Who would have thought that an injury to a RB who was probably not going to make the team until someone ahead of him on the depth chart got injured would be such big, hand wringing news to the Giants and their nervous, hyper fan base. Of course, we can all understand why - we're not trying to treat Da'Rel Scott like he's the second coming of Adrian Peterson, but in a backfield that was thin coming into the season with only 3 it does give us cause for concern. And it's not only that it was thin, it was painfully short on experience and PROVEN performance. Michael Cox is a rookie who was so impressive in college that he left Michigan because of lack of playing time, went to that football powerhouse U Mass, barely played there and was an drafted by the Giants on a whim in the 7th round. Wilson, though he seems to have a world of talent is a 2nd year player who showed flashes of brilliant ability last year, but surely does not have a track record of success. And he has that little fumbling "issue" that sure makes everyone jumpy. Scott is actually the senior member of this group entering his 3rd year, though most of one of those years was spent on IR and the other year he didn't get a lot of carries. So with that thin depth chart, you can understand why this may be a big loss. Giants did sign Brandon Jacobs, but he carried the ball 2 times all of last year and was not pursued by any team as a FA this off season, so we're not sure how much tread is left on his tires. Here's a hypothetical for you: David Wilson starts Sunday and fumbles the ball on his 3rd carry. What do the Giants do?
You've got to feel sorry for Da'Rel Scott. If Andre Brown had not been injured, he probably would have been cut and it is unlikely any other team would have given him a call. Nobody likes to prosper through the pain and suffering of others, but when Brown got injured, it was Scott's chance to show the league that he is a NFL caliber RB. He acquitted himself fairly well against the Cowboys, showed some speed and ability. Of course he did make that one rookie mistake that sort of cost the team the game, but we'll overlook that for now. Now if he's injured and can't go for a few weeks (or worse) the window of opportunity for him that was ever so slightly opened gets shut firmly.
The news that might be a comfort to the Giants and keep them from hitting the valium too hard is that there are lots of decent RBs that are sitting on the sideline looking for a chance and the Giants had several of them in last few weeks to have a look-see.
The injury to Dan Connor is also interesting. I know you're tired of hearing me say this, but Jacquian Williams is by far the most athletic LB on the team. Rivers is also pretty quick, but not like Williams. Herzlich is still a project at MLB, especially covering TEs in his zone. I'm not giving up on him yet, but he got handled by Witten last week. I would keep JW on the field much more against the pass-happy Broncos and let Herzlich be a backup, or limit his pass cover responsibilities. The others haven't really played MLB, but Giants will have to manage.
Wednesday, September 11, 2013
Jones should shut the f up
Consider: suppose John Mara walks in front of TV cameras and microphones, and announces that Jerry Jones has been violating the salary cap rules by paying Tony Romo cash under the table in direct violation of the Collective Bargaining Agreement. Furthermore, he charges that Jones has been employing Romo's wife in a no-show job as assistant choreographer for the Dallas Cowgirl cheerleaders. Mara demands that the Cowboys be penalized for their evasion of the salary cap rules with a heavy fine and the loss of draft choices in the next draft. Jones has cheated the system, asserts Mara and he should not get off free.
John Mara is a serious, well respected owner, carrying a lot of sway with his colleagues and with the league. Of course the league would listen to these serious allegations and would investigate appropriately. They would ask for records, evidence, bank accounts, deposits, etc. Unfortunately, it turns out that Mara was just yanking Jerry's chain and had manufactured these charges just because they seemed likely. What would the NFL then do? No doubt, they would go to Mara and reprimand him severely. They would hit him with a large fine and warn him that if he did this again, the penalties would be even more severe, up to and including suspension, cash and loss of draft choices for HIS New York Giants team. After all, the NFL brand is important and it survives on its integrity. Making false allegations about a team cheating and violating that integrity of the game, whether on the field or off the field is no laughing matter. We saw how hard the NFL came down on Bellichick and the Patriots with the illegal videoing practices. They take cheating very, very seriously. In the future, Goodell tells Mara, if you have a suspicion like this, bring it to the league privately; do not besmirch the character and integrity of another NFL team publicly.
Now let's consider what Jerry Jones did Sunday night. He accused the Giants of faking injuries to slow down the powerful Cowboys offense. (That's the fearful Cowboys offense that produced all of 330 yards of offense and 13 points that came without the benefit of turnovers.) Jones was referring to Dan Connor and Cullen Jenkins. Connor had a burner, a potentially serious neurological injury, and he never returned to the game. Jenkins left for a few plays, cleared his head and came back in. The NFL knows that Jones is a serious owner and, just like in the hypothetical case above, investigated Jones' charges. The league immediately said that there is no basis for accusation of the Giants.
