New York Giants notes: Jacobs' knee, Umenyiora's future

First up, that Daily News article by Smith is one of the most asinine things I have read about the Giants in the past five or so years. Including Lupica..

Osi’s comments probably are about money. When you’re a legend in your own mind what would you expect? I do believe he is an important part of the team and outside of that, we have plenty of holes on the defensive side of the ball. We could realistically use all our draft picks on D, so why create another hole, even depth wise, by getting rid of him?

The most devastating hits to the franchise this past decade has been the raiding of our D-Coordinators by other teams. As soon as we get a good one, he’s gone for some head coaching gig. Perhaps we should look to create some stability there and look for a career guy like Jim Johnson, who had very little desire to become a HC. Changing defensive systems (drafting different style players) every few years really hurts trying to build a dominant D (see Baltimore. Same core group of guys).

Regarding the two:

Jacobs – while I knew that when it was a choice between Jacobs and Ward, that Jacobs would never lose that battle because he was a “cult” hero, a fan favorite because of this style of running…. to me, that was never the issue, my take was; how is it possible for a guy who runs like that to remain healthy in this league? Yeah, it was neat to see him run over laron landry, but how can any humans body hold up to that type of continual punishment in a league where normal backs last only a few years? In my opinion, Jacobs style, though thrilling in the short term, makes him only a situational back and a liability. Now, he is running like Ty Wheatley so even that aspect of his game is gone. I am sour because he will never be healthy enough to contribute on the level we are paying him, and this league is very cap oriented now where we need value. I think if there is some kind of valued feature back slips to us in the draft, I would not be sore about taking him. Jacobs is/was a novelty, thats about it.

Osi – I will say the same thing I said about Jason Sehorn – deal him before he gets hurt again. There are teams in this league that will overcompensate us to obtain his services, pass-rushing DE’s will ALWAYS bring a premium. Although it seems nice to have Osi, Tuck AND Kiwi, this is a luxury this defense cannot afford. And you can talk about his ability all you want, I have always contended he is so bad against the run his pass rushing abilities are mitigated – I would take Kiwi over him if you gave me the choice. Osi represents a PREMIUM bargaining chip for this team – go look at other teams websites, they are already CLAMORING for him!!!

I would not discount the fact that there is a rift between OSI in particular and Sheridan and the defensive staff which is contributing to his demise. If Sheridan goes, then maybe things will improve in that regard. But really, what teams in the history of the league could afford to maintain and pay three young pass rushing ends like Osi, Kiwi and Tuck? Unless they are all on the field at the same tiME, I am against it. I believe any of these type of players WANTS to be on the field for all the snaps – not rotating. If you are Mike Strahan at 40 yrs old, then fine, that works, but these guys are all young and in their prime playing for contracts – I think that situation leads to discontent.

in the free agency era not been a fluke? favre couldn’t get it done twice with a loaded packers team. the steelers did it twice with two completely different teams.

the seahawks never made it back to the big dance…the list goes on. making it there and winning it in the free agency era is an accomplishment in and of itself.

for a linebacker. No sense in keeping a guy who is not happy and like my mother used to tell me about guys like Osi — "you can make a fortune — buy them for what they worth and sell them for what they think they are worth. Osi has said many times that he believes he is among the best DEs in the league — let’s see if can convince another team of that and make a deal.

I’m also wondering if we have conditioning issues with this team — the last two seasons we seem to have gotten really really tired

I have to wait 8 whole months before the Giants play again. That is all.

Come on? You go on the road on each playoff game and beat each team and then top it off by beating what everyone was calling was ‘The greatest Team of all time’?

That is just utter nonsense. I guess you could attack it by saying the road teams weren’t tough but they beat Dallas and Green Bay which are two tough spots for any playoff team.

I’ve been a religious reader. Thanks to all of you for your thoughtful commentary. I’ve spent more time reading your posts than I probably should. Now for my two cents.

