The Giants lost to the Colts this past weekend.  Don’t be too concerned. The sample size was not large enough and Coughlin doesn’t game plan for these games.  Additionally, a few key players were out.  Mostly it was Eli Manning underperforming.  He has historically not played too well in the preseason, and turns it on when it counts. But given last year’s off year, at some point you can get concerned, but not yet.

The running game flashed, and Nicks looked ok, if not great.  Cruz was injured, but should be back for game 1.  I would have liked to have seen more from Randle but for some strange reason they gave the snaps at Cruz’s slot position to a guy who won’t make the final roster.

Speaking of the roster, some good players will get cut.  The fact that the Giants need to keep 3 QBs, since Nassib is nowhere near being ready to see playing time in a real game, makes roster decisions even tougher.  Many have written on the battle between Rogers and Austin for a spot as if Patterson has that rapped up.  Despite a decent game by Patterson I’d bet on him being the man out, but not sure both Rogers and Austin can still find a spot.  It is almost unfathomable that a high second round pick like Austin will be cut, but he has shown very little in his extended audition.  My assumption is also that Kuhn will spend the year stashed on the disabled list.

Linebacker and Safety also have interesting roster decisions.  Sash was deemed to be on the way out before playing a great game against Pittsburgh.  With Mundy added from Pittsburgh and a 5th round draft pick used on Cooper, the thought is that Will Hill is out.  I hope that is not the case.  Hill will not count towards the roster for the first 4 weeks, as he sits out a suspension for substance abuse, but his unreal athleticism is on display whenever he is on the field.  As I posted many times last year I think he is a future star that they should not give up on. The suspension will allow them 4 more weeks to make a decision.  It’s not entirely impossible that Cooper gets put on the practice squad since injuries have limited his time. Alternatively, he could have some fake minor injury allowing the Giants to store him on IR for another year.  Since Rolle is unlikely to be back next year given his high salary, stocking safeties makes sense.  At linebacker, it will come down to reclamation project Curry or Bosworth for the final spot.  I don’t see them carrying 7, given the tight roster.

A couple of injuries in the Colts game could have an impact on the roster as well.  Bass is out for 3-6 weeks with a knee injury and Diehl is out 6 weeks with a thumb injury.  Diehl is no longer quick enough to play tackle anyway so 1st rounder Pugh better be ready.  When Bass got injured the Giants rotated the line and Diehl went to Guard.  Now Cordle is in at center.  I suspect they will PUP or IR Diehl sitting him for the first 6 weeks (even though he could be ready by week 3) allowing an extra roster spot to be open. 

At DE it’s time to figure out if Ojomo can play against the first line team.  He dominated the 3rd stringers but it’s like the great minor league baseball hitters that can’t cut it in the majors.  Coughlin should send him out against the 1s for a series to see if it is real.  If it is, he could potentially unseat the promising Adrian Tracy as JPP, Kiwi, Tuck and Moore are locks.

At cornerback this will be an interesting and telling week for Terrell Thomas.  He has a high ceiling and a low floor.  A few of the backups look good a CB like McBride, so it will be interesting.  He gets his first snaps in 2 years this weekend against the Jets and Giants fans are routing hard for him.  

Some say pre-season games are meaningless.  The results certainly are.  The Giants won against Pittsburgh, but did not play well.  The big season concerns of stopping the run and running the football did not appear to be addressed.  You would hope that a healthy Snee and potentially Pugh will make the difference on offense and JPP should help materially on defense. 

The issue on defense, however, seems to be the very mediocre Line backing core.  Herzlich is a great story but mediocre talent.  He accomplished nothing.  I have to hope that Connor will be a better answer as he looked decent in his time there.  The most disappointing was Jacquian Williams.  While he can still be a situational 3rd down guy, he can’t play the run and was getting pushed around out there. 

The star of the game was rookie DE Damontre Moore.  He was borderline dominant.  It will be exciting to see him team with JPP for years to come.  Hopefully the Giants won’t be too loyal to over the hill Justin Tuck.

The Giants finished their mini camp last week.  Like training camp, when no opposition is looking to hit you in the mouth, everyone seems capable and teams think they have promise.  It’s difficult to tell too much in this format.  However, there are a few things of note to report.  Ruben Randall reportedly looked great.  While it is possible this was a management PR ploy meant to scare Cruz into signing (and may have worked), given his physical skills it is more likely that he really did look good.  The only position that you can really tell much about in these types of camps is quarterback and receiver as much of those skills will translate. We will come back to the Cruz signing and the game theory being played out later in the post. Mark Herzlich is getting reps with the 1s ahead of newly acquired Dan Morgan.  This could be a factor of simply knowing the playbook better than the newbie.

