BigPete

Their DEs are very good against the run, I however their DTs are solid but nothing special though (other then maybe Ellis) and probably a little under sized. I think a physical running game between the tackles can be very effective against their defense.

I guess technically Denver and Kansas City are not on the west coast, but I am pretty sure they are categorised as "west coast teams" for the purposed of scheduling based on the travel distance - teams have no more than two of these trips per season.

Here are my thoughts on the saints game. The Giants are coming of a reasonably easy schedule, (although playing away in the west coast and two divisional games is alot harder than people realise). Mind you the Saints have played Detroit, Philadelphia (who were aweful), Buffalo and NYJ. They have only really played one tough game, which they played at home. Firstly the Giants have to step up as we come against our toughest opponent so far. The Saints have a genuinely explosive offense, particularly through the air; but our defense is particuary good against the pass. This will be an interesting challenge for our defense, but think we are up to the task. Once again our pass rush will be key, but I think we will get alot of pressure on Brees. New Orleans is doing well, but I think we are much more physical in the trenches on both sides of the ball. whilst their LBs and safeties are decent, their CBs seem to be guys we can exploit; other than KC, we have faced much better CBs in all of our games. I think Eli will be able to exploit this secomndary, I really like the way we spread the ball around in the air, pretty much anyone can get the job done. Eli Manning is having a mvp calibre season. One key in my opinion will be our running game and our ball control offense. We need to get Brandon Jacobs involved big-time - he doesn't seem to be quite firing on all cylinders at this stage. New Orleans is solid up front, but isn't what I would call stout - Kendrick Clancy, Sedrick Ellis, Anthony Hargrove and Vilma are not the biggest guys and I think smash mouth football running down their throat will be a key factor, particularly with Jacobs/Hedgecock.

I am just wondering if we have we used the 5-1-5 defense yet? I haven't noticed it yet With all the injuries we seem to have on the Dline and the secondary, depth of personell could be an issue for this formation

I wouldn't say the team would be necessarily worse off in an uncapped year, we would be able to keep the core of guys together, which has been a big part of success. Most of our team is very young. I think Reese and Ross have done an excellent job of building the team, largely through the draft. I could see DE becoming a need but it really isn't at this point, the secondary could become a more urgent need depending on the long term prognosis of Phillips knee totally agree that we should consider a kicker and also thaty DeOssie is not a LB but a LS I am not sure about Guard, I think the front office are very happy with Boothe and Koets inside In the end it will come down to value in each round on draft day

It looks at this stage a strong possibility that 2010 will be an uncapped year. This will mean that The top eight playoff finishers from the previous season would be allowed to sign free agents only at the rate at which they lose them. Players would need six NFL seasons to be eligible for free agency, rather than four. Each team would be allowed to restrict two eligible free agents with "franchise" or "transition" player tags, rather than one. For the Giants it will mean: Domenik Hixon, Sinorice Moss, Guy Whimper, Barry Cofield, Dave Tollefsen, Gerris Wilkinson, Kevin Dockery and CC Brown would no longer be free agents Fred Robbins, Danny Clark and David Carr will be our only free agents Assuming we finish in the top 8 teams, we could only sign free agents as Clark, Robbins and Carr sign elsewhere The Free Agency pool will be a lot smaller, Pat Kirwin suggests there would be more than 170 less players available. Assuming 2010 is uncapped and teh giants finish in the top 8 teams (both strong possibilities at this point), the Giants will likely have little/no opportunities to sign any significant free agents and would have to use the draft almost exclusively to improve the team. Having said that, this team is in excellent shape for long term success.

