Here are a few items to entertain you while you wait anxiously for Sunday's New York Giants - Washington Redskins season opener.
- Apparently, his years inside the Beltway haven't taught Redskins defensive coordinator Greg Blache much about secrecy. His plan for stopping Brandon Jacobs and the Giants vaunted running game?
"You put eight in the box. We try and make this game more complicated than it is. Each guy’s got to win. Each guy’s got to fit where he fits. Guys stand in front of you and try to make this sound like it’s rocket science. It’s not. It still comes down to blocking and tackling. It still comes down to guys executing and guys playing together. And if we do that, we give ourselves a chance of winning," Blache said. "But there are no magic schemes, unless you know where to come up with more than 11. If we’ve got a way to get an invisible 12th, I’m listening, I’m up for it. Other than that, it’s going to come down to football players making plays when opportunity presents itself."
That goes along with what the Giants have been expecting. Blache also acknowledged the Redskin will, basically, single cover the Giants receivers and challenge them to make plays.
"When you have to take care of the run game – the quantity and quality of the run game that they have – the wideouts are going to get some minimal attention at times," said Blache. "I think it’s a great opportunity for their wideouts. I would love to be a wideout on that offense because you’re going to get some single coverage just because of all the other weapons that they have."
- Speaking of those wide receivers, Tom Coughlin said this week that No. 1 draft pick Hakeem Nicks will be part of the rotation right from the beginning.
"He's involved right now in everything we're doing. We basically have four guys that will do a lot of rotating and a lot of playing."
- Derek Hagan knows he won't be catching many passes early in the season, anyway. It's his coverage ability on special teams that largely earned him a roster spot. Sinorice Moss made the team, but both he and his brother, Washington's Santana Moss, are wondering what role Sinorice will play for the Giants. My guess is, not much of one. Again.
- As a new season dawns, Justin Tuck is not satisfied with one Super Bowl ring.
"When you come off a Super Bowl year," he said, referring to the Giants' championship run two years ago, "you don't want to come down from that. You're up there and you're looking down on people. Why would you want to come down? I know that feeling of winning it. Walking off the field, all the confetti in your face, everyone hollering, 'We're No. 1.'"
The Giants fell short of their dreams last season, running up an 11-1 record before fading down the stretch and losing in the divisional round at home to the Eagles. They don't want another opportunity like that to slip away. After all, Tuck is looking for the kind of greatness that is measured in historical terms.
"The Patriots have been that dynasty, but we just got a piece of the pie," he said, referring to New England's run of three Super Bowl titles in a four-year span. "That team will go down in history. Everybody wants to be in that elite category."