Regarding Cruz, he finally did sign his tender.  He did it a day before the Giants could have unilaterally lowered the amount.  He had no negotiating leverage beyond potentially causing some bad publicity for the Giants unwillingness to sign him.  When the magic date came, he signed.  The reason that he has held out this long is that he learned from the horrible example the Giants set last year when they gave Osi more money than his contractual negotiating leverage would allow just so appease him and shut him up.  
 
I think Cruz will continue to talk about a longer term contract.  The Giants have no reason to budge.  With Randall in the mix and a few other good receivers in camp, the Giants would be best off seeing who has the better year and plying Nicks and Cruz off of each next year in their free agency year.  The truth is that Manning can make most
receivers look good.  Look what he did to Ramses Barden in the one game he played while Nicks was injured for the Carolina game last year.  Realistically you can’t keep two different receivers in that price range and still field a great team.  Cruz is overrated.  His stats are largely a product of the system and the quarterback. He is very good but not a huge difference maker in the Calvin Johnson / Larry Fitzgerald mode. Cruz also knows his market value on Madison Avenue drops precipitously if he leaves New York.  If Cruz does have a good year next year the Giants can sign him for about $10 to a one year deal per the CBA for restricted free agents. This way his two year total would be $13m, still less than he would make under current offer.  I don’t see any realistic scenario that he performs so well for two years and then the Giants need to pay more over the next 4-5 years than they would have under their current offer.  The small chance that happens also means he was incredibly good, which would not be a horrible outcome.

2013 NY Giants draft review

We will look at each pick individually, but first I have some general comments.

The Giants lie when they claim that they don’t base anything on needs.  Their preference is for the best available player but only if it lines up with a need.  In the first round we get example number one.  

1st Round

Justin Pugh OT – Syracuse

A huge percentage of how well someone does in the draft is luck.  It is based on how the needs of the teams picking ahead of them play out relative to your team’s needs.  The reality is for all the weakness in the secondary and at linebacker, the biggest team need relative to what could be signed is at right tackle.  On his best day David Diehl is now serviceable and on most days he is a liability.  The Giants were materially better with Sean Locklear in the lineup last year.  He was injured last year and is still recovering.  It would have been great if D.J. Fluker was available for the Giants at 19, but he wasn’t.  There was a sizeable drop off to Pugh.  But this was a real need so they took a guy who likely would not have been picked for another 10-15 spots.  That makes it a bad pick, but it was such a hole they didn’t have much choice.  The Giants went for need because OT was a big need.  They may have felt it was too risky not to have a tackle available if they traded down.  Given the need for the team behind them and the fact that a few offensive linemen did go soon after, you can conclude that the Giants did not get great value in the first round but needed to make that pick.  Reese has earned a benefit of the doubt so we will give it to him.

2nd Round

Johnathan Hankins DT - Ohio State

I like this pick.  I don’t think DT is a huge area of need right now but DTs that control the line of scrimmage on runs are very valuable especially for a Giant defense that has been especially porous against the run this was a need.  Additionally with Linval Joseph a free agent at the end of the coming year, this makes sure the Giants are not held over barrel next year, especially since most of the others at the position are on one year deals.  This was an excellent value pick, as some thought he could be a first round talent.  The criticism of his not always working hard is unfair, given that at 320 pounds he was generally on the field for almost the entire game.  The Giants are very good about rotating their linemen and keeping them fresh, ensuring this won’t be an issue. 

Damontre Moore DE – Texas A&M

Moore was considered a potential late first round pick until the combine.  He has a horrible 40 time, which caused his stock to plummet.  However some of his other measurables were actually quite good and more relevant.  When is the last time a lineman had to run 40 yards on a play?  How quick they are over the first 10 years is much more important.  He is young, still 20 years old, so he should grow out of the immaturity he has been accused of.  The guys were highly productive for a big time college team, with one of the highest combined TFL and sacks last year.  DE was absolutely not an area of need, as I am high on some of the backups (Ojomo and Tracey) but you can’t pass up on this kid of value.  That was the same thought process that brought JPP to Y a few years ago.

