Giants News

[HJ]

[kkr]

Comedy ^

[rjw63]

Its not showing now :-(

[rjw63]

[sm]

We were pathetic on the night, at least the QB was.

Oh well, the best team is now out.

[kkr]

Everyone left in the tournament we have beaten for **** sake! Plax really judased us, it just took until the playoffs for the full effect of that to be felt. I'm going to come up with a definitive offseason plan for the Giants when i get a chance, ill be back with it later.

[kkr]

Right here goes. The analysis of this season and what we need to do moving forward.

2008 Defending Super Bowl Champions -

As Champions having the ability to succeed the next season proves to be very difficult and something that rarely happens for a defending Super Bowl champion.

We had it though.

Through 12 weeks we rolled nearly unblemished beating the best the league had to offer and beating them well. We were at this stage of the season, unstoppable.

Then Plax happened. Then we faced the Eagles.

From then on people knew how to play us to limit our game, with us eventually backing into the playoffs having lost 3 of the last 4 and losing to the Eagles again who exposed our offence without the giant WR commanding double teams on the outside.

We had only the fourth RB tandem to combine for 1000 yards on the season each and a dominant O-Line that was considered the best in the league. Now that counts for nothing. We had the fewest turnovers in NFL History. Now that counts for nothing.

A season where we looked set for the repeat was ultimately destroyed by one person and i dont think anyone can argue that the blame must land directly at the feet of Plaxico Burress, not that he will probably care too much because thats Plax. I would also imagine he has more on his plate to deal with now anyway, such as his impending trial which with any luck will see him locked up and gone from football for good. I wouldn't wish him on anyone, except maybe the Cowboys!

Every other obstacle that we faced we overcame. There was the fact that as the defending champs we had a big target on our backs with everyone bringing their A game whenever they played us. There was losing our elite TE because he didn't want to be here anymore, there was losing Strahan to retirement, then Osi to IR for the season and having to move Kiwi around, again. All these distractions and all these obstacles we overcame but then from week one onwards Plaxico decided he was going to shit on our season and **** it up.

Fined repeatedly for missing meetings and treatments, benched for the Seahawks game and first quarter of the Steelers game. Did he show any remorse for his attitude problem, did he ****! Then the culmination of his idiocy was when he shot himself, and that was what broke our season right there. One stupid idiots actions created an obstacle too big for us to overcome and that is why we are now all gutted rather than getting ready for Arizona.

Everyone left in the playoffs we have beaten, and beaten well. We really could have gone all the way again.

The plus points of the season -

Its not all doom and gloom. Dallas were tipped to win the division at the start of the year but that title was won by the Giants as they notched up 12 wins on their way to the #1 seed in the league.

13, unlucky for some but not the Giants as it was the fewest turnovers by any team in league history except for Miami who tied the record a day after the Giants when they finished their season with just 13 also.

5th team ever with 2 1000 yard rushers and only the fourth RB tandem to achieve this milestone.

Eli Manning guided us to the fourth straight post season, with his Brother the only QB capable of matching this achievement. The Giants were also the only team to return to the playoffs out of all of 2007's participants.

All these plus points helped us put up a great fight at defending the crown but ultimately we came short, so back we will come next year for another crack at greatness and im sure we will be able to put up another good effort, Coughlin will accept nothing less.

Coaching Issues -

Head Coach, no problems with another great job and the same to Spags. Killbride i think has to go one way or the other. He might go to the Raiders for the head coaching job, i hope so and i would wish him well because last offseason he called great games, but then he had Plax.

Since Plax has gone he hasn't adjusted and introduced new things or schemed differently and that killed the O as the year came to a close and is inexcusable. His calls are often dodgy also, case in point yesterday, we dont put it in Jacobs hands on 4th and inches despite the fact we did this in the Super Bowl! Then 4th and 2 a run not a pass!? 1st and 5, three consecutive incomplete passes. Sure some of this might be execution but when an offense is missing their big play making receiver and yet has the best o-line in the league put the ball in the hands of the **** monster running back that is averaging 5+ yards a carry even with 8+ in the box!

