Post by plax on Sept 30, 2013 16:00:09 GMT -5
The New York Giants have been one of the most stable franchises in the NFL throughout its history. Under Tom Coughlin, the Giants have never ended with a record under .500 after Coughlin's first year there with the team. The Giants, under Coughlin, have never have been worse than 5-3 at the midway point in the season.
Well, one has already been broken, and the other is in serious jeopardy. The Giants are 0-4, sitting at the bottom of the NFC East, and sitting at the bottom of the league with some other surprises, such as Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay.
During this past offseason, GM Jerry Reese told everyone "the games are won in the trenches", and went out and picked up numerous players. Their first three picks in the 2013 draft were all trench players, Justin Pugh, Jonathan Hankins, and Damontre Moore. Also picked up in FA was Cullen Jenkins and Mike Patterson, not to mention the return of Shaun Rogers from injury. However, the Giants have lost in the trenches every game, and it has showed on the standings.
Kevin Gilbride is possibly the most predictable OC in the league today. Former Giants LB Chase Blackburn, who now plays for Carolina, stated that he gave his team info on formations and such, and as shown, it worked, and the Giants got romped and did not even record a point. Ron Jaworski has also noticed, and stated that KG has his guys in the same 3 or 4 formations throughout most of the game, and they run many of the same plays week in and week out. This has caused a lot of hurt on Eli Manning. Not only is the Offensive Line a wreck, but teams know what to expect with the plays, and it is hurting. The best offense the Giants have had this year were 2-minute drills, where Eli calls his own plays about what he sees.
Not only is Gilbride's scheme boring and dated, but it is complicated with numerous late-developing routes, which, tied in with the two issues above, spells even more trouble for Eli Manning.
On defense, Perry Fewell and his boys have tried their best, but Fewell does not run a lot of good plays. Like Gilbride, he runs a lot of the same looks throughout the games.
As a team, the Giants have become embarrassingly predictable, and it has shown. The Giants are consistently getting romped in their games.
However, there are some things that have to be looked at, particularly at the rest of the division. Dallas leads with a 2-2 record, and the Skins and Eagles are both 1-3. So the Giants, through 4 weeks, are only 2 games back. Dallas has shown to be the team they were the past couple of years - capable, but they blow it. Washington has no defense, and they have seemed to completely abandon the option, which may showcase that Griffin is STILL hurt. And Philly is literally "defenseless", as Stephen A. Smith called it. The Giants have their own problems, as stated above, but it is definitely not a stretch to think they can get back in this thing. Here is the Giants remaining schedule for the 2013 season:
WK5 - vs Philadelphia
WK6 - @ Chicago
WK7 - vs Minnesota
WK8 - @ Philadelphia
WK9 - BYE
WK10 - vs Oakland
WK11 - vs Green Bay
WK12 - vs Dallas
WK13 - @ Washington
WK14 - @ San Diego
WK15 - vs Seattle
WK16 - @ Detroit
WK17 - vs Washington
It is very possible that an 8-8 record can win the division, and to accomplish that, the Giants must win 2 out of every 3 games on the remaining schedule. The Giants have only played one division game thus far, so if they can get through 4 or so division games, they are looking good in that department. Minnesota has had their share of troubles, as has Oakland. The Giants have had Green Bay's number the past couple of years, as well.
So, how do you think the Giants fare against the rest of their schedule throughout the season? Post your comments below.
My opinion:
I think we get a win vs Philadelphia next week, but will lose to Chicago on s short week. Then we will beat Minnesota, and lose to Philly heading into the bye week. Coming out of the bye, I see a win vs Oakland, but a loss vs Green Bay. Do not see Dallas sweeping us, so I see us beating them, but then lose to Washington the next week. Not sure about San Diego, but I will say that we get out of there with a comeback win. Seattle, though not at home, should have their way with us. Cannot see us stopping Bush, so a loss with DET, and we win the season ending game at home against Washington.
So as I currently have it, we will end 6-10. I think our ceiling is in fact 8-8, but the floor I would say is 4-12.
Now, into the offseason.
