I disagree. Jackson only had so many yards because he was allowed to be a starter from day one in an offense that throws the ball almost 60% of the time. If Kevin Curtis and Reggie Brown had not been injured at the beginning of the season, Jackson would have been worked into the rotation more slowly and his numbers would have been less impressive. Whether it comes easy to Jackson and hard for Hixon, the results are really the same. Both average around 13 yards a catch. Jackson was a little better on ypc, byt Hixon caught a higher percentage of balls thrown to him. If Hixon played for Philly and Jackson played for us, Hixon would probably have had 900 plus yards too. Jackson had 50 more passes thrown his way than Hixon did. Plus, most of Hixon’s starts included late season games when the wind was a factor and the season ender where the starters only played a half.

Don’t get me wrong, Jackson’s a good young player with a lot of upside. But based on the numbers he’s playing at the same level as Hixon.

Actually Hixon’s percentage of balls caught was just about the same as Eli’s so that’s what you would expect. That number of course doesn’t tell you how many of the balls were catchable and how many were dropped. I did see an article somewhere (wish I could remember where) that showed that the Giants had the 4th highest percentage of dropped balls in the league last year!

Can you point to any meaningful statistic that suggests that Jackson performed any better than Hixon. If you project Hixon’s stats if he had 121 balls thrown his way like Jackson did, you get 72 catches and 1008 yards. There’s no quantifiable reason yet to say Jackson is a better player than Hixon. It seems you are the one letting home town bias get in the way of objective analysis. In fact, I’ll bet you believe that McNabb is a more accurate quarterback than Eli, which makes the fact that Hixon caught a higher percentage of balls thrown his way last year than Jackson did even more impressive.

Bye Dawk is that based on their numbers there’s very little to choose between them. Jackson has more yards only because he started for 16 games while Hixon only started 7. Plus the Eagles throw more. Per catch they’re very similar, and Hixon caught a higher percentage of balls. Do you have any meaningful statistical evidence that Jackson is any better, or is your argument that he’s on your team so he must be better.

Who knows how their careers will turn out, but right now there’s no basis to distinguish between them.

The age factor alone here is a big strike against Hix here.

Hixon has only been with the Giants one and a half years. He joined them mid season in 2007 and was not familiar with the system and Burress and Toomer were playing every down. The Giants don’t play very many 3 or 4 wide receiver sets so it’s not surprising that he didn’t get much playing time then. He came to camp in 2008, had a great preseason and worked his way into the rotation. He’s not going to push Steve Smith aside because they’re different types of receivers with different skills. But he did get his opportunities, and whenever Burress was down he was the starter. He put up numbers that based on his percentage of playing time and per catch were pretty similar to Jackson. I’d say both players took advantage of the opportunities they had. If Curtis and Brown had been healthy at the start of the year, Jackson’s numbers would have been lower because he would have been worked into the rotation more slowly.

As for getting open more, sure that’s possible,but the Eagles threw 115 more passes than the Giants last year. Whether you’re open or not, if it’s a running play you don’t have the opportunity to make a catch on that play.

Because Jackson got his opportunities as a rookie, he’ll have more productive years and probably a better overall career. Hey, I agree Jackson’s a very good young player. But it’s misguided not to recognize that in terms of current level of ability, he’s not head and shoulders above Hixon.

And don’t get me started on your Steve Smith comments. Eagles fans are very high on Jason Avant. But I don’t think there’s much difference between Smith and Avant either, except that Smith has reached this level in a shorter period of time (really only one and a half years as opposed to 3 for Avant).

You’re right though, I am looking forward to some epic battles between two very good teams this year.

I never said Hixon was better than Jackson. And I certainly never predicted that Hixon would have a better career. I simply made the point that based on the limited sample of one year’s play for each their production per play was pretty similar. Jackson’s totals are higher because he had 120 balls thrown his way. He racked up a lot of yards. That’s impressive. A lot of balls thrown his way were incomplete. That makes him less valuable. I have no idea how many of those balls were uncatchable and how many were, but Jackson’s value was undercut by the number of failed plays in which he was the targeted receiver. If his catch rate improves and his ypc stays high, he’ll be a very good receiver. Time will tell. If I had to make a prediction for Jackson next year, it’s that his number of catches and yards will be down. But that he’ll actually be more valuable because his catch rate will go up.

As for beating out Reggie Brown, Hank Baskett and Greg Lewis, well those aren’t exactly a bunch of hall of fame receivers — although Baskett probably did more with his chances — on per play basis — than Jackson did. Toomer on the other hand is the Giants all time leading receiver and was still playing ok last year. Smith plays the slot, which is not Hixon’s position, so comparing those two is like apples and oranges, and Smith was also playing reasonably well, so Hixon wasn’t likely to take time away from him — just as Jackson and Avant play different roles for the Eagles. Hixon had worked his way into the rotation for a few plays a game, and when Burress flamed out, Hixon got his opportunity and played well. Jackson did a good job with the opportunity that fell into his lap and so did Hixon. Jackson’s opportunity just came earlier in his career and earlier in the season.

As for why Hixon didn’t get a shot in Denver, I don’t pretend to know. His performance with the Giants suggests that he should have. I for one am glad the Giants were able to pick him up.