In my hypothetical case above, one team accused the other team of cheating and was seriously reprimanded for it. Why, in the real case, when Jones actually did accuse the Giants of lack of integrity and cheating, should Jones not be fined. He can't just say whatever he wants. I get that the first amendment protects free speech, and he should not be thrown in jail. But in a private club or association, like the NFL, there is some tacit requirement to act responsibly and not accuse another member of improper behavior. The NFL should not just let this stand. And Jerry Jones should shut the f up.
John Mara is a serious, well respected owner, carrying a lot of sway with his colleagues and with the league. Of course the league would listen to these serious allegations and would investigate appropriately. They would ask for records, evidence, bank accounts, deposits, etc. Unfortunately, it turns out that Mara was just yanking Jerry's chain and had manufactured these charges just because they seemed likely. What would the NFL then do? No doubt, they would go to Mara and reprimand him severely. They would hit him with a large fine and warn him that if he did this again, the penalties would be even more severe, up to and including suspension, cash and loss of draft choices for HIS New York Giants team. After all, the NFL brand is important and it survives on its integrity. Making false allegations about a team cheating and violating that integrity of the game, whether on the field or off the field is no laughing matter. We saw how hard the NFL came down on Bellichick and the Patriots with the illegal videoing practices. They take cheating very, very seriously. In the future, Goodell tells Mara, if you have a suspicion like this, bring it to the league privately; do not besmirch the character and integrity of another NFL team publicly.
Now let's consider what Jerry Jones did Sunday night. He accused the Giants of faking injuries to slow down the powerful Cowboys offense. (That's the fearful Cowboys offense that produced all of 330 yards of offense and 13 points that came without the benefit of turnovers.) Jones was referring to Dan Connor and Cullen Jenkins. Connor had a burner, a potentially serious neurological injury, and he never returned to the game. Jenkins left for a few plays, cleared his head and came back in. The NFL knows that Jones is a serious owner and, just like in the hypothetical case above, investigated Jones' charges. The league immediately said that there is no basis for accusation of the Giants.
In my hypothetical case above, one team accused the other team of cheating and was seriously reprimanded for it. Why, in the real case, when Jones actually did accuse the Giants of lack of integrity and cheating, should Jones not be fined. He can't just say whatever he wants. I get that the first amendment protects free speech, and he should not be thrown in jail. But in a private club or association, like the NFL, there is some tacit requirement to act responsibly and not accuse another member of improper behavior. The NFL should not just let this stand. And Jerry Jones should shut the f up.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
You can't go home again
Or can you. I am somewhat surprised that the Giants brought back Brandon Jacobs instead of McGahee as a big RB, tutor and backup for David Wilson. I thought the reason that the Giants let him go a year ago was only partly for on the field football reasons. They were getting a little tired of his act and his presence in the locker room. I guess now that positives outweigh the negatives. There is no salary cap issue now - Jacobs is desperate and Giants can dictate the terms. Jacobs won't be pouting looking for playing time and carries. He's here to be a short yardage back, to take Wilson under his wing, to be a blocker in the backfield for Eli and to generally be a good citizen in the locker room. I guess he can do that. He doesn't need to learn the offense, the playbook and will fit in immediately as a personality on the team, so it's worth a try. If it doesn't work out, Giants are able to cut him and in 7 more weeks Andre Brown is back. Still, I'm a little surprised.
Roster Moves
I know that the roster was set coming out of camp, but it seems likely that the Giants will sign a RB now. In my last post talking about the roster, I put in a small paragraph about the tenuous nature of life in the NFL. Ojomo was elevated to the roster and made the final 53; he was probably thrilled that he finally made it to the big show. I speculated that he made the team mostly because the Giants were unsure about the physical status of JPP and Damontre Moore, because 6 DEs on the roster is way too many. While JPP was not dominant against the Cowboys and still does not have his mojo back, he was on the field for 50 snaps and therefore seems past his physical problems. Secondly, Moore's shoulder seems to be healing and he is getting close to being ready to play. Consequently, the Giants are overloaded now at DE, and they made the predictable move of waiving Ojomo. I think he is still practice squad eligible because he does not yet have a full year of accrued NFL experience. We'll see if the Giants keep him and sign him to the practice squad.