4th round

Ryan Nassib QB – Syracuse

The Giants actually traded up to get him.  They gave up a 6th round pick to get him.  Time will tell if he ever gets anywhere, but those in the know say it was too good of value to pass up. He clearly does not fit a need, as Reese stated he hopes the guy never plays (given the implication to Manning).  Manning can’t keep the games played streak going forever, so developing a quarterback makes some sense.  I would have still rather seen a good middle linebacker taken but the reality is that most starts don’t come out of the 4th round, and giving up a 6th rounder is really not a big deal. 

5th round

Cooper Taylor S – Richmond

This may be my favorite pick of the draft.  He is a classic tweener.  HE is too big for safety but too small for linebacker.  That is true for all teams other than the Giants.  When the Giant defense was successful it was playing a three safety look on passing downs where one stays in the box for potential runs.  This has become a passing league, so for the same reason Jacquian Williams will be a good linebacker, Cooper Taylor will fit this rare third safety role, once played by Deon Grant very well.  It’s hard to play the 3 safety without this guy.  You saw this last year when Kenny Phillips was injured.  Will Hill, Antrel Rolle and Stevie Brown are all too small to be effective as a quasi-linebacker at the line of scrimmage. 

7th Round

Eric Herman OG – Ohio

I think he actually has a chance to make the team given his size and production in college.  He doesn’t seem very athletic, but a guard on running plays doesn’t necessarily need to be, and the Giants have a very effective line coach who will teach him well.  That being said he was available in the 7th round for a reason. 

7th Round

Michael Cox RB – Massachusetts  

I don’t like this pick.  I assume he will be on the practice squad. I don’t think this was at all a position of need.  Column readers know I’m high on Da’Rel Scott, who I hope takes the 3rd running back role.  So unless he, David Wilson, or Brown get injured, I don’t see him making the 53 man roster. 

The Giants have been criticized for not taking a CB or a linebacker.  MY suspicion is that they would now try to sign Karlos Dansby.  Not too many MLB positions are available and some of those that were, were filled in the draft.  HE will have to lower his asking price significantly but it could happen. 

Regarding cornerback: it’s not clear that cornerbacks taken after the third round could at all be counted on and tackle was a bigger need in the first and they couldn’t pass the value of the second and third round picks.  Additionally, CB was not a bigger need than DT anyway.  Amukamara is solid and taking one year to see if Thomas still had it, if Webster can make a comeback, or if Holsey can develop, makes sense.  If one of those things works out, a later round pick would not have helped this year and they can take a high pick next year or sign a good free agent next year, same thing with linebackers.  I’m actually a Rivers fan if he can stay healthy and a fan of Jacquian Williams.  Paysinger is not a horrible back up and Dan Connor is not very good, but neither was Blackburn.  

The Giants relatively quiet off season continues with rumors of Cruz signing a long term extension. The Giants have offered a little over $7m and Cruz wants over $10m.  He won’t get it.  He is a slot receiver benefitting from the attention Nicks gets on the outside and the excellent quarterback play of Manning.  Most importantly he just has very little negotiating leverage.  He will make under $3m this year and can be franchised for $11m next year.  Ironically this $14m two year total averages to the $7m that he would average if he accepted the Giants offer, but all this with less security.  The memory of Steve Smith’s bad gamble, and the knowledge that Randle is waiting in the wings, further hurt Cruz’ negotiating leverage.  Lastly, the fact that Cruz hired Jay Z tells me that he knows he has commercial viability in New York that he would lose much of in another city.  He can posture all he wants but the Giants do not need to pay him the $7m per year.  If I was the Giants, I would pay no more than $5.5m.

The NFL draft is coming up and with it all the fun speculation about who the Giants may take.  Its impossible to predict who will be available when they fraft at 19 and the Giants claim to take the best player available.  It’s not entirely true.   If a quarterback is the best player available in round 1 they obviously won’t take him.  They tend to have groupings of players they rank at various levels and then within that level will allow need to factor in. 

The Giants biggest needs are at right tackle and linebacker.  However, they could use talent at most positions.  The only positions I’d be surprised to see the m use a number 1 or 2 on is wide receiver and running back.  Despite free agency of Cruz and Nicks, and despite Bradshaw’s departure those are two deep positions.   If good players were there at guard, defensive end or tackle or even cornerback, they would take them.  Rumor has it the Giants don’t take linebackers in the first round.  You never know if that is policy r happenstance.  They did take Clint Stintim with the 40th overall pick a couple of years ago.  That is almost eh first round.  I’m not sure that the fact that he was bust will influence their decision. It actually would not be surprising if they took Manti Teo who will certainly now slip to #19.  There are always players who slip.  Players that all the experts predict to be top 12 often wind up available at 19.  It happened with Prince Amukamara a couple of years back. 