I don't know who i would hire in his place but i think he needs to move on and hopefully it will be to the Raiders where i hope he has success and i will cheer for him but his inability to adapt and some calls this year, the last few weeks i mean have been farcical!

Spags did a great job all year, especially after losing Stray, Osi and with a LB corps that is vanilla and some average or young safeties. He looks set to leave to become a HC although two vacancies have been filled already and hopefully he will stay. If not i wish him all the best and will root for him and hope that the front office promote either D-line coach Mike Waufell or secondary coach Peter Giunta. My preference would be Waufell.

Roster/Free Agent Analysis -

QB - Fine, Eli will be going into his last season and looking for a new deal which will probably be around $100m.

Carr is a free agent and looked sharp when he played for us, i imagine he will leave and maybe even pick up a starting job somewhere.

Backs - Both Jacobs and Ward are free agents and its highly unlikely we keep both, although id like us to resign Jacobs and then franchise Ward and either keep him or use him as trade bait.

Bradshaw will most likely take Wards place though and then we will see more of Danny Ware who the falcons asked for when we were talking to them about DeAngelo Hall, we said no so he must be good!

Receivers - Big shake up needed here. Hixon will never be a number 1 receiver but what he can be is a very good #2 and i think he has a chance at being just that next year. Smith will return as the slot man and line up all over in different formations to get favourable matchups where he can exploit zones which he does so well.

Toomer is a free agent and as much as i love the GOAT, i think its clear to see that he has slowed greatly and if he doesn't retire then i think we let him go unless he gets a deal around the vet minimum.

The minimum sentence for illegal gun possession is 5 years in New York and i think Plax's trial is in March so hopefully he will be sent down and we can terminate his contract with no cap repercussions. If not, cut the word removed anyway, im sure he has breached the contract anyway so we should be allowed to be rid of him with no cap problems.

That leaves us with Smith, Hixon, Tyree, Moss and Manningham. Moss i think will be cut, e has done nothing in three years since he was drafted so he might be bunged in as trade bait, albeit very cheap trade bait! Manningham needs time to develop although hopefully he can contribute more than his rather unspectacular first season in which he didn't see the field much, even after Plax shot himself.

I don't think Draft is the answer to rebuild the WR corps, i would look at free agents or a trade. TJ Houshmanzadeh is a free agent but i would look t trade for either 100% Braylon Edwards of the Browns or my personal preference Anquan Boldin of the Cards as both are unhappy at their present teams, although that could change for Boldin if the Cards win the Super Bowl, YES THE CARDS STILL HAVE A SHOT AT IT! GO CARDS!

Defensive Line - DT we are set, next year we will have OSI, Tuck and Kiwi unless he moves again! I would personally keep him at DE and then either pick up a cheap free agent or draft someone late 5th onwards who could come in for further depth there. I think Wynn, McDougle and Tolleffson are free agents and they will all go unless Tolleffson comes cheap.

Line backers - Can we get some please! Danny Calrck, solid but not good enough to start for a championship team, same can be said about Chase Blackburn who is for all intents and purposes a special teams stand out. How many times did you hear these guys names called all year? Exactly!

Kehl will be good and Goff we know nothing about but he wont be good enough to start next year. Gerris Wilkinson is broken and poor and Zak DeOssie is just a snapper and special teams player.

This then leaves Antonio Pierce. As much as i love the guy, he is a liability in pass coverage, we need to get someone in to compete with him, or spell him on passing downs. I would go get Karlos Dansby from Arizona(unless he stays), play him as OLB and spell Pierce as the MLB on passing downs. Then use most of our early picks on backers.

D Backs -

Safeties are young and talented but Butler is a free agent. I like him, but unless he comes relatively cheap he will be gone and if that happens then we need to draft another safety and pick up an experienced vet. Id let Sammy Knight go, maybe keep RW as a FS rather than CB.

Two good young CB's who will continue to get better. Dockery might be a free agent and unless he comes cheap he will be gone as Terrell Thomas was getting more involved as the season went on.