It will be interesting to see which RB the Giants bring in. Old Giant Brandon Jacobs and Williss McGahee are reported to be under consideration. Giants will look for a big RB for short yardage and improved 3rd down pass blocking. Jacobs was not particularly good at that when he played for the Giants, even though he has the size to do it. Interesting decision.
It will be interesting to see which RB the Giants bring in. Old Giant Brandon Jacobs and Williss McGahee are reported to be under consideration. Giants will look for a big RB for short yardage and improved 3rd down pass blocking. Jacobs was not particularly good at that when he played for the Giants, even though he has the size to do it. Interesting decision.
Cowboys game review
When it's a night game and when the Giants lose like they did Sunday night against a hated rival like the Cowboys, it takes me a day to decompress before writing something in the heat of the moment that I might otherwise regret the next day. (Sir, please move away from the keyboard.) For this game, it is definitely the case. It was such a disheartening loss; a game that despite giving up the ball on those first 5 turnovers and being down by 17 points at one juncture late in the 3rd quarter and being down 13 points in the 4th quarter, Giants were in a position to win with 2 minutes left in the game. In fact, I expected them to win at that time. Eli was red hot, had the offense moving, having thrown for about 340 yards until that point in the game, 205 of them coming in those first 25 minutes of the second half. It's more than that - the offense looked unstoppable. It's not just that they were moving the ball, it's that every play seemed to work. Eli had to throw accurately, but it just looked too easy - Cowboys were not stopping many plays, they were all working. Then came the last turnover, which was nobody's fault and everybody's fault. The Cowboys DE cut inside quickly and the Giants RT did not pick him up perfectly. Da'Rel Scott didn't read what to do because of the move of the Cowboys defensive player and did not do his assignment perfectly. Eli threw the ball expecting the RB to be in the right spot, but he didn't look to see if he was in the right position and tuned around ready to catch the ball. Having said all that, it was still an incredibly unlucky play for the Giants. Often tipped passes are intercepted when they are popped up in the air. But the passes we are talking about are the ones that are thrown into traffic or NEAR traffic, in the middle of the field or in the area where DBs are hanging out. We are all familiar with the tip drill that every team runs: that is balls thrown down the field and tipped up in the air 15 yards down the field. Stevie Brown made a living off of those plays last year. But this pass was a little dump off to the RB. If the execution was faulty, the most likely result should have been an incomplete pass, since no defender was nearby. It was extremely unlikely for the ball to be tipped up and propelled some 15 yards toward the sideline for an easy INT.
In fact, while I am not excusing the Giants sloppy play and they have nobody to blame but themselves for the turnovers, you have to admit that they were unlucky with some of these. (Definition of unlucky is something that has low probability of occurring.) Generally, the recovery of fumbles is considered to be purely a random event. Forcing the fumble requires some skill, but recovering it depends on where an oblong ball bounces and where players happen to be situated. There were 5 fumbles, 3 by the Giants and 2 by the Cowboys, as well as one loose ball lying on the ground after the Giants last desperation on side kick. That's 6 balls that should have been randomly available for recovery and the Cowboys got all 6. Add in the tipped ball and unlucky situation on the Da'Rel Scott pass and you have a perfect storm of unlikely events that doomed the Giants. If instead of 6 turnovers, the Giants had only 5, they would have won.
Areas of improvement: OL was spotty, but not as bad as I thought while watching the game live. Pugh and Beatty were both good, but both, especially Pugh, had some misses and have some room for improvement. The thing that is encouraging is that when he handled his man, he completely dominated him and controlled him. Beatty played well and mostly kept Ware at bay. The interior of the OL is the area that needs the most work. They had great trouble making any room, getting any push for the running game. Their pass blocking was average and it did get better as the game went along. The worry is that Cowboys DL is not that good and if the OL can't dominate them, it could be a season long worry.
The highlight for the game is of course the passing game. Eli was great, notwithstanding his 3 picks. Randle continues to impress and Nicks looked as good as he has since the beginning of last year before his injury. Cruz is dangerous when Nicks is on the field attracting attention from the defense and he will be absolutely lethal when Randle and Nicks are both on the field. Giants have to fix Wilson's fumbling issues; they have to solidify and stabilize the interior of the OL and if they do, their offense can be dangerous.
