Pats Game

Starters will be in for a series or two. Hakeem Nicks will get his first action, I want him out of there after 4 series max. Look to see if Barden can repeat his line from last week. Watch the DTs. Thomas, Kuhn, Hendricks. Who's backing up Joseph and Bernard? Which wideout is getting cut? Is Hixon a no doubt keeper?  RBs, how much work will Wilson get? At least one cut coming from there. Tracy, adawale ojomo, who's gonna have the big game. How long does Coe stay in the game as the corner opposite Webster? Hill starting and starting at Nickel for an extended period of time?

Season is exactly a week away folks!

NYG vs CHI What to look for

Giants Vs. Bears

 Probably not playing:

DE Jason Pierre-Paul (back), WR Hakeem Nicks (foot), LB Michael Boley (hamstring), CB Jayron Hosley (foot), DT Shaun Rogers (blood clot), CB Terrell Thomas (knee), LT Will Beatty (back), DT Marvin Austin (back), DE Adrian Tracy (hamstring), OL Brandon Mosley (ankle), CB Brandon Bing (hamstring), TE Travis Beckum (knee/PUP) and DT Chris Canty (knee/PUP)

The 3rd preseason game has the starters going into the 3rd quarter, so it is a real good glimpse at how the Giants will look in their road to repeat.

• With Boley still out, you have to look for some Keith Rivers action. Had 5 tackles last week, and looking for  chance to prove that he was a STEAL of a trade. The battle between Herzlich and Chase has been fun to watch as well.
• Look for Locklear to prove he can start at LT. He has a very tough test in Peppers, one of the best pass rushers in the league.
• Prince Amukamara and his swag. The Giants players have stated that Prince needs "swag", and to be a tough corner in this league, you need some. Throwing him in a cold tub and blasting it on youtube wont help, but it can make him angry.
• Will Hill hopefully gets first team reps. Hosley is out for the game with turf toe so I wish to see Hill get the reps at the nickle/bison role. Leave Rolle in his safety spot, see what Hill can do against starters for 3 quarters.
• 3rd WR spot. Hixon will probably get opening day nod with experience. Randle looks like more of an outside threat. Jernigan is smaller but has looked okay on the outside as well. Stanback has impressed, and so has Douglas. They are in a battle for that last WR spot.
• Pass Rush/D-Line. Need to see who is going to step up in the DT spot. Canty will probably start the season on PUP (out till week 6). We signed Marcus Thomas who Coughlin was surprised to see available, would like to see how he plays.
• Kick Return. Can Laron Scott please get a chance to return a kick this week? I want to see him play especially with Wilson going to get an increased role in the offense.
• Word is, David Wilson is going to get a lot of snaps this week. With the starters going into the 3rd, its time for him to step up.
• Bennett-Eli TD this week. I can feel it.

JPP Tosses Prince Into Cold Tub

Rookie (?) Hazing, or Problem?

Hope this does not turn into a problem. JPP seems upset about something, Prince is definitely not laughing. Better be just preseason hooligans and not some locker room distraction. FUCK cold tubs though. Video should be removed from youtube shortly.

MetLife Massacre

Giants Jets Recap

Hosley's coming out party. Dude killed it in coverage, the pick six didn't hurt either. That open Stephen Hill play was ridiculous. Not sure if Will Hill should have been over there and took the inside man instead, or the corner was supposed to be deep, I'll have to look.

Eli's pick looked awful but he says he was just trying to throw it away, ball hung up there and was picked. Offense should have scored but Cruz definitely interfered with in the end zone with a no call. The good news on Bradshaw is that it is just a popped cyst in his hand, nothing broken. There was also no cast just a compression sock. Reuben Randle's 49 yard catch was fucking awesome, high point, a little behind him, just awesome. 

Adewale Ojomo decided to come out and play. Good plays made at the end of the game.

Will Hill should have had a fumble recovery to go along with his sack, but apparently the receiver didn't make a football move? Whatever.

Jets haven't scored a TD in about 1000 plays in the preseason. The team is just an absolute joke top to bottom.

UPDATE: Hosley in a boot after game, hurt right foot. He is not sure when it happened. Hope it is not serious. 

Battle For The Snoopy Trophy

Giants Vs. Jets

There are a few things that I will be looking for in this Giants-Jets match up. I can give a fuck less about what the Jets are gonna do with the Tebow/Sanchez/Cromartie bullshit. I'm sick and fucking tired of hearing about it.

