Money

Bernard knew the score when he signed here. He's a rotational player and borderline starter. Canty's upcoming visit was public knowledge, and Rocky still signed with that understanding. Canty playing end, I think, is a bit overstated. In goal line grouping or other running situations, then he could see a lot of time as the strongside end. But otherwise, he doesn't have the speed to be an edge rusher. I wouldn't expect Robbins to be released.

Look at the team that beat the Patriots: the Giants, who wouldn't have advanced to the Super Bowl -- let alone won -- without Plaxico Burress. It's amusing whenever someone tries to expalin "this is how you win." In truth, there's a lot of ways to win ... anyone who says differently is just being a reductionist. The one common denominator in winning strategies is having good players at every position, including WR. Right now, without Plax, the Giants don't have enough good players on offense to win a championship. Our 2008 narrative speaks to that reality.

Very probable that he's signed by tomorrow, unless his arm injury is still an issue.

That's not the plan. Canty will start at DT, alongside Robbins or Cofield. If Osi's rehab goes as scheduled, he and Tuck are the starting ends. In passing situations, Tuck kicks inside and Kiwi lines up at DE. Bernard probably sees most of his playing time in this sub-package.

I'll save you a lot of mental anguish.... There are no truth to those rumors; the Giants aren't interested in trading Kiwi.

With the exception of Richard Seymour, this is largely true. Corey Williams had 8 sacks in '07 as a member of the Packers, but then only recorded 0.5 last year as a 3-4 DE in Cleveland. It's just not a role that's conducive towards accumulating sacks. Last year Canty had five PDs, which are just as good as sacks. For what it's worth, the Titans were looking to get Canty after Haynesworth signed with Washington. So the Giants aren't the only reputable team to project him as a valuable player in a 4-3

Overpay? Who the F cares? It's not your money.

The success of our running game isn't a precondition of the offense. They're successful because of the coaching and the scheming.

Coaches aren't included in the salary cap. If Plax is released, that money will have no relationship to our coaching staff

Oh stop, he doesn't have a weak arm at all.

Plus, Jacobs can't catch. We are not a good traditional screen team. I'm not entirely sure why, but we have very little success running screens out of the backfield. Hence their disappearance from our arsenal. On the other hand, we've made some big plays with bubble screen action - particuarly with Ward split wide. This is not the safest play, so you might understand why they don't want to overexpose it.

More accurately, they have devoted more attention to stopping Westbrook, hence the absence of a pass rush. Obviously it wasn't especially successful in the rematch.

I, too, will take break from the ticker-tape parade and general millionaire decadent carousing to celebrate my championship in SWIII. It wasn't hard, nor was there ever any doubt. The plebians in my league, like AdmiralAwesome for example, competed but ultimately lacked the firepower and mental faculties to challenge the worl's pre-eminent fantast guru. When you're led by Drew Brees and a stable of RBs that included DeAngelo Williams, Maurice Jones-Drew, Chris Johnson, and Clinton Portis ... well, you just might score 1680 points in a 14-game regular season (That's right, bitches -- 120 points per game). You just might drop 167 points on the regular season champs (the ultra-anonymous and fictional sounding "Raptors") in the semifinals. You might even vanquish the league Commish despite his foolish guarantees. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm due in make-up for my upcoming Letterman appearance.

It makes sense to send someone deep even if they aren't the primary read (depending on the coverage) in order to occupy the safety, stretch the field, and create more space for the other routes.

I think there are a lot of teams that can do better than Manning-Jacobs/Ward-Hixon-Toomer-Smith-Boss. As for Sunday's loss, it was just one game. And to my recollection, they only deep pass we attempted was dropped...everything else was in the short-to-intermediate range (i'd have to rewatch to say this definitively). The Eagles really sat in a Cover-2 all game, blitzed infrequently, and defended the run. This forced us to have to be methodical and we couldn't do it. I have a hard to pinning it on the gameplan; we were ineffective without Jacobs, Eli was indecisive, the drops obviously were problematic. In any case, it bears repeeating: this was just one. We'll bounce back vs. Dallas.

I was referring to Shockey; he would have been our second leading receiver if he didn't miss the final two and a half games. And although Toomer has played in every game this year, he's on pace to fall well short of last year's output. Point being, this is not an impressively talented skill group. I could probably list 15 teams with better talent in that area. We played outdoors in a cold-weather stadium with worse wind conditions than anywhere save for Heinz Field. Yet, through some miracle, we're arguably the best offense in the league. Seems to me that our OC is doing a pretty damn good job...

Out of curiousity, who IS a very good OC? Who are the play-calling virtuosos around the league that Gilbride should aspire to emulate?

For the record, we're tied for 2nd in the league in scoring with 366 points. We're tied with New Orleans and behind only Arizona (372 points) -- two dome teams (both of whom have been terrible on the road). Prior to Sunday's game, we were the highest scoring team in football. This has been accomplished without our top receiver from 2007 for a large portion of the season. This has also been accomplished without our 2nd leading receiver from last year. If you were to grade our skill position players against their peers, we probably aren't in the top half of the league. Beyond simple points and yardage output, we're also ranked 1st in offensive DVOA. By traditional and innovate standards, our offense is one of, if not the absolute best unit in the league. And again, this has been achieved with a moderately talented group of playmakers; certainly not the '99 Rams. Nevermind that we won the Super Bowl last season, sprinted to an 11-2 start, powered by an offense that has been statistically top-notch ... our offensive coordinator needs to be replaced. Make perfect sense. And, really, some of these criticism are embarassingly off base. For example, saying that Gilbride doesn't run the ball enough or is too pass-happy just flies in the face of reality. The Giants are actually one of the few teams that has run the ball more than they passed it. Now, this is somewhat misleading because the aggregate pass attempts don't include sacks and QB scrambles; however, even if you adjust for that we're still an extremely balanced offense. This should come as no surprise -- Coughlin only preaches balance every time he's in front of microphone.

The effectiveness of our running backs isn't a precondition of the offense. We're successful in the running game because of the coaching and execution...

They also offered him a contract.

He actually started the game. The Ravens had 5 LBs on the field to begin the game.

Williams has been a coordinator on several successful teams, notably the Super Bowl Titans of '99. Certainly, winning a title as an assistant isn't a requisite for getting a head coaching job. There's no way Spags goes to Philly. Clean house?? Clearly you're unfamiliar with how they run their organization. First, because of their conservatism, it's extremely unlikely they fire Reid (though McNabb's departure seems imminent). Second, in the unlikely scenario Reid does get fired, they'll bring in an inexpensive, offensive-minded head coach (just like Reid, probably thinner) that they can push around; they'll let Johnson continue to run his defense. Spags doesn't fit that mold, and as a Johnson disciplie doesn't add any marginal value for them on defense.

I think we're significantly more likely to promote from within and add talent through the draft than sign a free agent WR. Plax's seemingly imminent departure would make Toomer's return more likely as well...

I was hoping MATT JONES (WHO) would be suspened so I could put him on IR in my keeper league and therefore keep an extra player. Based on Tank Johnson's transgressions, my guess is that Burress is NOT reprimanded by the league this year ... possibly not at all. Tank Johnson was involved in a lot of legal problems over the course of a couple years before receiving a suspension. Now, Plax could be suspended or placed on the non-football IR by the Giants. It's up to them, and they'll have to weigh his value to the team against the importance of punishing mistakes of such an egregious, criminal nature. The language of his contract and the timing of his bonuses also come into play.

That's an interesting way of saying "I was wrong about Kevin Boss and Jeremy Shockey."