THR lists the giants team needs (in order of priority) as DT, LB, S, OC, CB After thinking on this a bit, this makes alot of sense DT is a real need, particularly with Robbins and Bernard being up there age-wise. Even with Alford coming back, a stud DT to groom for the future will be our biggest need. LB was admittedly a surprise. We do have alot of talented players, but other than Pierce (who has issues in coverage), the LB group has yet to stand up. I am not so sure we don't have the guys to get the job done already the roster, but at the same time, we can certainly upgrade with a top talent. all in all I would prefer have this as the #3 need, but I can understand this being the #2 need for this team S Phillips and Johnson are a solid pair of starters Brown offers solid experienced depth and Rouse adds more experienced depth and special teams play. This is a very solid bunch, but one we can upgrade. OC as our #4 is reasonable, although personally I think a case for it being our #3 or even #2 need can be made. O'Hara is the starter, but is up there age-wise. Koets is being groomed as his eventual replacement, Boothe can also fill in; both youngsters should continue to improve. Seubert and Snee can both also play center if needed. I think the best option is to bring in a quality talent to develop as the future anchor of the line. but admittedly, this is a luxury. CB Somewhat surprisingly this is listed as our #5 need. Webster, Ross, Thomas, Dockery and Johnson are a very good young group who should continue to improve. We probably could use a #6 CB (for 10 DBs), for better depth. Once again though, this is a luxury pick. The other positions are very solid what does everyone else think?

I think they will add a safety the last few years we have gone with 10 DBs (6:4 or 5:5 CB to S ratio) preferably someone who can compete with Brown behind Johnson and Phillips

I knew I would get some discussion happening this is just my opinion. I think Tollefsen is solid, but he is certainly nothing special. I think this is a spot we could upgrade. TambiHali (for example) is a proven player who can start in the NFL (In 3 years he has 170 tackles, 18.5 sacks, 5 Pass Def and 6 FF on a very ordinary Chiefs defense). He is a guy we could work into a legitimate 4 player rotation at DE. This is not unlike what we planned at DT with Robbins, Cofield, Canty, Alford and Bernard. Shaun Smith might be something of a simlar player to Alford Alex Smith would be a very usefull TE option and special teamer. Smith and Hali both have ties to the NY area

I guess my ideal roster moves would be Trade LB Gerris Wilkinson to the for DE Tamba Hali (Chiefs) (who isn't a great fit for their new 3-4) Sign DT Shaun Smith (Lions) Sign SS Brian Pollard (Chiefs) Sign TE Alex Smith (Patriots) release Tutan Reyes (initially thought a WR, but think Reyes; the WRs have more value to team and Boothe, Whimper, Koets and Beatty is enough OL depth) we also have to allow for Boley becoming active after week 1 that would give the Giants a roster something like: Offense (26) QB (2): Eli Manning, David Carr RB (3): Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw, Danny Ware FB (1): Madison Hedgecock WR (7): Domenik Hixon, Steve Smith, Mario Manningham, Sinorice Moss, Hakeem Nicks, Ramses Barden, Derek Hagan TE (3): Kevin Boss, Darcy Johnson, Alex Smith, Travis Beckum OL (9 10): Shaun O'Hara, Chris Snee, Rich Seubert, Kareem McKenzie, David Diehl, Kevin Boothe, Tutan Reyes, Guy Whimper, Adam Koets, Will Beatty Defense (25) DL (9): Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Fred Robbins, Barry Cofield, Mathias Kiwanuka, Chris Canty, Rocky Bernard, Dave Tollefson, Leger Douzable, Tamba Hali, Shaun Smith LB (8): Antonio Pierce, Danny Clark, Chase Blackburn, Michael Boley, Gerris Wilkinson, Clint Sintim, Zak DeOssie, Jonathan Goff, Bryan Kehl DB (8 9): Corey Webster, Aaron Ross, Michael Johnson, Kenny Phillips, Kevin Dockery, Terrell Thomas, C.C. Brown, Brian Pollard, Bruce Johnson Special Teams (2) K (1): Lawrence Tynes P (1): Jeff Feagles

