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There was, obviously, some good and some bad in the New York Giants' first preseason game -- an 18-13 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Here are some of head coach Tom Coughlin's thoughts on the game, along with some of my own opinions.
On the run defense with the starters in the game:
"They had some first downs and ran the ball on us right off the bat early on. We’ll just have to take a look at it. It wasn’t a rejection. We did stop some of the runs, but we’re going to have to be better. "
Valentine's View: Coughlin is being kind to his defense here, trying not to be critical over what he saw in one quarter of one preseason game. Privately, though, he can't be happy. The way the Giants first-team defense played the run, or didn't play it, is just not good enough.
On the performances of the rookies:
"For the first opportunity to play in a preseason professional football game, they were excited. They ran around and made some plays. I thought Michael Cox really ran the ball hard when he had his opportunities tonight. Moore obviously was a problem for Pittsburgh from the pass rush standpoint. He did a nice job of that. I thought Johnathan Hankins held his own in there. He's had a nice camp. Hopefully we're going to keep that going."
Valentine's View: I have thought this for a while, and I'm not certain I have actually written it. It's early, but this could end up being the best draft class GM Jerry Reese has assembled since the 2007 group that included Aaron Ross, Steve Smith, Zak DeOssie, Kevin Boss and Ahmad Bradshaw.
On the play of Ryan Nassib, who didn't get much help from his offensive line:
"We’ll have to let Ryan play some. He was chased all over the place. He made the one play down the sidelines. We thought he might have gotten another one but he didn’t have a whole lot of time. We need to work on that. He did make the play though that got the drive going to kick the field goal that kept it out of field goal range for them."
Valentine's View: It's virtually impossible to judge Nassib's performance. Even Coughlin admitted Matt McCants should not have been snapping out of the shotgun, and the offensive line play in front of the rookie quarterback was woeful.