Great stuff from Mike Garafolo on the state of mind of the beleaguered New York Giants defensive linemen.
"Guys are fearing for their jobs," [Barry] Cofield, the Giants’ starting defensive tackle since the team selected him in the fourth round of the 2006 draft, said the other day. "Our unit’s been together for years. In comes (Justin) Tuck, out goes ‘Stray’ (the retired Michael Strahan), but other than that it’s been the same unit.
"Everyone will play, everyone will contribute. But it goes a long way in making it clear that accountability stretches to everyone — no matter how long you’ve been with the team."
My take: Good, they should be uncomfortable. I know some of these guys are beat up, and MG talks about that in his post, but this team was built counting on dominant play from the front four, and that has not happened. Way back in pre-season I was asked on a radio show if this line would be historically good. Seems like a pretty foolish question now, doesn't it?
By the way, I am going to guess that based on injuries and ineffectivness today's inactives look a lot different than what we are used to. Here is a guess -- Ware, D.B. Johnson, Koets, Whimper, Moss, Beckum, Hagan, Bernard.
(E-mail Ed at bigblueview@gmail.com)