I have to assume that Tuck still being on the Giants is both a thank you for years of service including years that you were underpaid and didn’t complain. He is now overpaid and should no longer be starting in the NFL.  He was blown off the line this past year and this is the second subpar year in a row.  Players don’t come back from back to back poor years.  I will be back if there is any breaking news, but otherwise will post our opinions of the draft. 

The Giants have been relatively quiet in free agency.  They
have signed  a number of non star players to one year contracts.  This
biggest move they have made has been restructuring some of their player
contracts or cutting other over priced players.  They have been very
patient picking up Brandon Meyers as  a replacement for the solid Martellus
Bennett.  Meyers put up good numbers with the Raiders but Oakland message
boards don’t appear to be too upset about his departure.   They call
him  a product of the system and point to the lack of wide receivers. 
He should do ok.  The Giants signed Dan Connor to play MLB.  This is
another non exciting signing.  The guy was a stud at Penn State but has had
a very mediocre pro  career.  However, once again he will be more than
adequate if we are just trying to replace Blackburn.  Collin Jenkins is a
very solid signing.  Canty never lived up to his contract and Jenkins has
some skills.  The Giants still hope that Marvin Austin lives up to his
promise but that has to happen this year before all hope is lost.  
 
Column reader Bob F has been very vocal to me with his strong
opinion on getting Cruz signed.  I could not disagree more.  The guy
is reportedly looking for $10m per year.  He is not that good of a
receiver.  His numbers are misleading.  He is very much the product
of Eli manning and the system.  Until injuries slowed Nicks, has benefitted
from Nicks’ constant double teams and didn’t show he could lead them or catch
the ball when not open as  a number one receiver should.  The
slot receiver in this Giants offense just gets a lot of balls thrown
there.  Steve Smith thrived and never produced again.  If Welker got
$6m per, Cruz should not get more than $5m.  There is only so much you can
spend at receiver and Nicks is the main man and his contract is up next
year.  They should spend the bigger money on him.  The question for
Reese is Cruz that much better then Randle.  Randle flashed as a rookie
and this year will be telling.  There was never a risk that anyone would
sign Cruz while a restricted free agent given the compensation the Giants would
get on top of the contract Cruz would need.  They can have him for less
than $3m this year and have another year to see if Randle can step in.  
 
What needs to be remembered s that every dollar they spend on
Cruz is one dollar less they can spend elsewhere.  That is something not
fully appreciated.  Its not as if the Mara’s and Tisches are putting the
extra money in their pockets.  They are spending it elsewhere.  JPP,
Linval Joseph and Nicks all need to be signed next year and the cap was flar
this year.  There is a salary cap and you can and will spend a certain
amount.  You want to avoid too much deficit spending as this puts teams
into salary cap hell in prior years.  Only Democratic Giant fans would
actually suggest that.  When you look at  a player part of the
analysis needs to be one of relative value,  It’s not just how much is
this guy worth but how much worse is his replacement on the team and how much
are you paying that guy.  That is what got Bradshaw sent out of town
(Brown and Wilson are close to as good with  a much lower salary). 
Canty would have cost double Jenkins who will be as good or better.

Getting Webster to cut his salary was good but he
was signed a day or two before some substantial cornerback cuts around the
league.   You wonder if they would have demanded he go to $3m if they
 knew the other options at the time.  Aaron Ross at the reported minimum
makes sense as a better 4th corner option than they had.  Left guard and right tackle
are still largely unaddressed (unless they know Locklear will be recovered from knee
injury).  Without  a doubt David Diehl will be asked to take  a significant pay cut as
he is not worth the $4m+ and is in the final year of his
contract allowing for a tolerable salary cap hit if cut.

This year in general is very interesting in NFL free agency.  Most didn’t
realize the cap would be flat.  The result was that even after expected
cuts the excess cap room that people had to spend was significantly lower 
than expected and certainly lower than planned for when prior year contracts
were signed leaving a lot of current and near future cap casualties which will
have ramifications.  The Giants, are being patient and may wind up with
some bargains on some very good players.  Stay tuned.