The final 53 man roster is not set in stone yet, there will be a bit of tweaking over the next week or so. Firstly I think there will likely be trades, in this case a LB and perhaps a WR (likely for future draft picks). I think 9 LBs and perhaps 7 WRs is too many particularly when you will have 8 players inactive on game day. I think it is a case of Reese wanting to make sure he gets value for these guys with talent, he isn't going to five them away. There are a few positions the Giants will want to upgrade if the opportunity presenrs itself. I think they will ideally want to bring in another DB, perhaps a safety like Brian Pollard (Chiefs) or Courtney Greene (Seahawks) who will improve safety depth and provide a valuable special teams role. Other positions that the Front office will look to upgrade if possible are #4 DE (Tollefsen), #5 DT (Douzable) and #3 TE (Johnson); in fact we are reportedly already bringing in TE Alex Smith (Pats/Bucs) for a visit, I think he would be a great fit for us. Other guys we may be looking at include DE Tim Crowder (Broncos) and DT Shaun Smith (Lions/Browns) we could also include trading for players (instad of picks), for example Chiefs DE Tamba Hali who is better as a 4-3 DE rather than a 3-4 OLB.

Pollard would be reasonable as a backup SS and very usefull special teamer. He would give competition with CC Brown

Looking at the roster numbers, I would not be surprised at all if we traded a WR and/or LB Looking at the game day roster I think we would have a tough time dressing more than 5 WRs and maybe 7 LBs I think Reese wanted to make sure he gets value for them rather than letting them go for free; they certainly can contribute. I also think we are a little thin in the secondary depth wise particularly as Phillips, Webster and Ross have been struggling with injuries in preseason (though hopefully they are healthy now)

I heard the same thing from other sources this is interesting, particularly since the Patriots traded TE David Thomas to the Saints for an undisclosed 2011 draft pick.

That has been what i have expected as well I think there is a little more to this Giants' Jet in Denver situation

Note the wording, this is not about a deal with Marshall Just wondering if that rumoured three way deal with the Browns could be happening, with the Giants picking up Marshall, dropping him off in Cleveland and picking up Braylon Edwards

Seems to me that there is alot of merit in the idea of reducing the preseason by 1 or 2 games and having a 17 or 18 game regular season

I will have to agree with you three team trades are rare, I am certainly going to be skeptical until it actually happens Having said that, this rumour makes enough sense from a factual basis for it to be a possibility that could happen., should the Giants want to make happen. and it is the period when trades happen.

Firstly Eli's new deal did not increase his 2009 cap number, it actually went down a little. The Giants already had a healthy salary cap room in reserve (estimated at $4.8m by inside football at 1 May). Considering the top contracts are already allocated against the cap, to sign Edwards to his current $4.55million contract would cost around $4m in cap room. I can't see Edwards getting more money tham Roddy White or Greg Jennings Roddy White's six-year, $48 million deal has a cap numbers of Cap charges: $8,113,530 (2009), $7.8 million (2010), $6.525 million (2011), $8.025 million (2012), $9.125 million (2013), $6.325 million (2014). Greg Jennings' four-year, $26.885 million deal has a cap numers of : Cap charges: $8.154 million (2009), $5.004 million (2010), $5.854 million (2011), $7.039 million (2012). Note both are front loaded to some extent, rthat doesn't have to be the case. With the kind of deal Edwards would get, there is plenty of scope to be very creative. Kevin Abrams and Jerry Reese are very good at working contracts (imho they are the best in the biz at managing the cap). To sign edwards would take a little work, but is very possible. the other option is to let Edwards play under his current deal and show what he has. if there is no new CBA he will not be a free agent, if there is we have the option of the franchise tag. Don't forget we will create some additional depending on the final roster cuts as we trim to the 53 man roster. (eg cutting Tyree alone will save 500k against this year's cap and $1m against next year's cap) We also have options such as extending contracts; for example if we simply convert Pierce's 2009 base salary into the signing bonus for a 2 year extension, we would save around $3.3m against this year's cap. Other guys that could have deals reworked are Umenyiora, McKenzie and Robbins Options certainly exist cap wise should we want to make something happen. If we want to, we could make this deal happen.

That is true, but use him on deeper routes such as go routes. either he will be wide open, double covered or covered one on one (in which case eli just needs to get it into the area and let Edwards make the play on the ball, which he is very good at. if we were to get Edwards, we just need to keep it reasonably simple and add wrinkles later as he digests the playbook. Already Edwards is having to adpat to two QBs with very different throwing styles and arm strengths, I think he would do ok. Here is a question for those X;'s and O's experts. How different is what Edwards does/has done in the Browns passing attack compared to what we ask our #1 WR to do? There seems to be alot of similarities.

