At the end of a very impressive first day of mini-camp, Sinorice "I can catch anything but a break" Moss suffered a hamstring strain. According to Ralph Vachianno, he hurt himself making a "difficult, sliding catch" and was tended to by a trainer for a few minutes. Luckily, he wasn't seen limping, but it's not known whether he'll be back on the field today.
In the same article, Vachianno reports that David Tyree has suffered a setback with his own hamstring injury, which is apparently unrelated to the knee injury that kept him out all last season. I have a feeling that unless Tyree can get on the field soon and be healthy enough to really impress the coaches, he's going to be the odd man out when the final rosters are announced. I'm contractually obligated to mention that Tyree made the greatest catch in NFL History, but the further we get from Super Bowl XLII and the more time Tyree spends nursing injuries instead of playing football, the easier it will become for the Giants to release him.
I think the Giants need to hire some "Wide Receiver Leg Experts" - and if no such thing exists, maybe they should invent it.
- This oughta get some discussion going: ESPN asked each of its eight NFL bloggers to pick the 10 "building blocks" from their assigned divisions upon whom they'd build a Super Bowl contender. Matt Mosley has three Giants amongst his 10:
1. Eli Manning, QB, New York Giants: I think Tony Romo is capable of breaking through in the playoffs, but give me the young guy who has already done it. Manning is about to have a huge season. I'm talking MVP-caliber season.
7. Justin Tuck, DE, New York Giants: He took full advantage of Osi Umenyiora's absence to become the heart and soul of this defense. The smartest move Jerry Reese ever made was signing Tuck to an extension before the Super Bowl in 2007. Otherwise, Tuck would be preparing to break the bank. Also one of the best locker-room guys a team could have.
8. Brandon Jacobs, RB, New York Giants: I think Jacobs gives this offense its identity. When he's running downhill, he's almost impossible to stop. When he was banged up last December, the offense struggled.
I was actually really surprised that Mosley had Eli as his QB and that he expects him to have an MVP-caliber season. I sure hope he's right, though. I've also gotta say that the thought of a Brandon Jacobs/Brian Westbrook backfield has me salivating a little - could you imagine a better change of pace combo than that? The only pick that I really disagree with is Orakpo - how can you take a rookie who has never played in the NFL over Osi? Orakpo could be great...or he could be the next Vernon Gholston. I hope the only reason Mosley took Orakpo over Osi is to balance out the roster a little bit, as there would have been four Giants to only one Redskin had he gone with #72.
- Tom Canavan reports that the Giants know they "let one get away last year." Kicker Lawrence Tynes pretty much sums it up:
"I believe we all think we could have had two (rings)," kicker Lawrence Tynes said. "I think it makes you a lot hungrier now. We were the No. 1 seed and you lose at home to a division rival, that's pretty much a slap in the face. So it makes everyone a lot hungrier."
- Finally, the Giants have a big press conference today at noon in which they will make an announcement regarding the naming rights of their new practice facility. I'm no marketing or economics expert, but with the current state of the economy it just doesn't seem like a brilliant move to spend (presumably) millions of dollars to buy the naming rights for a practice facility. Still, I'm kinda hoping this trend continues, because at the current rate things are getting sponsored, by the time I'm ready to start having kids I might be able to get a naming rights deal for him/her. "Pepsi Mulrain" sounds like a beautiful name to me (as long as it comes with a few million bucks).