We had predicted in this column throughout the season and its
immediate aftermath that major changes to personnel would be coming.  
We have been fairly accurate in our predictions, thus far.  I see  a few more
major changes still yet to come.  First lets review some of the recent
moves made:

 Cuts:

  Ahmad Bradshaw – I was probably one of the first guys to go out
  and buy this guy’s jersey in his rookie year and wore it to the first Patriot
  Superbowl win.  He had major heart and gave it to the team.  The biggest
  mistake they made with him was not sooner recognizing his talent.  He
  should have been given more touches than Brandon Jacobs and Ward a few years
  back.  However his foot problems caught up to him over the past couple of
  years.  He tended not to practice more than once a week and eventually the
  physical tolls of his running style impacted his abilities.  When he was
  at his best, he was a very special player.  It’s not hard to picture a scenario
  where he could have run for 1400 yards if given the right opportunity at the
  right time in his career.  While he had a good season this past year, he
  is no longer the special player he once was.  Combine that with the
  production showed by Brown and the extraordinary promise shown by David Wilson
  and it made sense not to bring him back at his price, as difficult as that may
  be for fans to accept.  Prior calls made by Reese on Ward and Jacobs
  turned out to be correct ones as well.  Also, don’t forget third string
  back D’arell Scott who will finally show something this year.

 Canty –While a solid player his contract was going to pay him
  well above that.  Additionally, the way the slary cap works and the
  proration of bonuses across the life of contract, the last year or two of his
  contract was always intended to be  a long shot to happen.  The
  Giants like what they saw from Kuhn before he got hurt.  They need Marvin
  Austin to step up .  he showed little so far so that could be a stretch.
  Linval Joseph is their number one player at the position and they did re-sign
  Sean Rodgers.

  Boley- He lost playing time late in the season so this was not a
  surprise given his salary and its being the last year of his contract, when the
  bonus amortization is at its lowest.  The Giants, have a lot of depth at
  this position with no clear substantial difference in talent from top to bottom
  (unfortunately they all seem to be B /B+ types).  Rivers showed some
  promise early on, but cant stay healthy.  Jaquan Williams should be 
  anive contributor and the Giants seem to be higher on Spenser Paysinger than I
  am.  

 A few more coming?

David Diehl will fit into the same category.  He has a year
left at a very high price and he is now mediocre at best.  They may wait to
cut him to see what else they sign so that they have a plan B in case of
emergency but I don’t see him being back without a major reduction in pay and at
a swing / back up role.  Osi is gone.  Tuck should be cut. One bad
year you can chalk up to injury, but two means he is over the hill.  He is
no longer a force either against run or pass and is not cheap.  With the
salary cap you cant be sentimental and you cant overpay for locker room presence
and leadership.  Kiwi should be moved across from JPP as they have enough
linebackers.  Adrian Tracey and Ojomo will round out the rest of the end
rotation.  

Blasphemy – They need to play hardball with Victor Cruz.  He
is a very good receiver, but it should be noted that most teams feared Nicks more
than him and so he got less attention.  Additionally, as you saw in the
Carolina game with Ramses Barden, many times with Hixon and late in the season
with Randle, a very good QB like Manning can make a lot of players look
good.  See what Steve Smith did when he left after catching 107 balls a
year or two earlier.  Cruz is also restricted and the negotiating leverage
lies with the Giants.  He is a good player, but not an elite receiver.  He is just good.
  I’d take a healthy Nicks over him any day.  Nicks you can
throw to when he is not even open.  You can’t do that with Cruz.  If
he went elsewhere he would be a 65 catch 900 yard guy.  He doesn’t deserve
the $10m he is reportedly looking for  I would pay him up to $6.5m. 
would give Nicks more.    They also need to sign Beatty. 
Sign Boothe if you get him very cheap, otherwise he is very replaceable. 
MArtellus Bennet should be re-signed and Kenny Phillips at the right price (he
may come cheap due to recent injury history).   I suspect that Stevie 
Browns flukishly good year could price him out of the Giants range.  He is
not good against the run and even thgouh I like his ball hawking it is too
dangerous to take on a big contract for him  I still have high hopes for
Will Hill at this position.

