CrazedDogs

the pass protection was poor in 2011.... nowhere near as bad as 2013, but very poor none the less. Eli was amazing that season, he should have won MVP in my opinion.

420

I think almost every team, and more so their fans, believe they've gotten better on both sides of the ball. (Except maybe Giants fans, we're a delightfully pessimistic bunch.) As for the Eagles, I think I agree that their roster looks better on paper now than this time last year. But it will have to be better, because their offense - which I have come to love, by the way - won't take anybody by surprise this season. And how was the Eagles health last season? I used to do a little analysis of NFL results each off-season to try to learn more about impact of injuries - this was before I had kids and had time for that sort of thing. But what I found was this - the relationship between a teams record and its games lost to injury by starters is extremely inversely correlated. If you want a good short hand predictor for who will do well in the coming season, look at the teams that had the most starters go down for the most time the prior season, and among them pick the team that had the best record. Not sure how the Eagles or the rest of the NFC East fared in the injury department last season, but I've read that the Giants led the league in starter games lost to injury... and still finished at 7-9, by the far the best among the other most-injured teams. By the old short hand, they would be my surprise pick for this coming season. And I don't think it ever failed me before. Granted it was a flimsy 7-9, but I'll take any reason for optimism I can get...

The middle one was an off-target throw, but the top and bottom throws look like miscommunications with the receiver (although the one on top wasn't being caught regardless). footballoutsiders.com is a great site.

Well, I wouldn't say I'm betting on it. Nicks would have to be a total shit head to deliberately slack off like that. But subconsciously, maybe his focus wasn't all there? That could be, it happens to all but the best of us.

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt about injuries and all that, but whether the difference was health or effort, it was impossible to miss the difference in Nicks on Saturday vs. his performance in 2013. It would have been highly irrational for him to dog it last season merely out of spite... but nobody is perfectly rational.

Observations: Eli... dude. He looks completely lost. If he doesn't show something this week, I'm hitting the panic button. And on what planet is Painter better than Nassib? I don't give a shit what happens in practice, Painter wets himself when there are live pass rushers in his face. The D may be nice this season... if you watch closely in the early 2nd quarter, you'll see the Giants 2s (+ Rolle) taking it to the Colts 1s. (Then again, when the Colts 2s came in, they moved the ball... Hasselbeck is a tricky son of a bitch). Also, the officiating was awful towards the Giants defensive line... by all rights they should have had multiple sacks on Luck, or at least a few holding calls in their favor. Even Kiwi looked like he was getting after it.

good point, I didn't think it was that bad. But if we're using QBR, Total QBR has that factored in already... and rates him as above average despite his struggles in a rush situation. I think he'll improve in that area though.

On the bright side, he's suspended to start the season. 12 games of Hosely is better than 16 games of Hosely.

I disagree. I watch a lot of Bengals football, I never thought he was that bad against the blitz. And he's fairly mobile too, he can still improve in that area. Dalton is better than Kaepernick, hands down. And he may not be as good as the others on that list, but he's younger and still improving. If I were a GM, factoring in that contract and his age, I would take Dalton over every single one of the guys on that list except Aaron Rodgers. And maybe Flacco. Not saying the guy is a hall of famer... just that there aren't that many young, good-enough QBs. I didn't think anyone except McCarron thought he was going compete to be a starter. That guy screamed backup to me. Nice looking girlfriend though, I'll give him that.

If he's in the last year of his contract, he wouldn't cost much in terms of draft picks. Figure if Beason was a 6th, Spiller is probably a 4th.

That contract isn't better than average for a starting QB... I wager that if we look at all the contracts that starting QBs have signed over the last three or four years, Dalton makes the least. And those stats aren't merely for the 'past three years'.... they're for his first three years. Last season is a far better barometer of the player he's going to be than his rookie season.

kick the tires. Could be worth tossing a pick depending on his contract situation.

eh.... his production, at his relatively tender age... it ain't great, but it ain't average either. Sure... thats the going rate for a young starting caliber QB. If they don't resign Dalton to this extension, then they're getting a new QB from the draft or free agency - there are no free agents who are better for less money, and the draft is a total crap shoot.

Dalton isn't bad. He's not Luck.... but he could be Brees.

Very sad. I don't think I've ever seen a player who loved the game more than David Wilson.

poor kid.

oh, so Bleedin disappears, and suddenly you find the Giants board? Hmmmmm....

Its kind of weird, he runs a real slow looking 4.6-something in the video. So I'm watching the highlights and note the lack of explosiveness or suddenness.... but then I think back to how slow he looked running sub-4.7. I guess some people just look slow even when they're moving pretty fast. Dude is probably roster filler though. Terrible sign if we see him starting this season.

daaaamn!

Dude.

true, Hoss's balls deserved their own zip code. But I never saw anything from Hoss that indicated to me that he was a better player than Simms, who wasn't exactly testicularly challenged either.

I have no problem with the guy. He's just making a living. And if Simms is healthy through Super Bowl 25, the Giants don't need wide right to win that game - they win it going away.

agreed. He'll be a broke ass in under three years.

I really thought the Giants would keep him... ten games of Will Hill is better than 16 games of anybody else they'll be able to find between now and the season. But can't argue with the Giants on this... his "secondhand smoke" story is pathetic. Lost a lot of respect for Will Hill when I heard that.