Friday, June 11, 2010

Sintim Ready

Clint Sintim is just glad he's not a rookie anymore. No more running for doughnuts, no more carrying equipment, and much more responsibility.

Heading into next week's minicamp, the 6-2, 256-pound, second-year strongside linebacker said he feels the arrow is definitely pointing up after a rookie season that saw him mostly relegated to special teams.

"I've got a lot of expectations on me now," said Sintim after today's 12th and final OTA. "People expect me to be a player."

Especially defensive coordinator Perry Fewell. Sintim had known Fewell from the draft process, anyway. But when Fewell took over the defensive coordinator's job, Sintim made it a point to pay a visit to his new boss and get the lay of the land.

"I was here already (working out) when Perry came up here," Sintim said. "I knocked on his door and sat down with him. I asked him what he was trying to do and what I wanted to do. We had a good talk, and ever since it's been about what I need to do to make this thing work."

"This thing" is a defense that has Sintim and other members of the defense excited. Sintim described it as a "run-and-hit" system.

"That's one of the first things (Fewell) said, that he wanted to have a run-and-hit defense," Sintim said. "As long as we're all running, we've got a chance.

"It's completely different from last year. This year, we're doing a whole lot of different things. This gives a chance for the linebackers to run and hit and just play like linebackers. I'm excited."

He should be. Sintim finished last season with just 11 tackles, including a sack, one for loss and a quarterback hit. He played up on the line a lot in the nickel defense, but now he expects to spend the vast majority of his time as a linebacker.

As such, he should get more than the occasional opportunity to blitz under the emotional Fewell's aggressive system. But he still has to progress a bit as he battles Chase Blackburn, rookie Adrian Tracy, and perhaps Zak DeOssie for playing time. There's a good chance Sintim could emerge as the strongside starter, since other potentials like Gerris Wilkinson and Bryan Kehl will be focusing on the middle spot.

"It's been good and bad," Sintim said. "The last few days have been more good than bad. I'm not dwelling too much on the bad practices. Just trying to to make the same mistakes again."

EP

5 comments:

  1. Good stuff Ern. I fully expect Sintim to win the job and have high expectations for him. We will see, talk is cheap.

    Funniest line by Ern "and perhaps Zak DeOssie" hahah hahahaah ahahhah

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  2. Sintim was fairly highly regarded coming out of college and seemed to be a steal where we got him. I was disappointed that he didn't win more playing time and have been hoping it was more Coughlin's reluctance to play rookies than it was Sintim's lack of ability.

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  3. #47 overall should be a Player in his 2nd year. If he can't distinguish himself with our LB corps, he's not stater material. As an opposin' OC, one of the 1st things I do is c if Sintim can play in coverage. If Sintim stumbles, luv to c what Rook Tracy has. This really wowed them in private workout. A converted DE, he reportedly picked up LB drills with impressive ease.

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  4. The Giants have a lot of physically impressive players. Sintim is one of them. These guys need to translate their physical skills to winning at the NFL level. Respect is an irrelevant word when the team is not winning. The fans want to see a team that figures out ways to win tough, important games. We need results this year.

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