Cornerback,  is the tricky position.  Without a doubt Webster is
the classic cut guy.  Overpaid, relative to this past years performance and
entering final year of contract.  The problem is they have no one else to
come in and take the spot across from Amukamara.  Holsey, is a nickel back
at best so unless Terrel Thomas has another good recovery from and ACL you need
a better insurance policy.  I suspect they work something out at a lower
number but a game of chicken will ensue.  
 
The reality is more tough decisions are coming. Another reality is
that there is no real instances where a player was let go by the Giants
and starred elsewhere in the recent past.  Reese knows how much they have
left in the tank or how close they are to the next best thing for a much lower
price ion the team. HE needs to be given the benefit of the doubt.  

The Giants left us with mixed emotions yesterday.  They
 played one of their best games of the season in destroying a Philadelphia
 Eagles team that had given up by the score of 42-7.   It left the
 G-Men with a 9-7 record, identical to last year’s regular season and
 potentially with a springboard to go one a great super bowl run again. 
 Minutes later things really looked up when the Lions down by 2 points took
 possession of the ball with a few minutes left in their game.  Fate had
 different plans as after punting and forcing the Bears into a third down, Jay 
 Cutler scrambled for a first down and essentially clinching victory for the
 Bears.   The Giants have no one to blame but themselves as they put
 themselves into postion to need to rely on others.  I ran into a rabid
 Bears fan at around 4:30 PM and he was downright obnoxious.  After that I
 started routing hard for the Vikings who knocked the Bears out a few hours
 later.  It almost made the day okay.

The season was clearly a disappointment.  The Giants had a
quality team but a combination of a very difficult schedule along with less than
inspired play hurt their chances.  They did get old overnight and the
coaching staff did a poor job of recognizing it.  This is especially aimed
at Perry Fewell.  He was still living in 2011 thinking that a 4 man rush
will always get to the quarterback.  Yesterday the Giants blitzed for the
first time in awhile and the extra pressure made all the difference in the
world.  On the offensive side, there want too many adjustments that could
have been made.  David Diehl clearly is now over the hill and that severely
affected line play once Sean Locklear went out.  We will discuss that in
greater detail in our seasons post mortem later this week.  Column favorite
Hakeem Nicks was not healthy most of the year and they should have moved away
from him earlier rather than starting him at 70% effectiveness.  Yesterday,
they didn’t play him much and it was a huge help.  They also should have
turned to David Wilson a bit earlier.  
 
Ahmad Bradshaw had a good game putting him over
the 1,000 yard mark for the season.  Manning missed his 4,000 yard
milestone.  David Wilson got the start and played well averaging 5 yards a
carry, consistent with his season average on his 15 carries.  The ball was
well spread around amongst the receivers and Stevie Brown amazingly had his
8thinterception of the year. Eli had a career high 5 TD passes.
Kenny Phillips played well when in especially against the run.  His health is so
unreliable, but he is still a difference maker for this defense and I hope he is
re-signed this offseason. It may be fortunate that he was so injured this year. 
His market value may be at an all time low allowing the Giants to get him back
for a one year $2-2.5m deal.  Before the season he was probably looking at
 $5-6m per season contract.  

The win yesterday will definitely allow Giant fans to go into the
offseason with a slightly better feeling about the team than the one they had
following the 2 prior weeks horrible losses.  For some of us, it is a large
consolation that we can turn our attention to the New York Knicks who are poised
to make a deep run this year.

The Giants got destroyed for the second week in a row.  The game was never competitive. 
Wherever the Giants who beat the Packers and Niners are, they were not present in Baltimore. 
There was this absurd notion that the 2012 team has anything to do withthe 2011
team and this idea that they get their backs against the walls and then when it’s a must win
they can just turn it on.  Historical comparisons to other teams that happen to have the same
uniform and nickname is ridiculous.  They are different teams.  
 
The Giants are theoretically still in the playoff hunt.  They would need to win and see the
Cowboys, Bears and Vikings all lose. I’m not sure they can beat the Eagles in
Jersey, let alone have hope for all the other things to fall into place.  

Eli seemed off, but the receivers just did not get open enough
(except for Hixon who had a couple of bad calls go against
him).  Hakeem Nicks is clearly not healthy.  You need to hope he comes
back and have a healthy season next year (yes that is correct-we need to start
talking about next year).  The good news is that he and Cruz should both be cheaper
to resign given the recent demise of the offense. 