The defense was very good, though certainly not dominant. The strategy was to keep all the Cowboy WRs in front of them and not give up anything deep. They gave a little cushion in front, played a mix of pure zone and man underneath with zone deep and it worked pretty well. The DBs batted away some balls, did not let anything get deep behind them (which was a big problem last year) and most of all tackled really well. There were very little yards after catch for the Cowboys. Romo threw for 260 yards, but the most important statistic that indicates success in the passing game is yards per attempt; Romo's numbers were around 5.3 yards per attempt, which is a very weak number. By contrast, Eli's YPA was 10.5 yards. Cowboys scored 36 points - 13 on turnovers returned for scores (missed 2 point conversion on one of them), and 10 more on short fields produced by other turnovers. So the Giants allowed only 13 legitimate points to the Cowboys and only 330 yards of offense. Not a bad result. The Giants pass rush was not consistent enough, but the hope is that as JPP rounds into form and Damontre Moore comes onto the field, the pass rush will return.
The LBs were OK, and I am not even killing Herzlich for getting beat by Witten. He is a great TE and Herzlich will learn how to handle the little push that he made to get free right before the catch. I don't understand the reluctance to play J Williams. He is the most athletic LB on the team and can cover TEs better than anyone else in that group. Paysinger and Rivers also played well.
So ---- after all that ----- with the ugly turnovers and the OL play that needs improvement, I am less discouraged about the game than I was Sunday night at midnight. I saw enough good things that the Giants can build on to have a good season.
In fact, while I am not excusing the Giants sloppy play and they have nobody to blame but themselves for the turnovers, you have to admit that they were unlucky with some of these. (Definition of unlucky is something that has low probability of occurring.) Generally, the recovery of fumbles is considered to be purely a random event. Forcing the fumble requires some skill, but recovering it depends on where an oblong ball bounces and where players happen to be situated. There were 5 fumbles, 3 by the Giants and 2 by the Cowboys, as well as one loose ball lying on the ground after the Giants last desperation on side kick. That's 6 balls that should have been randomly available for recovery and the Cowboys got all 6. Add in the tipped ball and unlucky situation on the Da'Rel Scott pass and you have a perfect storm of unlikely events that doomed the Giants. If instead of 6 turnovers, the Giants had only 5, they would have won.
Areas of improvement: OL was spotty, but not as bad as I thought while watching the game live. Pugh and Beatty were both good, but both, especially Pugh, had some misses and have some room for improvement. The thing that is encouraging is that when he handled his man, he completely dominated him and controlled him. Beatty played well and mostly kept Ware at bay. The interior of the OL is the area that needs the most work. They had great trouble making any room, getting any push for the running game. Their pass blocking was average and it did get better as the game went along. The worry is that Cowboys DL is not that good and if the OL can't dominate them, it could be a season long worry.
The highlight for the game is of course the passing game. Eli was great, notwithstanding his 3 picks. Randle continues to impress and Nicks looked as good as he has since the beginning of last year before his injury. Cruz is dangerous when Nicks is on the field attracting attention from the defense and he will be absolutely lethal when Randle and Nicks are both on the field. Giants have to fix Wilson's fumbling issues; they have to solidify and stabilize the interior of the OL and if they do, their offense can be dangerous.
The defense was very good, though certainly not dominant. The strategy was to keep all the Cowboy WRs in front of them and not give up anything deep. They gave a little cushion in front, played a mix of pure zone and man underneath with zone deep and it worked pretty well. The DBs batted away some balls, did not let anything get deep behind them (which was a big problem last year) and most of all tackled really well. There were very little yards after catch for the Cowboys. Romo threw for 260 yards, but the most important statistic that indicates success in the passing game is yards per attempt; Romo's numbers were around 5.3 yards per attempt, which is a very weak number. By contrast, Eli's YPA was 10.5 yards. Cowboys scored 36 points - 13 on turnovers returned for scores (missed 2 point conversion on one of them), and 10 more on short fields produced by other turnovers. So the Giants allowed only 13 legitimate points to the Cowboys and only 330 yards of offense. Not a bad result. The Giants pass rush was not consistent enough, but the hope is that as JPP rounds into form and Damontre Moore comes onto the field, the pass rush will return.
The LBs were OK, and I am not even killing Herzlich for getting beat by Witten. He is a great TE and Herzlich will learn how to handle the little push that he made to get free right before the catch. I don't understand the reluctance to play J Williams. He is the most athletic LB on the team and can cover TEs better than anyone else in that group. Paysinger and Rivers also played well.
