never played zone…hence we never heard Rouse’s name get called. We matched up with our CB’s….like we should have been doing since day 1.

Sadly I can’t even consider Ross an option at S until he gets his CB job back and I don’t see that happening this year (well maybe Nickel).

TT has shown flashes when it comes to playing the deep ball but in all honesty, do we want him responsible for open field tackle? I’m not so sure I do….

"If you don't know what you're doing... just rush the quarterback" - LT

by andiamo708 on Nov 11, 2009 4:38 PM EST up reply actions

An Idea

How about Spags comes back to NY and the Giants ship Sheridan to St Louis? Any takers?

by Mopey Dick on Nov 11, 2009 3:53 PM EST reply actions

If anything...

Bringing in 14 players at mid point of the season equates to an after the draft type of thing. This being mid season means TC has seen enough and has evaluated! No one player, (well sorta) can feel comfortable when someone else is brought in to compete. Though they’re hardly household names, it’s the message behind the means.

This is a strong message to the team. Why else bring in “14” street free agents? This has to be unheard of? I applaud this, though i don’t expect any of them to materialize, but it’s still the message!

by Hootman on Nov 11, 2009 4:04 PM EST reply actions

I wish it was unheard of...

but I think they say it in each of the articles…its nothing out of the ordinary at least for TC.

Many teams bring in some people over the course of the week. The 14 players probably is more to do with the 2 weeks off or maybe they really just want to find someone.

"It ain't over till its over"---

by FreeBradshaw on Nov 11, 2009 4:21 PM EST up reply actions

It's pretyt much

standard procedure for a mid-season bye week. Everybody does it. You look at a few players in case you need something as the season winds down.

by Ed Valentine on Nov 11, 2009 4:36 PM EST up reply actions

It may just be me

but I’m encouraged by what sheridan did last week. The defense’s schemes were for the most part vastly improved (no rouse on jackson kind of things).

If he gets rid of sending tuck to cover their receivers, I think he can prove to be a decent coordinator.

Any news on tuck’s injury? I haven’t heard anything about it

The Cowboys are the France of the NFL
-thwalls

On 3rd down, throw it to Smith.

by Willgfass on Nov 11, 2009 7:07 PM EST reply actions

it's not just you...

this is what i’ve been waiting for sheridan to do for the past month.

it’s easy to 2nd guess his schemes when the blitzes aren’t getting to the QB…but at the same time these guys haven’t really been asked to play this type of defense for a while. You saw it when Danny Clark tripped over his own player on a Blitz. They’ll need some practice but I believe this is the type of defense we’ll see moving forward (or at least I really hope so).

I hope that we’ll use Sintim more as a pass rusher instead of Clark and i’m hoping that we bring more pressure up the middle. Let our CBs get back to jamming the WR at the line and playing tough Man coverage. Corey made a mistake…it happens…they guy hasn’t been thrown at essentially since the philly playoff game last year…and before that….probably GB and Dallas in the ‘07 playoffs…He didn’t get his hands on Jackson on that last play and well…it cost us.

"If you don't know what you're doing... just rush the quarterback" - LT

by andiamo708 on Nov 11, 2009 8:28 PM EST up reply actions

Didn't see Clark trip on a teammate

but that’s pretty hilarious.

btw, your avatar’s a picture of webster right?

The Cowboys are the France of the NFL
-thwalls

On 3rd down, throw it to Smith.

by Willgfass on Nov 11, 2009 8:47 PM EST up reply actions

yeah...

two guys blitz through the same gap…they hit each other and fell down.

yes that’s cweb in the picture.

"If you don't know what you're doing... just rush the quarterback" - LT

by andiamo708 on Nov 11, 2009 9:02 PM EST up reply actions

Sadly the one blitz i remember the most from the last game

is where the lb were at the edges, leaving no one in the middle and sproles gains 22 yards.
But sometimes you get beat by the blitz. We just need to make sure it hits home

The Cowboys are the France of the NFL
-thwalls

On 3rd down, throw it to Smith.

by Willgfass on Nov 11, 2009 9:52 PM EST up reply actions