The last ten days of all-football, all-the-time have been awesome. Football came back and started sprinting a proverbial 40-yard dash of cuts, trades and free agent signings. BBV fearless leader Ed Valentine has been dishing out most of the news as fast as it hits Twitter and our inboxes, and so have all of the Giants' beat writers. So I wanted to shout out some props to Ed and those guys, and I don't think SB Nation or any of you guys would mind me doing so. Anyway, now that we have had a slower news day, we can all take a breath and look ahead to more training camp, and, as of next week, some preseason action. Amazingly, the regular season Thursday night opener between Green Bay and New Orleans is five weeks from tomorrow. How awesome is that, when a month ago we had no idea if there would even be a season?
Ravens Insider: Source: Demand for Umenyiora dropped to 2nd-round pick - Baltimore Ravens news, schedule, analysis and opinion - baltimoresun.com
The New York Giants have dropped their demand for a first round pick in a trade for defensive end Osi Umenyiora, and he could be obtained for a second, according to a league source. Five teams are interested in trading for Umenyiora, including the Ravens, but all have refused to offer a top pick. According to the source, the Ravens are one of those teams and another is the New England Patriots. According to the source, several of the Ravens top officials have urged general manager Ozzie Newsome to make the deal, but Newsome is concerned about previous injuries to Umenyiora, and he also has to free up some salary cap room. Newsome might do the deal,according to the source, if the Ravens can get Pro Bowl defensive tackle Haloti Ngata to sign a new, multi-year contract which would create substantial room under the cap. If Newsome can't get Ngata signed and Umenyiora agreed to a new deal, Newsome is concerned some of his younger stars like quarterback Joe Flacco and running back Ray Rice might become upset because they are next in line for new contracts.
Mighty interesting stuff, though I know there has been a lot of chatter going on about where Osi might land. And what might wind up sucking the most is that Umenyiora's own attitude could cost the Giants in trade leverage. Either way, beat writers like Ralph Vacchiano are asking out loud if Osi's asking price by the Giants is too high.
With Michael Vick successfully returning from time in prison, teams took a chance on Plaxico Burress - ESPN New York
Justin Tuck called it a blueprint. What Michael Vick has done the past two years, going from a convicted felon whose only football reps were during recreational hours in a prison yard to a player who finished second in voting for a Madden NFL cover, is extraordinary. And Plaxico Burress is reaping the benefits.
Good for Plax. Now let's hope he continues to burn the Eagles when the Jets play them on December 18.
I don't know if this Yahoo contributor piece was posted once before, because it seems like Yahoo is spewing out some stories that happened months ago. But it's worth mentioning either way, because it's fun to debate great Giants' Super Bowl moments. Who among us doesn't feel warm and fuzzy about that? Anyway, one that should get honorable mention to me is the Hostetler to Stephen Baker touchdown in Super Bowl XXV.
I thought it was interesting that the Phoenix daily paper, The Arizona Star, did not even have the Giants' signing of Gabe Watson listed in their Cardinals' headlines. And it's even more interesting than that how the so-called "honeymoon killer" has the same name. I wonder how many times our new DT has had to field comments about that.
And since it's pretty quiet right now, I thought I'd share a laugh with you all. Is it bad that when I saw the following tweet from Shawn Andrews, I immediately thought he was talking about graham crackers?
IMShawnAndrews I Catch Them Robert Grahams On Sale!!!