Good news, Eagles fans: The Giants are in serious trouble. As of now, I’m hoping to get up to Giants training camp in Albany later this month.
I’ll have more detailed information then. But as for now, there is plenty of information out there that tells me that the G-Men are probably looking at a losing year.
Yes, they lost Tiki Barber, and you don’t just replace 2,000+ yards from scrimmage. The Giants will hope to rely on the combination of Brandon Jacobs and Reuben Droughns to carry the load in the backfield. I like Jacobs, he’s a bruiser with surprising speed, but we’ll see if he can be “the guy.” Droughns is a nice back, but you certainly don’t have to gameplan for him. I personally think Jacobs can carry the full load, but there aren’t a ton of people who agree with me up here in NYC. The guy to watch, in my opinion, is 7th-round rookie RB Ahmad Bradshaw. He’s said by many to be a first-round talent, with a twelvth-round attitude. Ok, no one said it in those terms, but that’s the general feeling.
Regardless of the running back situation, the offensive line is a bigger problem. They lost starting left tackle Luke Petitgout in the offseason to Tampa Bay. While no one will mistake him for a Hall of Famer, he wasn’t exactly a human turnstile either. He isn’t great, but he’s better than what they have. Look for a training camp battle between Guy Whimper and David Diehl to find his replacement. The Giants would love for Whimper to win the left tackle job, so they could slide Diehl into his more natural guard position. Either way…it ain’t good. Eli Manning needs protection in order to succeed, and they haven’t helped him. When the blitz is through, he’s terrible and becomes a turnover machine.
The Giants are actually in pretty good shape at the receiver position. Plaxico, for all his faults, is actually a very nice WR when he wants to be. Jeremy Shockey is an excellent TE when he isn’t banged up (he always seems to be). They just need to knock off the showing up of Eli Manning on the field. He’s still young, and it doesn’t help when they yell and throw their hands up in a “how could you not see me open?” type way every time he doesn’t throw them the ball. Keep an eye on Sinorice Moss, last year’s 2nd-round pick who was hurt all year. He’s a burner and the favorite to win the slot job. And according to early reports, this year’s 2nd-round pick Steve Smith, the WR out of USC, looks really good. Amani Toomer is still with the Giants, and they have quite a nice young core of pass catchers. Too bad WR’s don’t win Super Bowls.
The other side of the ball is going to be an even bigger problem. Where do I start? I know they drafted Aaron Ross, the CB out of Texas, in the first round, but their secondary still stinks. I heard that he looked bad in mini camp. I know that doesn’t sound like a big deal, but isn’t everyone supposed to look good in mini camp when no one is hitting you? They couldn’t cover anyone last year, and I don’t see much changing for this year.
Interesting change at LB, as they have moved former 1st-round pick Mathias Kiwanuka from defensive end. He’s supposedly struggling, having even been beaten on Saturday by Rich Suebert, a guard. He’s a guard! It was a simulation of a field goal snap gone bad and Kiwanuka was unable to make a play while covering Seubert. That’s good news for Eagles fans. Wait until Westbrook has to run through his zone, he might as well not even bother trying. Their linebacker situation is not good, as even Antonio Pierce turned pedestrian last year.
My favorite part of the Giants; the defensive line. This is just theater of the absurd and possibly illustrates my point the best. Michael Strahan, their Hall of Fame defensive end, is “holding out.” I put it in quotes because they aren’t calling it a holdout exactly, but more of a “I might retire.” It’s his ploy to get more than his $4 million salary for this year. Sorry brother, it’s not happening. He wants to get cut or traded, but regardless, he’s a huge distraction (someone had to replace Tiki in that area, right?). The Giants aren’t the ones that took most of your football fortune, that would be your ex-wife.
Then it gets better. Fellow DE Osi Umenyiora can’t keep his mouth shut. He’s even gone so far as to rip potential new teammate Simeon Rice, who Umenyiora basically calls a one-trick pony. From the NY Post:
"We're not talking about Julius Peppers," Umenyiora said, comparing Rice to the Panthers' stud defensive end. "Simeon Rice is an outstanding pass rusher, but that's what he is.”
"I'm not going to go so far as to call him, whatever, what a lot of other people have called him, but people say he's not the best run player," Umenyiora said. "I guess people gave him that reputation for a reason."
"That's kind of crazy, to ask me to move to left defensive end because Simeon Rice is coming in," he said. "It's ridiculous. He can't play left defensive end; that's where teams run the ball at. If the team asks me 'We need you to move to left defensive end because we need you at that position,' I will, but I'm not going to move to left defensive end because Simeon Rice is coming in."
I couldn’t make this up. What did Rice do to you? What’s the benefit of talking like this? Maybe they are taking a cue from new General Manager Jerry Reese, who needs to shut his mouth as well. He’s been talking about Strahan and trashing former LT Luke Petitgout, who isn’t even in town anymore. It’s a complete circus up here. Oh, did I mention that they have a lame duck head coach that no one wants to play for?
Ah yes, there is trouble brewing in Giantland indeed, and that just makes the Eagles’ lives easier. A good old fashioned T.O. blowup in Dallas would be nice too. We can only hope.