If the Giants go 6-10, it will almost certainly be a wake-up call and changes WILL happen. Coughlin will not be fired, and he will go whenever he wants to. Will he retire at the end of the year? No one knows, but I assume he wants to get a couple more years in. Giants fans everywhere will be hoping for the departure of Kevin Gilbride and his severely outdated scheme, as well as Perry Fewell, who has just not been the guy the Giants wanted. We can also see the ST coordinator be sent packing as well. I am not sure who is going to be out there, but new guys should help us breathe new life into the team.
If there was a time to start new, this is actually a very convenient year. It is sad to see, but staples of the Giants for several years, such as David Diehl, and Justin Tuck, are on their contract years, and are not worth the money they are making now (Diehl did take a paycut to the veteran minimum, however). Tuck is making over 6mil this year, and is only worth about the veteran minimum. Other Giants such as Corey Webster, Chris Snee, and Antrel Rolle, are making fortunes (Webster is making 5+ this year and 2.5+ next year, Snee is making 6+ this year, and has a 10mil player option, apparently, and Rolle is making 9mil this year and 9mil next year). The Giants have stayed loyal to their contributors, but if they can no longer contribute, they shouldn't be here or making the money they are. The same goes for David Baas, who has been bad for the Giants, and is making way too much.
The Giants also have a lot of questions with some of their budding stars. Jason Pierre-Paul, Hakeem Nicks, Linval Joseph, and Prince Amukamara are the notable players who will be wanting to get paid over the course of the next year and a half. And with the Giants up against the cap as it is already, changes must happen to open up the "new era", if you will.
Here are a list of the guys that the Giants should roll with going forward:
QB Eli Manning - he has not been that great this year, but he is still the unquestionable leader of the team. Some will say he needs a paycut, as he is currently slated to make 20mil this year and next, but we are in that situation because he HAS been taking paycuts the past 3 years to net the Giants more cap space. Now they must live with it.
RB David Wilson - he has gotten a lot of heat, and it is unwarranted. No one can run behind the current offensive line, and Wilson being small does not help the case at all as he cannot even use his speed to get him to the second level. He can be big time for the Giants.
WR Victor Cruz - wow. Thanks god we signed him back. He has been our best player this year BY FAR. Hate how others do it to mock him when he does it to honor his grandmother, but that is another story. He is making less than Mike Wallace and many others, and is a LOT better.
WR Hakeem Nicks - depends on what he wants with his upcoming contract. I think he has top 5 talent, but he has to put it together, whether it is his play-making ability or his health.
WR Rueben Randle - no chemistry with Eli at the moment, as them being different pages has caused at least a couple INTs from Eli. Nevertheless, he has a lot of potential, and the Giants may roll with him opposite Cruz if Nicks wants too much.
LT Will Beatty - we are stuck with him now, so he is along for the ride. He was a top 10 OT last year, and now this year he is playing as bad as his rookie year.
RT Justin Pugh - Has been our best OL this year, which is saying a lot, as he still has his flaws and is not even ready adapting to the NFL level. He will be used somewhere, but wherever he is, I am confident that he will hold his own, especially after this year when he has time to get better.
DE Jason Pierre-Paul - Not sure what is up with him, but I am assuming he is not completely healthy and that with no other help on the DL, he can't get much. However, he has been abused by opposing LTs, so time will tell. Nevertheless, he is our playmaker up front, and is a force, he just needs some guys to compliment him.
DE Damontre Moore - I think he has to be played more, because he has the potential to be the stud across JPP. He is a play-maker, and he will be a top contributor for this team for years to come.
DT Linval Joseph - I like him a lot, and he has been one of the unsung heroes of the team this year. He is a "priority" according to the Giants in relation to his upcoming contract. He is a good piece in the middle along with JPP.
CB Prince Amukamara - I think he is a star-in-the-making type player. He has the tools, and he has been great this year. He has been our best player on defense this year by far.
CB Jayron Hosley - not sure if he is gonna be a CB2 or not, but I think he has the potential to be a top slot corner in the league due to his speed and skillset.
Unless I am forgetting someone, all other guys are somewhat expendable. Never really understood the Hankins and Nassib picks. We could have netted Jon Bostic and Khaseem Greene with those picks (not to even mention that we TRADED UP for Nassib), and after we all see how bad the Giants LBs are (however, Spencer Paysinger has been pretty good for us this year), it could have worked wonders for us THIS year AND the future. Too late now, but just gets me going about what we could have had. I see all of these teams that have good LBs, and the impact they make are tremendous. Ogletree has been great for the Rams. The 49ers duo of Willis and Bowman are impact guys and change the course of the game. And there are several others that I will not mention for the sake of not ranting more about it.