So ---- after all that ----- with the ugly turnovers and the OL play that needs improvement, I am less discouraged about the game than I was Sunday night at midnight. I saw enough good things that the Giants can build on to have a good season.
Wednesday, September 4, 2013
More Roster Stuff
Only one claim off the Giants cut list - Cowboys claimed Bosworth. I had a feeling that if Andre Brown went onto the recallable IR, Giants might have brought back Bosworth, but of course that theoretical plan is moot. Bosworth had to be cut several days before Brown could be moved to recallable IR and by then, Cowboys claimed him. He is a good special teams player, an area Cowboys needed help with. I am sure Cowboys want to pry information out of Bosworth on the Giants defensive playbook going into the opener. I am not sure how much it will help, but at the very least, Giants have to change their line calls, audibles and maybe their hand signals on defense so as not to give away what they are doing.
Giants have had some OL-men in from other teams and signed a S to the practice squad. They are also testing out some RBs, Beanie Wells and Leon Washington among them. I don't think the Giants will sign any of them in the short term. Giants will probably try to wait for Andre Brown to come off the IR after game 8, and go with the 3 RBs on their roster. If it looks too thin and if it's not working, or if one of the RBs gets hurt, they can bring in one of these RBs. Also, if they bring in a veteran for week one, his contract is guaranteed, but if they wait, it's not guaranteed. There are also a lot of solid, proven RBs sitting on the sideline in case the Giants need some immediate help. Two that come to mind are Michael Turner and Ryan Grant. Brandon Jacobs is out there too, but I doubt Giants would look to him for help.
With Brown going on recallable IR, he doesn't count on the 53 man roster, so Giants added Adewele Ojomo to fill his roster spot, signing him off of their own practice squad. It was a very interesting move and I think it reveals a few things about the Giants defensive strategy and perhaps something of their injured players. First, after releasing Bosworth, you would think that they would want to add another LB, especially with the injury history of some of the 5 LBs that are now on the roster - Rivers has been nicked up from time to time throughout his career and Williams is coming off a knee injury last year. This strongly indicates what their strategy is: bring in lots of big bodies at DT and strong players at DE and if they dominate the opposing OL you don't need LT or Carl Banks playing LB. Instead you keep a bunch of almost interchangeable athletic, smart LBs that can run to the hole but don't need to be powerful to shed blocks, because the DL is not letting the OL get to that second level. It also may indicate that they don't think JPP and Moore will be ready week one, but may take a few weeks to get ready. That makes the deep DE rotation a bit thinner, so adding Ojomo makes some sense. Parenthetically, I think the Giants might want to try S Cooper Taylor at the S/ LB hybrid that they've used in the past - he's fast and strong enough to tackle.
It is a tenuous existence for Ojomo, however. On the one hand, he must be thrilled that he finally made it off the practice squad and onto an NFL roster. On the other hand, if the Giants need some help at another position because of injury or poor play, he will probably be the first to go. If I read the practice squad rules eligibility right, he can go back to the practice squad, but only if he has not accrued one year of service in the NFL. That one year of service occurs after game 8. So if he lasts through game 9 and then gets cut, he will be a FA and will not be practice squad eligible. Of course by then, his NFL performance will be on film and there may be a sufficient body of work for some NFL team to sign him.
Giants have had some OL-men in from other teams and signed a S to the practice squad. They are also testing out some RBs, Beanie Wells and Leon Washington among them. I don't think the Giants will sign any of them in the short term. Giants will probably try to wait for Andre Brown to come off the IR after game 8, and go with the 3 RBs on their roster. If it looks too thin and if it's not working, or if one of the RBs gets hurt, they can bring in one of these RBs. Also, if they bring in a veteran for week one, his contract is guaranteed, but if they wait, it's not guaranteed. There are also a lot of solid, proven RBs sitting on the sideline in case the Giants need some immediate help. Two that come to mind are Michael Turner and Ryan Grant. Brandon Jacobs is out there too, but I doubt Giants would look to him for help.
