Nobody worries about who wins the preseason games, we all just want to scout the new players and see if they are showing any talent or ability. We take a look at the question marks and see what we can expect from our team in the coming season. This first game was mostly a positive exercise for the Giants with one notable exception.
On the good side, all of the 3 top draft picks looked like dynamic players who will contribute immediately to the team. Wilson looked fast and electric with his cuts. Randle had only two balls thrown to him but he made a great catch on the first one, where he looked back for the ball too late, after it had already been released by QB Carr, but he smoothly adjusted his hands to the flight of the ball and it stuck like Velcro. Hosely made a good punt return (and one muff) but looked very quick in pass coverage. Marvin Austin looked good at DT as did Hendricks, both guiys from last year's practice squad; and Adrian Tracy looked great at DE. Giants have almost an embarrassment of riches along the DL. I don't know how they're going to manage the final roster, because you can't carry 12 DL-men on the final squad. If Hendricks and Tracy continue to impress and if Canty comes back strong from his injury, I would not be surprised if either Rocky Bernard or Shaun Rogers fail to make the team. (That would be ironic, since the Giants desire to sign these two, to stock up on DL-men to protect them against loss of Canty and Austin, is what caused them to lose Ballard to the Patriots.) Canty seems to be progressing very slowly, so I wonder if he will be IR'ed this year, whcih would be a big loss for the defense. Herzlich also played very well at MLB, though it is hard to tell sometimes from the limited camera angles you get at the game.
The one piece of bad news, IMO is Amukamara getting beat in that first drive twice, once for a big gain and once for the TD. He played well in the playoffs and towards the end of the season, so I'm not calling him a bust, but I want to see more from him.
The other piece of bad news fro me is Mitch Petrus - he looks really athletic and seems like a powerful run blocker. But he seems to miss a lot in pass blocking which is a big problem. I am hoping he would improve there and win the job, but he had a couple of whiffs in the Jacksonville game. I hope he can improve there.
I also loved what Martellus Bennet gave the Giants. His blocking was good and his pass catching was excellent. He will be a real plus if he stays healthy.
I am still intrigued by what the Giants might do at RB. Last year the Giants carried on the active roster 4 RBs: Jacobs, Bradshaw, DJ Ware and Da'rel Scott. Andre Brown was on the practice squad and the Giants also carried FB Hynoski and FB/TE Pascoe. If the Giants carry only 4 RBs again this year, it seems like the obvious choices will be: Bradshaw, Ware and Wilson, with one of Brown and Scott being released or put on the practice squad. However, I beg to differ with this strategy. DJ Ware, Bradshaw and Wilson are all too similar in style. It's true that Ware is a little bigger, but he is not a power runner. He is smooth and comes out of the backfield well as receiver and 3rd down back. But this is a role I see Wilson filling and if the Giants want to add a little power to their RB mix, I would think about keeping Andre Brown instead. Ware has a little bit of a resume and some team might be willing to give a low round draft choice for him, but if not, the team might release Ware and carry Bradshaw, Wilson, Scott and Brown as the RB group. It's a little too early to figure out the roster moves, but this could be a really interesting area.
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