So as I see it, the guys above, along with Coughlin, should be the group to go into the future and get the Giants back on top. I think it is possible, and think the Giants have a lot of great pieces as to where the rebuild will not take longer than a couple of years, if that.
Can't even predict free agency, as guys sign back with their teams and a bunch of other random things that occur.
If the Giants go 6-10 as I currently predict, it will land them with a pick around the 7-10 range (with the 4-12 landing us a 4-6 range, and a 8-8 landing us anywhere from 15-wherever they get knocked out). As we all know, the 2014 draft is completely loaded with talent it seems. Unfortunately for the Giants, they will not be bad ENOUGH to warrant a top 3 pick to land them Clowney, which just thinking about a Clowney/JPP combo gets me excited. However, a top 10 pick should easily land us one of the top 3 OTs in the draft, which are Matthews, Lewan, and Kouandjlo. Getting one of those 3 instantly makes the offense better, as it would enable the Giants to move Beatty, who have been terrible this year so far, to RT, and then we can shift Pugh to OG, which might suit him better as he continues to get used to NFL pressure.
So, who do the Giants need to move forward? I think we must go out and get an OT and an OG, as well as a better C. We need 3 new guys to go along with Beatty and Pugh. On the DL, we should try and get one guy who can make a difference in the game. We need as many quality LBs as we can get, as our last quality LB, Antonio Pierce, was great for us. We can use a CB opposite Amukamara who can hold his own. And we need some safeties. Rolle is a great guy, and knows us problems, but he cannot even back up his play much at all anymore. We need some new guys back up top.
So overall, this season can go either two ways. The first being that we continue to struggle and the Giants finally get "their time", meaning that no one can be good forever. We dig deep and see who can HELP going forward, and if they do not help, trade them or get rid of them. Or the Giants get to 7-9, and not much happens, if at all. Kind of hoping it is the latter, because clearly there is a problem within that must be fixed, and doing decent won't settle it.
Wow, this was longer than I thought.
Well, one has already been broken, and the other is in serious jeopardy. The Giants are 0-4, sitting at the bottom of the NFC East, and sitting at the bottom of the league with some other surprises, such as Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay.
During this past offseason, GM Jerry Reese told everyone "the games are won in the trenches", and went out and picked up numerous players. Their first three picks in the 2013 draft were all trench players, Justin Pugh, Jonathan Hankins, and Damontre Moore. Also picked up in FA was Cullen Jenkins and Mike Patterson, not to mention the return of Shaun Rogers from injury. However, the Giants have lost in the trenches every game, and it has showed on the standings.
Kevin Gilbride is possibly the most predictable OC in the league today. Former Giants LB Chase Blackburn, who now plays for Carolina, stated that he gave his team info on formations and such, and as shown, it worked, and the Giants got romped and did not even record a point. Ron Jaworski has also noticed, and stated that KG has his guys in the same 3 or 4 formations throughout most of the game, and they run many of the same plays week in and week out. This has caused a lot of hurt on Eli Manning. Not only is the Offensive Line a wreck, but teams know what to expect with the plays, and it is hurting. The best offense the Giants have had this year were 2-minute drills, where Eli calls his own plays about what he sees.
Not only is Gilbride's scheme boring and dated, but it is complicated with numerous late-developing routes, which, tied in with the two issues above, spells even more trouble for Eli Manning.
On defense, Perry Fewell and his boys have tried their best, but Fewell does not run a lot of good plays. Like Gilbride, he runs a lot of the same looks throughout the games.
As a team, the Giants have become embarrassingly predictable, and it has shown. The Giants are consistently getting romped in their games.
