‘Valentine’s Views,’ Fourth of July edition

Happy Fourth of July, New York Giants fans! Have fun, stay safe and take care of each other as you celebrate today.

Here are few York Giants-related ‘things I think’ for today.

Head coach rankings

It’s silly season for national NFL writers. That means we get a bunch of lists and rankings, most put together with a minimum of thought and research. They are really just meaningless opinions meant to stir up conversation and fill slots on web pages.

Well, except for any list or ranking created here at Big Blue View. Those are gospel. I swear.

Why am I blathering about this? Well, because CBS Sports recently put together a ranking of NFL head coaches and, while it is actually completely meaningless, where the writer put Giants coach Joe Judge and what he said about him annoy me.

The list has Judge at No. 26. Now, a second-year head coach coming off a 6-10 season should probably not be much higher than that. But ...

The only non-rookie head coach ranked lower than Judge is Zac Taylor of the Cincinnati Bengals. He is No. 30 and probably has earned that since I can’t figure out how he still has that job.

Judge is ranked one spot above Eagles’ rookie coach Nick Sirianni. Bad enough. He’s ranked two spots below Los Angeles Chargers rookie head coach Brandon Staley. Utterly ridiculous.

The one that really bugs me, though, is Matt Rhule of the Carolina Panthers being a full eight spots ahead of Judge at No. 18. Last time I checked, Rhule’s Panthers went 5-11 in 2020, his first season as an NFL head coach. Rhule might end up being a great coach, but what has he accomplished or what moves has he made that warrant him being thought of so much more highly than the Giants coach?

CBS writer Cody Benjamin says of Judge that “Sometimes his no-nonsense tough-guy act borders on silliness.”

Well, maybe it does. As someone covering the team, some of Judge’s subterfuge annoys me at times. I admit that. So what? His players buy in, and they seem to love the guy because he is honest with them. He has also been willing to show them a human side. He’s built an excellent coaching staff. He knows what he wants and how he wants to get there.

I think Judge is likely to be Giants head coach for several years to come, and that he and the Giants will enjoy success together.

QB rankings

Let’s talk about more silly rankings. Chris Simms marches to the beat of his own drummer when it comes to his analysis — how else would Kellen Mond even be on a list like this? I give him credit for that. I’m a fan of people who think for themselves, who form their own opinions and aren’t influenced heavily by the group think that sneaks into pretty much any type of analysis.

Simms has Giants’ quarterback Daniel at No. 26 in his annual ranking of the NFL’s top 40 quarterbacks. Generically, I don’t have any issue with that. No matter how optimistic anyone is about what Jones might do in 2021, the fact is he really hasn’t done enough in his first two seasons to be considered one of the league’s top 20 quarterbacks.

The problem I have with this list is some of the guys ahead of Jones.

Sam Darnold at No. 19? What has he done in three seasons to put him seven spots ahead of Jones, and somehow into the top 20. Jones has Darnold beaten in completion percentage, interception percentage, yards passing per game, passer rating and QBR, yet he’s seven spots lower. I have no clue why.

New Orleans quarterbacks Taysom Hill, with four career games at quarterback, and Jameis Winston occupy the spots directly above Jones. No idea what Simms sees there, either. Someone please explain.

At least Simms did not put Jalen Hurts above Jones, which I have seen some analysts do.

What should have been

I can’t help it. Every time I see an accolade for Ryan Ramczyk I think “should be a Giant.”

That thought came up again a few days ago when the New Orleans Saints gave the 2019 All-Pro a five-year, $96 million contract extension that made him the NFL’s highest-paid right tackle.

The Giants had their annual need for offensive line help when they picked 23rd in the 2017 NFL Draft. Ramczyk was considered by many the best, most technically proficient offensive tackle in the draft class. Yet, after a winding path that took him through several schools and saw him take time away from football, Ramczyk carried the dreaded “might not love football” tag. NFL scouting departments, always looking for reasons not to select players, love to put that one on players they don’t understand, or who have obvious interests outside the game.

The Giants took tight end Evan Engram 23rd a year after watching Bobby Hart try to play right tackle, something they would spend most of 2017 doing again.

Ramczyk has spent the last four years making the Giants, actually making the entire NFL outside of New Orleans, look silly.

It’s crying over spilt milk, I know, but the Giants have made numerous wrong offensive line choices over the last decade. Not snagging Ramczyk when they had the opportunity was yet another one.

Summer reading

We have been doing our best to keep the content flowing here at Big Blue View throughout the downtime.

• Check out our series of position previews.
• Summer School 2021 is in session.
• NFC East position rankings from Emily Iannaconi are ongoing.

Keeping up with the Giants

Saquon Barkley is grinding.

So is fullback Cullen Gillaspia.

Evan Engram and Azeez Ojulari at work.

Logan Ryan is enjoying some R&R.

Looks like Julian Love chose the right sport.

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