Laron Scott and the Return Game. There was a shining moment for the return game last week when David Wilson had that long kick return, but that was thrown out by not one but two muffed punts by JJ and Hosley. What can Laron Scott bring to the table in returns? 

Defensive Tackle.They went out and signed Marcus Thomas, Carlton Powell, and Oren Wilson this week. I doubt they get much playing time since they just walked through the door. Dwayne Hendricks is a name that everybody should look for. He made a splash last week with two sacks. Lets see what he can do against some better competition, maybe he gets some first team reps.

Young Secondary Players. Will Prince play like a first round pick? Will he stop looking into the backfield and getting torched like an idiot? Does Will Hill pick up from where he left off? Few more tackles, first team Bison role? Hosley did well last week, a few tackles and a sack. Again, he was against lesser competition, see him against some first teamers as that nickle corner.  

Adrian Tracy.  The man is being called Yosi (the young osi). He has talent, just needs to get used to the DE position coming from LB. Look for him to get to the QB.

Can We Stop The Run? Sad start to the game last week against the run. Jets apparently are trying to go back to the ground and pound. Lets see if we can stop it.  

Who Wins the Victor Cruz Award? Cruz had his coming out party against the Jets, and continued this past year with his 99 yard TD catch. Stanback, Douglas, and Collins all have a shot at roster spots. Can they use this game to open some eyes? 

Reuben Randle and Domenik Hixon. I wanna see Randle and Eli connect on a few passes. Also want to see if Hixon is healthy, hasn't played a down in a while. 

Left Tackle.Will Beatty is not healthy. Can Locklear handle it?  Maybe Brewer? 

David Wilson. I want to see him play with, and against 1st teamers.

Giants Sign A Return Man

Giants Sign Laron Scott: DB/KR

On a busy Thursday afternoon, the Giants brought in DT Marcus Thomas for a visit and signed un drafted Laron Scott, a return specialist and defensive back from Georgia Southern. Scott spent most of camp with the Saints but was released to make room for WR Kevin Hardy. In the video above, you will see his kick returning abilities. In this same game however, he misjudged a punt which led to a 79 yard boot by the Cardinals punter Dave Zastudil.

Interesting to see the Giants taking in a return man. I would assume he is not there for CB purposes, but with how thin the Giants are at CB, maybe Reese has found a hidden gem? I understand his spot is not guaranteed, but with Laron and Wilson on the KR team, do they finally have the threat we have been waiting for? Also what does this mean for Da'Rel Scott's position on the team? Definitely needs to prove his worth at RB in these next 3 preseason games.

Injuries Hitting Giants

Who is Hurt, and From What?

Well thanks for coming out Shaun Rogers. Now you are out for the season with a blood clot in your calf. Rogers says its because of a leg whip in practice and the flights to and from Jacksonville. Upsetting because he dropped 50 lbs to play on this team, and this happens. When asked about it, Coughlin stated, “It’s a sad thing.” 

The Giants were looking deep at the DT position with the acquisition of Rogers, but now injuries have started to mount. Canty is still on the PUP and not sure when he will return, but says knee is now better than it was at the end of the season. Martin Parker got laid out in the Jacksonville game and has a herniated disk that requires surgery. Marvin Austin went back to Manhattan for tests on his back because it started to tighten up on him. It was good to see that Dwayne Kendricks looked good in the Jacksonville game. Him and rookie German Markus Kuhn may now have to step up for this team, especially if Marvin Austin has a meaningful injury.

The Giants still have Linval Joseph and Rocky Bernard who should be healthy. But these are big guys that need to come out of the game here and there, without depth, it will be a problem. 

There are also rumors floating around about the beds at U of Albany causing some injuries. T2 said that his back stiffness, earlier in camp, had something to do with his knee fucking up again. Marvin Austin's back injury is being linked to this bed epidemic as well. I think Bennett said it best,

“My back doesn’t hurt. My back feels great. I have a great back.”
Years ago, the reply to any complaints would’ve been, “Tough. Suck it up. This is what camp is about.”

The Giants organization bring these beds in themselves. They are not the college beds we have slept in. Although camp is not supposed to be all rainbows and butterflies, they should definitely have different sized beds for different players.