However, there are some things that have to be looked at, particularly at the rest of the division. Dallas leads with a 2-2 record, and the Skins and Eagles are both 1-3. So the Giants, through 4 weeks, are only 2 games back. Dallas has shown to be the team they were the past couple of years - capable, but they blow it. Washington has no defense, and they have seemed to completely abandon the option, which may showcase that Griffin is STILL hurt. And Philly is literally "defenseless", as Stephen A. Smith called it. The Giants have their own problems, as stated above, but it is definitely not a stretch to think they can get back in this thing. Here is the Giants remaining schedule for the 2013 season:
WK5 - vs Philadelphia
WK6 - @ Chicago
WK7 - vs Minnesota
WK8 - @ Philadelphia
WK9 - BYE
WK10 - vs Oakland
WK11 - vs Green Bay
WK12 - vs Dallas
WK13 - @ Washington
WK14 - @ San Diego
WK15 - vs Seattle
WK16 - @ Detroit
WK17 - vs Washington
It is very possible that an 8-8 record can win the division, and to accomplish that, the Giants must win 2 out of every 3 games on the remaining schedule. The Giants have only played one division game thus far, so if they can get through 4 or so division games, they are looking good in that department. Minnesota has had their share of troubles, as has Oakland. The Giants have had Green Bay's number the past couple of years, as well.
So, how do you think the Giants fare against the rest of their schedule throughout the season? Post your comments below.
My opinion:
I think we get a win vs Philadelphia next week, but will lose to Chicago on s short week. Then we will beat Minnesota, and lose to Philly heading into the bye week. Coming out of the bye, I see a win vs Oakland, but a loss vs Green Bay. Do not see Dallas sweeping us, so I see us beating them, but then lose to Washington the next week. Not sure about San Diego, but I will say that we get out of there with a comeback win. Seattle, though not at home, should have their way with us. Cannot see us stopping Bush, so a loss with DET, and we win the season ending game at home against Washington.
So as I currently have it, we will end 6-10. I think our ceiling is in fact 8-8, but the floor I would say is 4-12.
Now, into the offseason.
If the Giants go 6-10, it will almost certainly be a wake-up call and changes WILL happen. Coughlin will not be fired, and he will go whenever he wants to. Will he retire at the end of the year? No one knows, but I assume he wants to get a couple more years in. Giants fans everywhere will be hoping for the departure of Kevin Gilbride and his severely outdated scheme, as well as Perry Fewell, who has just not been the guy the Giants wanted. We can also see the ST coordinator be sent packing as well. I am not sure who is going to be out there, but new guys should help us breathe new life into the team.
If there was a time to start new, this is actually a very convenient year. It is sad to see, but staples of the Giants for several years, such as David Diehl, and Justin Tuck, are on their contract years, and are not worth the money they are making now (Diehl did take a paycut to the veteran minimum, however). Tuck is making over 6mil this year, and is only worth about the veteran minimum. Other Giants such as Corey Webster, Chris Snee, and Antrel Rolle, are making fortunes (Webster is making 5+ this year and 2.5+ next year, Snee is making 6+ this year, and has a 10mil player option, apparently, and Rolle is making 9mil this year and 9mil next year). The Giants have stayed loyal to their contributors, but if they can no longer contribute, they shouldn't be here or making the money they are. The same goes for David Baas, who has been bad for the Giants, and is making way too much.
The Giants also have a lot of questions with some of their budding stars. Jason Pierre-Paul, Hakeem Nicks, Linval Joseph, and Prince Amukamara are the notable players who will be wanting to get paid over the course of the next year and a half. And with the Giants up against the cap as it is already, changes must happen to open up the "new era", if you will.
Here are a list of the guys that the Giants should roll with going forward:
QB Eli Manning - he has not been that great this year, but he is still the unquestionable leader of the team. Some will say he needs a paycut, as he is currently slated to make 20mil this year and next, but we are in that situation because he HAS been taking paycuts the past 3 years to net the Giants more cap space. Now they must live with it.
RB David Wilson - he has gotten a lot of heat, and it is unwarranted. No one can run behind the current offensive line, and Wilson being small does not help the case at all as he cannot even use his speed to get him to the second level. He can be big time for the Giants.
WR Victor Cruz - wow. Thanks god we signed him back. He has been our best player this year BY FAR. Hate how others do it to mock him when he does it to honor his grandmother, but that is another story. He is making less than Mike Wallace and many others, and is a LOT better.