On defense, Corey Webster was picked on so badly that I dint see
Price Amukamara get into the screen all game.  They felt there was no need to go in
that direction.  At $8m per year he is gone unless he significantly restructures his contract. 
Osi is clearly gone despite his recent attempts to reconcile with the
front office by admitting he should have kept his mouth shut publicly.  Too little too late. 
The front office will be happy to call him out and let him test his open
market value.  He thought he could get a 4 year $28m type of a deal. 
I’d be surprised if he got more than 2 years at $4m per and that may even
be a stretch.  He can’t play the run and is a one trick pony with his upfield outside
pass rush for which he has no counter move.  The organization
should clearly dump Tuck too as he has now been ineffective for 2 years
running.  Witt her depth at linebacker kiwi will move back to end alongside JPP. 
JPP is another story.  He was dominant a year ago.  At some
point offenses started to account for him and double team him. 
Now they can block him one on one and he is ineffective. 
He must have gained weight. Perhaps there is another explanation but
it’s not the game planning.  He has just lost a step. 
Defensive end has decent depth in Tracey and Ojomo. 
Lack of depth at tackle may save Canty from getting cut from his expensive contract.  Ironically,
not cutting Thomas after his second ACL tear may be looking smart when the Corey
Webster situation that will come.  

The biggest area of need is clearly offensive tackle. 
The team’s record with David Diehl starting versus Sean Locklear was
starting.  Diehl and his contract will be gone but I’m not sure Locklear is really the answer either. 
This should be a big free agent signing or first round pick for the Giants. 
 

Given the lack of offensive firepower it is surprising they didn’t give David Wilson more of a shot. 
Bradshaw wasn’t horrible but was clearly slowed by his brace and Wilson has home run potential.  It is
even more surprising that they have not thrown Wilson and screen passes.  This is a guy you need to get into open space.  Giants’ fans have been spoiled.  They are not used to this. 
They would be better off if they were officially eliminated by game time. 
The Jets had the luxury of really seeing what Greg McElroy could do yesterday. 
At least they no know that they have no competent quarterback on their roster and
can go out and get a new one.  The Giants would be better off playing
their young guys to see what they have.  A 4 pm game this Sunday could have allowed that. 
This 6% shot that they have at the playoffs forces them to play their veterans which will hurt them down the road. Lastly, Perry Fewel is the most overrated coach in the league. He completely lacks the ability to make
adjustments to what teams are doing either via scheme or personnel. 
Coughlin deserves some blame but with 2 Superbowl rings, he has earned the benefit of the doubt.
As I can’t imagine anyone would be interested we will not be writing a preview for
the Giants Eagles game next week.

After months of this blog begging Coughlin to give the guy another chance rookie first round pick David Wilson had his coming out party yesterday.  He set all kinds of team and league records, in returning kicks for 224 yards (including a 97 yard TD return) and running for 100 yards on 13 carries for a slightly injured Ahmad Bradshaw.  The 97 yard TD return was immediately following a pick 6 by the Saints, just when you got that bad feeling in your stomach that the game and the season were slipping away.  The play felt much like Cruz’ 99 yard TD against the Jets last year and the Ahmad Bradshaw run against the Bills in 2007.  It seemed like the play that could turn around a season.  Time will tell.

The Giants offense has actually looked alright for a few weeks now, even if it didn’t always show on the scoreboard. 
The defense has looked horrendous.  Last week’s 17 points by the Redskins was a mirage. The defense was much worse than that and a few well times turnovers masked yesterday’s ineptness.  The Giants can’t control the line of scrimmage and can’t stop the other team.  They were fortunate to do it in special team and on offense and to put the Saints in a desperate situation forcing them to take chances that the Giants could capitalize on  This will eventually cost them.  Can you imagine this run defense facing the Vikings in the post season and trying to stop Adrian Peterson?  This could be a 300 yard game.  JPP is not the same player he was a year ago. This can’t all be explained by the extra attention he gets.  He looks like he has put on some weight. He seems  step slower.  In good news, Jacquan Williams finally returned and had a material impact in defensing the pass against Jimmy Graham, the Saints all-world tight end.  He also had a couple of nice pass defenses and is an actual difference maker on the defense.  

The Giants really hurt themselves with the loss to the Redskins.  They now lose just about every tie breaker against the Skins or Cowboys who both had big come from behind victories yesterday.  The Giants have the toughest schedule (although neither the Ravens nor the Falcons look as scary as they once did).  We will have  a preview of the Falcons game later this week.