Dont forget that Moss seems to be on the outer and is a very similar style of player to Eddie Royal (who has had a lot of success in Denver) Plus we have one good LB who will be cut The starters (Pierce, Clark and Boley) are roster locks as are Sintim, Kehl and DeOssie; meaning Wilkinson, Goff or Kehl will almost certainly be a roster cut and they all have ability. Wilkinson is also off contract after the season We could sweeten the deal with perhaps somehting like (assuming we trade Hixon..) Denver sending WR Brandon Marshall to Cleveland Cleveland sending QB Derek Anderson to Denver Cleveland sending WR Braylon Edwards to New York Giants sending LB Gerris Wilkinson, WR Domenik Hixon plus a 2010 2nd/3rd draft pick to Cleveland. Giants sending WR Sinorice Moss to Denver. Cleveland would get WR Brandon Marshall , LB Gerris Wilkinson, WR Domenik Hixon plus Giants 2010 2nd/3rd draft pick Denver gets QB Derek Alexander, WR Sinorice Moss Giants get WR Braylon Edwards our WR group would still be very strong: Edwards, Smith, Manningham, Nicks, Barden, Hagan/Tyree

Edwards would take a some time to fully work into our playbook but he is experienced, particularly with the deeper routes and does get deep and has plenty of big play ability. Edwards would immediately help stretch the field He would also take alot of pressure off our young WRs and just let them focus on playing. If you are a defense, do you cover Edwards deep, who know can make the big play or do you put 8 men in the box to cover the cover the power RB trio with who you know will punish you in the ground game. 8 men in the box and double coverage on edwards leaves 1 defender for the TE and/or the #2/3 WRs (who can also get deep) I could see some nasty play action passing options and some seriously big plays covering Edwards and the WRs deep would open up shorter opportunities in the passing game for our TEs, RBs and FB

If this rumoured trade were to happen, my money would be on Hixon being the WR traded (with Manningham by second choice) Hixon has had plenty of opportunity to be the guy, and hasn't quite gotten it don (but has shown flashes) you have to consider that Edwards provides great experience and will draw extra attention Smith is a great slot WR and had excellent rapport with Eli Nicks and Barden represent the future direction at WR Manningham is pushing for playing time, has the speed and seems to be the return option Hixon is off contract after the season reasons to keep Hixon include proven performance at #2 and #3 WR and big play special teams ability

Here is the BBI link http://corner.bigblueinteractive.com/index.php?mode=2&thread=346438&show_all=1 it is also coming from several credible/reliable sources on various forums, though I don't know all the original sources, bbi seems to be one. We will just have to wait and see what happens

This would appear be a three way deal involving the Giants, the Browns, and the Broncos with Denver sending Brandon Marshall to Cleveland Cleveland sending Derek Anderson to Denver Cleveland sending Braylon Edwards to New York Giants sending a young WR plus a draft pick to Cleveland. That trade would make sense. for each team Denver gets a strong armed franchise QB and gets rid of a headache WR Cleveland avoids paying Edwards and Anderson, get a 2 talented WR (which they really need), a draft pick next year and avoiding a looming QB controversy all season (yet again). The Giants get an experienced #1 receiver to compliment our good young WR base. If this is legitimate, then the Giants front office are clearly are not happy with our current crop of receivers and where that are at; this is very possible/understandable considering the opportunities our WRs missed in the Jets game. If we included a receiver, it will be Hixon, Smith, or Manningham as the other Moss/Tyree/Hagan have little or no trade value and the rookies are keepers. I really like all three, but we also have Nicks and Barden, so we have plebty of depth and with Edwards we still have 5 talented WRs + Moss/Hagan/Tyree. so a good young WR is expendable. My guess is that Edwards asking price has dropped (why we didn't do it in april) , so perhaps it will be a 2nd or 3rd round draft pick plus Hixon, Smith or Manningham. All in all, this rumoured trade makes enough sense that it could be in the works, particularly with the timing involved regarding roster cuts. whether or not it happens remains to be seen.