First, is this at all surprising? Once KP and AP went down, you’d have to say no. Of the back seven, exactly how many could start for a contender? CWeb, Boley (probably) and TT (maybe). At best, 3 of 7. They just didn’t have the horses. Sheridan may suck, but they lack the talent to compete at the highest level.

Second, where does JR go from here? I think the focus should be (no surprise) on the back seven. Being in Seattle, I didn’t see enough games so I don’t know all the alignments used on the D-line. But, for next year, I don’t know why they don’t move Canty back to end, put Tuck at T (we know he can play), and hopefully Alford returns as the other tackle, and have Kiwi at the other end. To me, drafting a T over an athletic MLB or safety would be a huge mistake. The single highest priority in my opinion is safety, since: (1) we may have something in Goff (too early to know); and (2) we KNOW with absolute certainty that if KP does not return to form we are hosed at S. We simply must prioritze this again, as JR did when he drafted KP.

Third, the past draft. I agree that it is too early to assess definitively. However, much as I respect Free’s opinions, I disagree with his comment that if all we get out of draft is Nicks and Beatty it’s a solid B. Let’s assume they both turn into solid pros (not Pro Bowlers, but solid), and all the other picks are non-contributors over the long haul. You cannot build a champion with 2 solid guys out of the draft per year. You have 22 starting positions; guys get hurt, they get old. By the time you are five or six years down the line, at 2 per year you have fielded half your team and then you start losing some of those contributors to injury/wear and tear (see jacobs, brandon). The bottom line is that the difference between the average and the superior teams is how they draft in rounds 3 and below. JR did this spectacularly in his first year (where would we have been without AB and Boss in the SB run), and he failed to do it last year. Given the lack of any help from the bottom half of the draft, this draft (if things work out with Sintim and Barden) you get a B draft. If not, it’s a C at best. (That’s no diss to Nicks, who I’ve liked from the get-go, but it’s just a reality….getting two players out of, what, 7 or 8 chosen is no way to reload for another SB run).

Thanks again to Ed and you all for a most entertaining and informative site.

is a retard. Very nice to see him get his @$$ handed to him on the comments section under his article. The man(?) just wants to get a rise out of people who read his atricle. What a joke. 95% of the defensive unit that was on the 2007 team are either no longer with the giants, or did not play most of this year. Tim Smith an absolute joke. probly a cowboy fan

I have yet to get over Sundays debacle to add my own thoughts / opinions on next year..I’ll most likely wait until after the Vikings game before I join in..but very good comments..I guess my feeling right now is more than them letting all of us fans down, they let themselves down..Personally, I don’t need them to apologize to me or you folks..I’ve been down that miserable road with them before..for years..They need to look at each other in the eye and apologize to each other..and I don’t for one second buy that lame excuse about Jacobs having a knee problem..that is plain bull. Show me one injury report that had his name listed on it Hello?, nor do I buy into that jazz about Osi holding back because he wants a new contract ..Idiotic..Where do these fools that speculate on this crap drink at night?..and what do they drink?

But I recall Eli being listed as probable with his foot injury..I never saw Jacobs on it, and it is a league rule that results in fines if a team refrains from it…Agree that TC was tougher on these issues than Fassel, but he still stood by and let Plax ride a stationary bike all summer during camps, although Plax did show up and play every week…So, TCs tougher approach seems to have been a tad bit selective.

I’ll admit, be the first to admit that I was part of the Kevin Gilbride Witch Hunt…BUT..in looking at the year in review, his offense for the most part posted up significant points..Enough to certainly win games..While Bill Sheridans defense allowed more..I have also been calling for his head on a stick, and still am..I have backed away from being overly critical of KG in recent weeks..and I know we all love Spags, but these problems have eminated from the end of last season, and have grown worse obviously..and great teams have the depth to handle injuries and be successful..Our teams depth is spotty and needs improvement.

Last year Burris shot himself in the thigh…This year the whole team did…..

Attica