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New York Giants Evening Notes: Osi Umenyiora, Shaun O'Hara, Brad Maynard

By Ed Valentine
Has Matt Dodge punted for the final time as a New York Giant? (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
Has Matt Dodge punted for the final time as a New York Giant? (Photo by Al Bello/Getty Images)
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Here are some evening New York Giants notes for your reading pleasure. The news just continues to pour in.

Inside Football's Pat Traina tweeted this evening that defensive end Osi Umenyiora is expected to show up at the Times Performance Center Friday when the Giants begin training camp.

Umenyiora will likely get lots of attention from the assembled media, and his frame of mind in regards to his contract is what everyone -- myself included -- will want to know.

Shaun O'Hara was on a conference call with Giants beat reporters today, and the former Giants center and player rep got off a few good lines, including one about why the call started late. "I'm bucking the system. I'm going five mins late now b/c I can," O'Hara said.

On a more serious note, O'Hara said of his release that he "didn't see it coming."

No more news to report on the Brad Maynard to the Giants rumors, but I do have an observation. It is kind of interesting that the Giants seemingly prefer the 14-year veteran Maynard to the younger -- and probably more expensive -- former New York Jets punter Steve Weatherford.

Best guess is that Tom Coughlin wants a guy he can trust to place the ball where he wants it. The Giants lived through the nightmare of never knowing where Matt Dodge was going to kick the ball, and died partially because of it, a season.

Personally, though, I would prefer Weatherford.

Here is a quick comparison with both having almost the identical number of punts -- Weatherford 84 and Maynard 83. I will put Dodge (72 punts) in there as well.

  • Avg. -- Weatherford 42.4, Maynard 40.0, Dodge 44.7
  • Net Yards -- Weatherford 37.9, Maynard 35.2, Dodge 34.8
  • Out of Bounds -- Weatherford 11, Maynard 14, Dodge 11
  • Inside 20 -- Weatherford 42, Maynard 25, Dodge 23
  • Fair Caught -- Weatherford 27, Maynard 10, Dodge 7
  • Return Yards -- Weatherford 299, Maynard 303, Dodge 536
  • Overall PFF Rating -- Weatherford +13.4, Maynard -11.8 (worst in the league), Dodge -3.8

So, is Maynard really the right choice? You tell me.

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