With his broken leg Sam Madison will either retire or be cut but i wish him all the best, we might have to look at a cheap free agent CB or draft one also.

Kickers -

Carney will retire, what a sad way for him to end also, should have made both kicks and if he had done that then going into the 4th its a whole different ball game.

Tynes will be back and i reckon Feagles will be also, he did have his best season ever!

Jerry Reese -

If he has another good draft, is smart in free agency both with resigning/cutting players and getting people in then we will be a great team again in 2009!

[leviramsey]

More trouble for Plaxico

The Manhattan DA is probing whether bullets fired in 2005 by men sitting in a pickup truck on loan to Giants receiver Plaxico Burress can be linked to guns recently seized from the Super Bowl star, sources said.

The district attorney's inquiry was spurred by a Post story yesterday that revealed Burress' Chevy Avalanche was seized by cops on the morning of Aug. 20, 2005, after men inside the pickup fired shots when it got stuck behind a garbage truck in The Bronx.

The driver and a passenger fled on foot when a cop car arrived, but officers nabbed the two other passengers. Cops also recovered at least one handgun that was tossed from the vehicle when the patrol car rolled up.

Burress - who later that day played his first home pre-season game for the Giants - weeks afterward told cops he was not in the truck during the shooting. Burress said he had loaned the vehicle to his cousin and was never charged.

Burress, 31, was arrested in November on an illegal-gun charge after accidentally shooting himself in the leg in a Manhattan nightclub. The receiver's .40-caliber pistol was retrieved by cops the next day at his home in Totowa, NJ.

On Dec. 23, authorities raided his home, where they seized a weapons cache that included a 9 mm pistol, a rifle and ammo for three other guns - a .380, a .45 and a .40-caliber.

If Manhattan DA investigators can link ballistics evidence from the 2005 shooting to any of Burress' guns, it could complicate his effort to remain out of jail over the Thanksgiving-weekend nightclub shooting, sources said.

Burress' lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, yesterday said: "I am confident that Mr. Burress had nothing whatsoever to do with the incident in 2005 and nothing about that incident will in any way impact the case that is presently pending against Mr. Burress in Manhattan."

The men arrested in the Bronx shooting - Laval Daniels, 33, and Calvin Ward, 31, who have prior rap sheets - had charges dropped months later.

Daniels served four years on assault and drug charges after stabbing another man in 1998, and has on his rap sheet a 2007 weapons arrest and a 2008 drug bust, records show. Ward has a lengthy rap sheet dating to 1998, including busts for assault, burglary, attempted robbery and drugs.

Meanwhile, a Lebanon, Pa., civil jury yesterday ruled that Burress - after he testified yesterday - owed the Pennsylvania auto dealer who loaned him the Chevy $1,705.38 for damage the pickup incurred while impounded by police after the shooting.

[rjw63]

This guy sounds a total ****

[kkr]

All his past is going to be exposed over the coming months leading up to his trial at the end of March.

[BOF]

All his past is going to be exposed over the coming months leading up to his trial at the end of March.

Oh, so there's more of him.

[kkr]

Well we will find out wont we.

[BOF]

*rubs hands*

[kkr]

Giants Sign Nine Players: The Giants have signed nine players future reserve contracts, meaning the 2009 roster. The players are:

* QB Andre’ Woodson (Giants’ 2008 Practice Squad)

* RB Dwayne Wright (Bills’ 2007 4th Round Draft Pick)

* WR Taye Biddle (Giants’ 2008 Practice Squad)

* WR Micah Rucker (Giants’ 2008 Practice Squad)

* TE Martrez Milner (Giants’ 2008 Practice Squad)

* OL Cliff Louis (Giants’ 2008 Practice Squad)

* OL Mike Fladell (Giants’ 2008 Practice Squad)

* OL Orrin Thompson (Packers’ 2007 Roster and Practice Squad)

* CB Travonti Johnson (Giants’ 2008 Practice Squad)

link

6'6, 4.47 40, 42" vertical, 11.3 broad jump, 20 reps on the bench, i think we have Plax's replacement who we have been hiding and grooming all year ready to unleash on the NFL next season!

