Sephiroth

All joking aside, how awesome would it be to have a real, NFL-caliber linebacker on the team?

I dunno. The guy is not afraid to dish out the punishment. If you're black, he'll punish you. If you're white, he'll punish you. Hell, he'll punish you if you're a woman; if you're gay, he'll punish you.

Stats-wise, Cruz has had a better start to his career than Smith had. It's certainly debatable.

Another question though... Is this the best group of recievers Eli has ever gotten to work with? Cruz and Nicks are proven commodities, Randle looks ready to step up in a big way, and Murphy looks to be a great downfield burner. EDIT: not to mention that TE we picked up in the offseason.

There are other players like Hakeem Nicks around the league (and even on our team) but there are very few Victor Cruzes. Not many guys can beat double coverage deep to win us a game, stop on a dime and accelerate to full speed in one step, and outjump a corner six inches bigger than him to come down with the ball. People keep comparing Cruz to Welker but a more fair comparison is really Carolina's Stve Smith, and even Smith was never as strong or athletic as Cruz is. As for the other four guys, I say we keep: Randle (heir apparent to Nicks) Collins Murphy (something tells me he'll be here for more than one year) Barden (not because he's wonderful, but because Jerell Jernigan sucks and aside from a kickoff return has literally shown nothing his entire career)

I could only see pics on the iPad and not names but... was Rosie Brown in there? And why no Jumbo Elliot? You watch the second half of that Bills Super Bowl, Elliot is fucking planting Bruce Smith on every play. You could make a case for Chris Snee and Osi Umenyiora as well.... They certainly belonged there more than Droppy and Laxico.

I was listening to the coaches camp news... both Fewell and Coughlin are singling out Adrian Tracy as having some good practices. Brewer got chewed out because Tracy ate his lunch on back to back plays.

I'd be much more alarmed if the fans here were saying, "31st defense? It's cool... we won the Super Bowl two years ago, no reason to get worried." Resting on past accomplishments is the sign of a losing francise. 31st is not acceptable no matter how people try to spin it.

Great read, pdub.

Jerome Bettis, Curtis Martin, Terry Allen... heck, Ottis Anderson. It's actually pretty common. Also, I know that the Giants have been in contact with Vonta Leach's agent. If we have to IR Hynoski I'd love to have that guy come in.

It's really hard to tell the situation with both of them, to be honest. Cruz has been an awesome big-play guy and Nicks had a terrific postseason run two years ago. On the other hand, Cruz came back down to Earth last year and had some horrific drops, and Nicks was hobbled for the entire season. Add onto the fact that Eli seems to make every receiver look better than they really are and things get even more confusing. How did Steve Smith and Mario Manningham do once they left? This year looks to be a measuring stick for both of them, but I think we only keep one. If Randle steps up and we end up having another guy play well, we may not keep either of them.

There was another stat from last year that was something along the lines of "no Giants defense had given up so many points in the past 50 years" that I kept hearing over and over again. We were the 31st ranked defense and as stated, when it was important, these guys didn't deliver. The defense was terrible and embarrassing, and honestly, Fewell's defense has never finished in the top half of the league while he's been with the Giants. I have no idea why: 1. Fewell is still our DC. 2. We didn't take a sniff at either Lovie Smith or Romeo Crennel. Hell, most of us would welcome Spags back with open arms. 3. We refuse to acquire an NFL-caliber linebacker. I've got our defense finishing in the bottom-third of the league again this year.

Not much tread left on either of their tires. I'd stick with Torain for veteran insurance.

I heard an interesting theory where Nicks thinks he's basically being disrespected by the organization, and the guy sort of had a point. From Nicks' point of view, he: 1. Willed them to a Super Bowl 2. Took injections, weeks with the trainer, etc. to play injured last year. The guy really has proven quite a bit to the organization, and from his point of view, they're dragging their feet as to whether or not he's worth it. Not saying I agree with that point of view, but I could kind of see where he's coming from.

Agreed. I also think it should stay invite-only.

Good interview. Nice find, Osi.

I hope he does well, too. He was one tough kid... maybe too much so for his own good.

Connor is always injured. Rivers is always injured. Curry is always injured. Williams is always injured. At some point, our LB corps is going to be Herzlich, Paysinger, and Some Other Guy. Just let that marinate for a little while.

Aside from QB, we certainly have question marks all over the place.

Herzlich will be the starter at some point this season given Connor's injury history.

Cruz is probably busy filming a reality series about Nicks' most recent injury.

It's a win-win. Belichick gets to have somebody run the option at RB. TeBLOW gets to extend his career by another year or two.

How long does it take a player to pick up a cell phone and text "not gonna make it Personal reasons" As I understand it, Coughlin isn't upset they're not there, he's mad that Nicks SAID he'd be there and didn't show up anyway. Coaches have families, lives, recitals, etc. that they give up time for as well with the expectation of certain people participating in these things. I don't blame the coaches and other players for being angry when someone can't pick up a phone to say they're not gonna make it.

Coughlin singled him out the other day as having some good practices.

Sounds like a good guy... but let's get real... he's no Aaron Curry.