 The Giants signed DT Carlton Powell, 6-3, 312 lbs. for obvious depth reasons. Powell is a 2008 fifth-round draft pick of Denver. Played in 3 games last year for Atlanta.

Good to see Nicks off of the PUP. Interested to see if he will be back at full strength by September 5th.

Giants vs Jags Recap

 What We Learned: Giants v Jags

 

 Holy fuck was this game hard to watch. I'll get to the players below, but MY9 is atrocious. I would have to assume that they were this bad because its the preseason. But they didn't show us some plays, almost zero replays, and way too many commercials. Also, if we don't have the real refs before the season starts, there will be A LOT of disappointed fans out there. They were awful. Called a hold on Hosley WHILE he was returning a punt. Had no idea who they were calling penalties on. Gave the Giants an extra play when Perrilloux threw the ball while he was past the line of scrimmage with less than 10 seconds left in the game (supposed to be a 10 second run off). Here's a break down of how the players did:

 1. Return Game: I figured David Wilson would be thrown back there on KR. He showed his speed with the 46 yard return. Flat out FAST. Also figured Hosley would be on PR. He had two solid returns of 9 and 18 yards before muffing a fair catch. That is a sure fire way to lose a job on Coughlin's team, but guess what? Jernigan did it as well, may have kept the door open for Hosley.

2. Running Backs: D.J. Ware showed that he can run. He danced a little in the first few runs but proved he can take a few hits down by the goal line. Interesting to see Andre Brown get reps before Wilson. Brown had a few nice runs, caught a ball out of the backfield on a broken play, but also looked lost in pass pro. When David Wilson finally entered the game with the 3rd string O, he was, what they call, a home run hitter. Big play of 26, next few plays for zero yards. Ran for 17 on a nice toss, next few plays nothing. There was also a play towards the end where Perrilloux went to hand off a draw and Wilson went to pass block. What the backs did show though, Da'Rel Scott better get healthy and soon or he will be cut, and that's upsetting. 

3. Wide Receivers: Hixon ended up not playing because of a hamstring injury, Coaches know what he can do when he is healthy so there was no reason to risk it. Ramses Barden got the start. First pass play, he blew past the corner in press coverage and was WIDE open, Eli didn't see him and ended up throwing it to Bennett. Had a catch for 14. Cruz did a good job coming back for a ball had plenty of RAC, then had a ball go right threw his hands. Jernigan would have had a touch down on a nice fade ball in the end zone but the corner held his arm and hit him in the face, neither got called. Randle came in with the 2-3rd teamers. Showed his redzone skills with a jump ball win. He successfully boxed out the corner and caught the short fade for the TD. Isaiah Stanback had a crazy ass one handed catch in the end zone for a TD from Carr. Pretty interesting, haven't talked about him all off season. 

4. Tight Ends: Martellus Bennett is every bit of a blocker we thought he would be. His run block skills are very good. But hey hey hey he can catch as well. 3 targets, 3 catches, 27 yds with a nice TD catch on a high ball which he had to twist in mid air to catch. 

5. Quarterbacks: Carr looked good. The guy has wheels to run after the pocket breaks down. His motion is, well, not normal looking. He pushes the ball, looks funny. Perrilloux was running for his life practically the whole time. He has no idea, neither did anyone else, on how to run a two minute offense.

THE DEFENSE: 

Not gonna go position by position so I'll just preach. That first drive by the Jags was hard to watch. Run defense was doing absolutely nothing to stop their no name running back. Big Boy Rogers was brought in to be a run stuffing DT, couldn't do it. Imagine if they had MJD?  Prince was looking into the backfield way too much which not only cost the Giants a 29 yard pass play, but also cost them a touchdown on a 3 yd fade. He made up for it though with causing a fumble which was recovered by the Giants, but he has work to do. Rolle started out covering the slot in nickel packages. When Herzlich came in, he looked good crashing the line and making plays in the run game. He was actually left at the MLB for practically the whole game, guarantee the job is his by week 3. Tracy looked good at DE. The former LB showed lots of quickness and ability to get to the QB, he just needs to get used to the position and not jump off sides. Austin looked okay at DT. One play he gets blown back, the next he drives the guard 5 yards into the backfield in a play that ended in a sack. Dwayne Kendricks opened some eyes as well with 2 sacks in the later parts of the game. Adds even more depth to the best D-Line in the league.