WR Hakeem Nicks - depends on what he wants with his upcoming contract. I think he has top 5 talent, but he has to put it together, whether it is his play-making ability or his health.
WR Rueben Randle - no chemistry with Eli at the moment, as them being different pages has caused at least a couple INTs from Eli. Nevertheless, he has a lot of potential, and the Giants may roll with him opposite Cruz if Nicks wants too much.
LT Will Beatty - we are stuck with him now, so he is along for the ride. He was a top 10 OT last year, and now this year he is playing as bad as his rookie year.
RT Justin Pugh - Has been our best OL this year, which is saying a lot, as he still has his flaws and is not even ready adapting to the NFL level. He will be used somewhere, but wherever he is, I am confident that he will hold his own, especially after this year when he has time to get better.
DE Jason Pierre-Paul - Not sure what is up with him, but I am assuming he is not completely healthy and that with no other help on the DL, he can't get much. However, he has been abused by opposing LTs, so time will tell. Nevertheless, he is our playmaker up front, and is a force, he just needs some guys to compliment him.
DE Damontre Moore - I think he has to be played more, because he has the potential to be the stud across JPP. He is a play-maker, and he will be a top contributor for this team for years to come.
DT Linval Joseph - I like him a lot, and he has been one of the unsung heroes of the team this year. He is a "priority" according to the Giants in relation to his upcoming contract. He is a good piece in the middle along with JPP.
CB Prince Amukamara - I think he is a star-in-the-making type player. He has the tools, and he has been great this year. He has been our best player on defense this year by far.
CB Jayron Hosley - not sure if he is gonna be a CB2 or not, but I think he has the potential to be a top slot corner in the league due to his speed and skillset.
Unless I am forgetting someone, all other guys are somewhat expendable. Never really understood the Hankins and Nassib picks. We could have netted Jon Bostic and Khaseem Greene with those picks (not to even mention that we TRADED UP for Nassib), and after we all see how bad the Giants LBs are (however, Spencer Paysinger has been pretty good for us this year), it could have worked wonders for us THIS year AND the future. Too late now, but just gets me going about what we could have had. I see all of these teams that have good LBs, and the impact they make are tremendous. Ogletree has been great for the Rams. The 49ers duo of Willis and Bowman are impact guys and change the course of the game. And there are several others that I will not mention for the sake of not ranting more about it.
So as I see it, the guys above, along with Coughlin, should be the group to go into the future and get the Giants back on top. I think it is possible, and think the Giants have a lot of great pieces as to where the rebuild will not take longer than a couple of years, if that.
Can't even predict free agency, as guys sign back with their teams and a bunch of other random things that occur.
If the Giants go 6-10 as I currently predict, it will land them with a pick around the 7-10 range (with the 4-12 landing us a 4-6 range, and a 8-8 landing us anywhere from 15-wherever they get knocked out). As we all know, the 2014 draft is completely loaded with talent it seems. Unfortunately for the Giants, they will not be bad ENOUGH to warrant a top 3 pick to land them Clowney, which just thinking about a Clowney/JPP combo gets me excited. However, a top 10 pick should easily land us one of the top 3 OTs in the draft, which are Matthews, Lewan, and Kouandjlo. Getting one of those 3 instantly makes the offense better, as it would enable the Giants to move Beatty, who have been terrible this year so far, to RT, and then we can shift Pugh to OG, which might suit him better as he continues to get used to NFL pressure.
So, who do the Giants need to move forward? I think we must go out and get an OT and an OG, as well as a better C. We need 3 new guys to go along with Beatty and Pugh. On the DL, we should try and get one guy who can make a difference in the game. We need as many quality LBs as we can get, as our last quality LB, Antonio Pierce, was great for us. We can use a CB opposite Amukamara who can hold his own. And we need some safeties. Rolle is a great guy, and knows us problems, but he cannot even back up his play much at all anymore. We need some new guys back up top.
So overall, this season can go either two ways. The first being that we continue to struggle and the Giants finally get "their time", meaning that no one can be good forever. We dig deep and see who can HELP going forward, and if they do not help, trade them or get rid of them. Or the Giants get to 7-9, and not much happens, if at all. Kind of hoping it is the latter, because clearly there is a problem within that must be fixed, and doing decent won't settle it.
Wow, this was longer than I thought.