With Brown going on recallable IR, he doesn't count on the 53 man roster, so Giants added Adewele Ojomo to fill his roster spot, signing him off of their own practice squad. It was a very interesting move and I think it reveals a few things about the Giants defensive strategy and perhaps something of their injured players. First, after releasing Bosworth, you would think that they would want to add another LB, especially with the injury history of some of the 5 LBs that are now on the roster - Rivers has been nicked up from time to time throughout his career and Williams is coming off a knee injury last year. This strongly indicates what their strategy is: bring in lots of big bodies at DT and strong players at DE and if they dominate the opposing OL you don't need LT or Carl Banks playing LB. Instead you keep a bunch of almost interchangeable athletic, smart LBs that can run to the hole but don't need to be powerful to shed blocks, because the DL is not letting the OL get to that second level. It also may indicate that they don't think JPP and Moore will be ready week one, but may take a few weeks to get ready. That makes the deep DE rotation a bit thinner, so adding Ojomo makes some sense. Parenthetically, I think the Giants might want to try S Cooper Taylor at the S/ LB hybrid that they've used in the past - he's fast and strong enough to tackle.
It is a tenuous existence for Ojomo, however. On the one hand, he must be thrilled that he finally made it off the practice squad and onto an NFL roster. On the other hand, if the Giants need some help at another position because of injury or poor play, he will probably be the first to go. If I read the practice squad rules eligibility right, he can go back to the practice squad, but only if he has not accrued one year of service in the NFL. That one year of service occurs after game 8. So if he lasts through game 9 and then gets cut, he will be a FA and will not be practice squad eligible. Of course by then, his NFL performance will be on film and there may be a sufficient body of work for some NFL team to sign him.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Final Roster
Interesting roster cuts by the Giants mostly consistent with what we saw in the preseason and much of what I forecast in my recent post predicting the final roster. The surprising moves were the cutting of backup QB David Carr and Curtis painter beating him out to hold the clipboard for Eli. The fact that Nassib made the team as 3rd QB and has speed, contributed in a minor way to Carr's demise. Giants liked to keep a speedy player at QB to run the scout team and simulate all the running QBs in the league now. Carr was very athletic and could do that. But so is Nassib and the fact that he could play in that role allowed the Giants to take Painter who outplayed Carr in the summer.
Giants did something very interesting on the front 7 on defense. Generally the Giants would carry 6 LB and 9 DL-men. Instead, Trattou showed them so much and was so productive this camp that he absolutely demanded a roster spot. They decided to keep him and carry only 5 LBs, with Bosworth the last cut. Trattou also beat out Tracy at DE because Tracy seems to be more of a one dimensional pass rusher while Trattou looked solid against the run also. With Damontre Moore on the roster as probably a pure pass rusher, they went for some bulk at DE. On the DL, Patterson beat out Marvin Austin and it takes a lot for any team, especially the Giants to cut a 2nd round draft choice. But Austin was all potential and no performance. He showed a few flashes in a few games, but Patterson looked simply great when he played and flat beat Austin out of a spot. My guess is that someone will pick up Austin. He has too much natural talent that some team out there will want to take a flyer on him. If Hankins had not showed the Giants that he was a keeper and that he had huge potential, they might have wanted to keep Austin so they have some youth on the team at the DT position. But with Hankins, Linval Jospeh and Cullen Jenkin signed for 3 years, they probably felt that they could let Austin go.
Barden just didn't show enough during camp and was hurt, so he got cut. Giants are going with only 5 WRs, and with Nicks history and current Cruz injury that seems a little risky. To balance that, Giants are carrying an extra TE. In addition to Myers, Pascoe and Robinson, Larry Donnell made the team. Both Pascoe and Donnell spent time lining up in the backfield as FB, so they provide backup for Hynoski.
At CB, Giants are carrying an extra CB, as I guessed they might and are carrying only 3 safeties. Terrell Thomas made the team, but in a move that surprised me, they kept Truman McBride instead of James. I liked James better. McBride is more experienced at CB, but James is really fast and athletic. I can see James filling in as a S in case of emergency better than McBride could. Giants, I guess got fed up with Will Hill and cut him as well as cutting Tyler Sash, who simply wasn't athletic enough. Cooper Taylor made the team as a backup S and they have to coach him up pretty quick, because he looked very raw and not ready to play in the regular defense in that last preseason game that he played.
In a mild surprise, Cordle made the team as a backup C, but I don't think his roster spot is all that secure. If an OL-man comes available from another team's roster cuts, I believe Giants would consider upgrading. Giants are carrying 9 OL-men.
In a mild surprise, Cordle made the team as a backup C, but I don't think his roster spot is all that secure. If an OL-man comes available from another team's roster cuts, I believe Giants would consider upgrading. Giants are carrying 9 OL-men.
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