[kkr]

Both Spagnuolo and Gilbride Interviewing With Other Teams Today: Both Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and Offensive Coordinator Kevin Gilbride will be interviewing with other teams today regarding head coaching positions. Spagnuolo will be interviewing with the Rams while Gilbride will be interviewing with the Raiders.

From above link also.

Good news as well, free agency starts on my birthday, 27th Feb so that should be fun as the first few hours and day are mental!

[kkr]

Jim Haslett has been informed he will not be the Rams’ head coach in 2009.

He received a call Thursday afternoon from owner Chip Rosenbloom and general manager Billy Devaney.

Haslett declined comment.

There were also indications that the Rams might be making additional “cuts” in their coaching field as they zero in on their next head coach.

link

If that's true it could be bad news what with Spags interviewing with them today. :cry:

[kkr]

[kkr]

New York Giants officially lose assistant OL coach Dave DeGuglielmo to Dolphins

by Mike Garafolo/The Star-Ledger

Friday January 16, 2009, 11:49 AM

I mentioned on Wednesday night Giants assistant OL coach Dave DeGuglielmo had accepted a job as Miami's OL coach. The Dolphins announced the hiring today.

DeGuglielmo is a high-energy guy the Giants' players loved being around. They'd rip on him, he'd rip on them and somewhere in the middle, they'd get some quality work done. The players will surely miss the guy they dubbed "Googs," a member of Tom Coughlin's staff since he joined the Giants in 2004.

"When I had an opportunity to put this staff together, I thought Dave would be a great addition." Coughlin said, "Not only for his ability, his hard work and his work ethic, but also for his sense of humor. He brings with him the Boston accent, and all the fun and the engagement back and forth about being a Bostonian - the Italian North End and the food and all of that.

"He's done an outstanding job here. The fact of the matter is he's worked hard for five years and an opportunity came along. We recognize that everyone wants to be 'the guy' in charge of their position. Dave knew he eventually had to be in charge of a position in order to achieve one of his goals. We're sorry to see him go, but we wish him well in his new assignment."

I'm not sure if the Giants will fill his spot or if they'll let OL coach Pat Flaherty handle everything. Will let you know what I hear.

***

Also, the team added two more players to the '09 roster: DB Steve Cargile, who worked out a few weeks ago when the team signed LB Rich Scanlon, and OL Terrance Pennington, a seventh-round pick of the Bills in 2006.

MG

link

[kkr]

Report: Giants' Steve Spagnuolo new head coach of St. Louis Rams

by Paul Needell/The Star-Ledger

Saturday January 17, 2009, 2:12 PM

We told you to stay tuned. Our man Bernie Miklasz broke it minutes ago for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

A sad day for Giant fans, but good for Spags. He's earned it.

Let the speculation begin on who Tom Coughlin will promote or hire to replace Spags. We've been hearing for quite a while it will be either LB coach Bill Sheridan or DBs coach Peter Giunta.

link

REPORT: SPAGS TO THE RAMS

Posted by Mike Florio on January 17, 2009, 1:54 p.m. EST

At a time when no one seems to know what the Rams will do by way of hiring a new head coach, Bernie Miklasz of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch does.

Miklasz, a veteran of the Rams beat, says that Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo is getting the job.

“Spagnuolo will be the new head coach of the St. Louis Rams,” Miklasz writes. “The Rams and Spagnuolo are currently negotiating the terms of his contract and indications are that we can expect the announcement of the hiring later today.”

There’s no equivocation in the report. Time will tell whether it’s accurate.

link

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[kkr]

Decision made: Spanuolo to be the next Rams’ coach

Posted: Adam Schefter | Adam Schefter | Tags: New York Giants, St. Louis Rams, Steve Spagnuolo

The St. Louis Rams have hired Steve Spagnuolo as their head coach, giving him a four-year, $11.5 million contract.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!