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Happy New Year, gang! Sorry this is a bit late, but was up all night at the blog's New Year's Eve party making merry. Special guest Eli Manning was a real hoot, but had to get tough with Justin Tuck when he tried to scarf up all the hors d'oevres. Other than that, our 16-piece band -- The Giant Blog -- was in outstanding form.
Anyway, at least we're up in time to present this final Q&A swap of the season with Ed Valentine, or the first of 2010, whichever way you want to look at it. The Giants may be getting ready for a long winter's nap, but Ed and I never sleep. Unless it's New Year's Day, however.
Don't forget to peruse my answers to the same four questions at Ed's Big Blue View .
Here's Ed:
1. Given the state of the defense this year, what would you do with coordinator Bill Sheridan after Sunday?
"Run him out of town as fast, and as far, as possible. He can join the great 'Failed Coordinator Society' along with Tim Lewis and John Hufnagel. I'd have Jeff Feagles boot him out, but I don't think Feagles has the leg strength left to do anything but push him gently toward the door. Not everything that happened this season with the defense was Sheridan's fault. There were a lot of players just plain getting manhandled or not making plays when they were in position to do so. But, he has to take the fall. This defense was historically bad by Giants standards, and a lot of that blame falls on him. The communication issues, the blown assignments are on him. So is the lack of emotion you saw so often, which really tells me the players don't believe in him no matter what they say to the media. Bye, bye Bill. Have fun coaching linebackers for Spags in St. Louis."
2. Osi Umenyiora said after last week's game that this could be his final game as a Giant. Do you agree?
"The emotional side of me was ready to say "take a hike, Osi" after Sunday's game. Today, I'm not so sure. I don't think the bridge is burned here, and you can argue this one both ways. I do think Jerry Reese will listen if teams call about Umenyiora, but I have doubts that anyone will offer more than maybe a 5th-rounder for him. After the way he played this year, why would they? He was flat-out awful, and the fact that he leads the Giants in sacks is an indictment of everyone else around him rather than being a credit to Osi. Whether he is a Giant or not, Osi needs to take a looooong look in the mirror this off-season. And at the film. Truth is, he has not been a great player since 2005. Yet, he wants to talk and act like a guy who thinks he's among the top 5 DE's in the league. Sorry, he's the third-best DE on his own team. If he isn't willing to accept a pass-rush specialist role with limited snaps then the Giants have to take whatever they can get and move on."
3. Does this team need a major overhaul, or is it enough just to tweak certain areas?
"Well, it needs a lot. A lot more than I think any of us realized, even a few weeks ago. Defensively, it needs new defensive tackles, help at linebacker, new blood at safety (and I don't mean just a healthy Kenny Phillips. Special teams coach Tom Quinn should join Sheridan on the unemployment line. He has been been ST coach for three years, and the Giants coverage units have been awful the entire time. Jeff Feagles is done. Not sure about Lawrence Tynes, but they need to bring in real competition for him. Offensively, the big decision is running back. Was this an off year for Brandon Jacobs, or has he begun his inevitable decline? Will Beatty needs to start next season, and I would like to see an early pick spent on another young lineman."
4. We now here that Brandon Jacobs has been bothered by a knee injury for much of the season. Do you buy that as an excuse for his sub-par performance this year?
"Excuse? No, not an excuse. Maybe as a partial explanation. He has not looked like the Jacobs we all came to love, and maybe the explosiveness just hasn't been there. The question is, will he ever be what he was? Will he still be Jacobs, or has he already begun to transition into Eddie George at the end of his career? He has always been susceptible to injuries, and now that the knee problems we have been waiting for with his running style have started you have to wonder some about his future."
The floor is open.
EP
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You are too nice to Sheridan but at least you realize achange is needed. I totally agree with u on Feagled Ern. He had one terrible game but kicked pretty well and any increase in return yards was mostly because of poor coverage units. I am all for replacing the ST coach and getting some new blood in that building and shake things up.
ReplyDeleteLike the rest of the NY sports media u and ed both think Osi should be back because of a cheap contract and thinking he is special. This will play into Reese hand and he should be able to get some return for him. Much better than a fifth Rounder. Osi wore out his welcome back before the season started and gets pushed around at all times.
You answers on Ed's blog are right on the money Ernie. Right on.
ReplyDeleteI have total faith Reese and TC, et al. will right the ship. They have lots of work to do. Figuring out the safety and MLB spots are critical for this club. They will through the draft and FA.
Bad season's define good fans.
Chris B.
Good answers. DT, MLB, SAFETY...
ReplyDeleteOG,,,SCAT RB....
Do this ans we will be back in the hunt.
bigblue09
Agree with what most have said. I really don't think the team needs as much as Ed thinks.
ReplyDeleteThe Giants need a safety -- that should be their top priority. And of course another DT. But how good does one have to be? We're not talking an all-Pro. Robbins was really good in that spot for about three years and he wasn't a big-time player. Just someone who's servicable.
Definitely another o-lineman. And I don't know about LB and RB. We all think they need one, but was Jacobs hurt all year? How much of the O-line's problems affected Jacobs? Only Reese and TC know for sure.
Same thing with LB. Boley is definitely solid, but are we giving up on Goff and Sintim? I don't know if two games is enough to judge Goff. And I think Sintim would be an upgrade over the invisible Danny Clark. You know Clark -- after playing and starting in 14 games this season -- only has 32 tackles.
They could use another LB, but I'm thinking a solid veteran and drafting a young guy in the third or fourth round. But it really all depends on who's available in the draft.
LB and Safety definitely need to be addressed. I hope Sheridan enjoys coaching LB's somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteTo whoever said that TC and Reese will "right the ship", who ran the ship aground?
ReplyDeleteI have no faith that TC will see anything wrong in his hiring decisions (see Hufnagel, Lewis, Sheridan, etc.) or that Reese ("CC Brown is doing admirable work") has a clue. Reese may be Mr. Super Scout; that's not the same as a GM.
That first Dallas game, I saw bad things, but thought that the coaching staff would fix them.
Boy, was I wrong. Then came NO, Philly, San Diego, etc., etc. And NOTHING was done. Most people with a real job would have been gone by now with this massive failure. TC and Reese are laughing all the way to the bank. The good news: it's the Mara's and Tisch's money not mine - since I decided not to buy those club seats.