I was watching Will Hill all game. Number 38 had 5 tackles but was all over the field. He came in with the 2nd Defense and played that 3rd safety role. They had him blitzing numerous times and you could see how fast he was. He stayed with his man in coverage quite well, and also crashed the line on run plays. He completely wiffed on a tackle in the open field and also had a missed tackle inside the 5. Kid needs to get used to the speed of the NFL but looked real sharp. 

Hosley had a sack, muffed a punt, was off sides on a kickoff. The Giants are gonna need him to play nickel corner if they want to keep Rolle up top. I wouldn't be surprised if they keep Hosley in the nickel corner spot all preseason just to get him practice.

Preseason Games: What To Look For

Preseason Week 1: Jacksonville

Finally preseason is among us. There are obviously fans out there that just like to watch the first few drives and maybe the first half, seeing all the starters and 2nd stringers. To me preseason games must be watched in their entirety. You not only get to see Eli and the gang, but you get to see the future, the ones who come in when players go down, the ones who complete Big Blue.

If you are a casual fan, not really wanting to watch the whole game (especially on a Friday night), I'll give you some things to look out for throughout the preseason games

1. The big name rookies. Wilson and Randle have had great camps, but how will they look when there are professional ball players flying at them, hitting them as hard as they can?

2. Ramses Barden. If this moron can't prove himself this preseason, he's gone. Coaches have made it clear that if he does not do anything in these 4 games. He's done.

3. Is Will Hill the next Victor Cruz? Obviously not as much of a no name, but same little expectations coming into camp. We need a 3rd safety, a "Bison Role", Will Hill has been playing this position with the first team in recent practices. Doesn't matter how you do in practice, it matters how you preform when pads start flying.

4. Keith Rivers and the rest of the linebackers. Keith Rivers needs to prove to the Giants and their fans that he is healthy and ready to play.  Also watch Jacquian Williams and Mark Herzlich. Chase is at MLB for now, but his job is definitely not secured.

5.  How good is cornerback Jayron Hosley? Third round pick, I didn't like him due to off field issues and what not. With T2 out, we need him, and need him badly. No fan wants Rolle coming down to the nickel corner spot. 

6. Marvin Austin. Kid hasn't played a meaningful game since December 2009. He seems to be completely recovered from a torn pectoral but how will the absence from the game itself hurt him?

7. How does Prince look at full speed? Coming off of that broken foot that never fully healed last year. Giants threw him out there a little prematurely and it showed. Hopefully is at full health.

8. The New TE's. Martellus Bennett has done nothing but talk all preseason, but will he bring the noise during the games? Giants say he is going to block more, but who knows, the kid can make plays down the field. Adrien Robinson is apparently the "JPP of tight ends" Yeah keep an eye out for this kid then, should be interesting to watch.

9. The Backup QBs. What if Eli goes down? Who steps up? (We're probably fucked)  David Carr, first round pick, went to Houston, got sacked 1000 times in a season and could never get his feet back under him. Ryan Perrilloux is from what I hear a project, if that. 

10. The health of the offensive line. Beatty's back issue is very up and down (out for tonight's game), We have to pray they all stay healthy for the season or it could be the downfall of this team.  

11. WR battle. Who gets that 3rd spot? Randle, Hixon, JJ? See if JJ can play as an outside receiver. See if Hixon's knee holds up throughout the games. 

12. Can special teams finally step up? Who will win the PR/KR positions? We have not had a big play maker returning kicks or punts in a very long time. Hopefully we have one on the squad.

There are 12 players out for the game tonight vs JAX: CB Terrell Thomas (knee), RB Da'Rel Scott (quad), LB Jake Muasau (hamstring), LB Jaquian Williams (hip), LB Michael Boley (hamstring), LT Will Beatty (back), DE Justin Trattou (ankle), DT Rocky Bernard (knee), TE Travis Beckum (knee), LB Clint Sintim (knee), WR Hakeem Nicks (foot) and DT Chris Canty (knee).

T2 Update

Just Rehab, No Surgery For T2

Great news for the Giants and their fans today. Word has come out that doctors have decided that rehab would be best for Terrell Thomas, and not surgery. Anything is better than surgery at this point. Giants are still unsure when or if he will return this season.

Listen, I still do not trust this guys knee. I also don't want him pushing too hard to get back onto the field and finally blowing it to kingdom come. Rest and rehab Terrell, let's hope CWeb, Prince, Coe, and Hosley can hold it down till you return.