Jim Finn

[Lughead]

FINN NOT GIVING UP GIANT JOB

 

By PAUL SCHWARTZ

April 10, 2007 -- Here's all Jim Finn is asking: Make it a fair fight for his job, because if it is, he's confident no one will supplant him as the Giants fullback.

 

"If it's truly a competition, I don't feel like I have to worry," Finn said yesterday after a workout at Giants Stadium.

 

By this time, Finn easily could have been gone. He's started the past four seasons for the Giants, but they are looking to replace him. Back in mid-March, the Giants opened the vault and signed restricted free agent Vonta Leach to a four-year, $7.2 million offer sheet, big money for a fullback. The Texans eventually matched the offer and kept Leach, but the message sent Finn's way was clearer than any lead block he can ever hope to make.

 

"Any time money's thrown at a guy at your position it's a little hard to swallow for a minute, that's just your own pride," Finn said. "Once the smoke clears and everything settles, here I am, I'm still here."

 

But for how long? The NFL Draft arrives April 28-29, and the Giants might opt to use a late-round pick on a fullback. There's also the rookie free agent market.

 

"Hey, it's the NFL, every day they're trying to replace you," Finn said. "I've been basically trying to get shown the door since the day I got in the NFL."

 

Finn was told by Tom Coughlin that the interest in Leach was for the sake of increasing competition at the position. The reality was if Leach arrived, Finn was headed out the door.

 

Leach, 25, is younger, bigger and presumably more powerful and the Giants saw him as possessing the right combination for the power running game the Giants plan on augmenting with Brandon Jacobs and Reuben Droughns.

 

Finn, 30, excelled taking on linebackers, paving the way for Tiki Barber's well-timed cutbacks.

 

Finn scoffs when he's referred to as "Tiki's fullback" as if that limits his value. "I don't buy it," he said, explaining that he blocked for Edgerrin James with the Colts. "That's all just talk and what people want to perceive it to be."

[Iceman_NYG]

A good player. But for some reason, when he does get the ball, he looks like the McDonalds kid running for his cheeseburger.

 

Full back is the least important position Im worried about.

 

Defense on the other hand......any position.......

[Sephiroth]

An ass-kicking fullback that will obliterate a linebacker is a bigger asset to the team right now than a finesse fullback with average blocking skills, which is what Finn is.

 

 

We don't need a pass catching fullback because:

 

1. he'll only get thrown to twice a year

 

2. Those two passes will be incomplete anyway because Eli can't throw a fucking swing pass to save his life.

[Lubeck]

That is exactly what Finn is, a finesse fullback that worked great with Tiki because he himself was a finesse halfback. But with Droughns and Jacobs in the backfield they need soemone to pop a LB and give them the gap to get their shoulders down and power through, something I do not think Finn can do.

 

While he is approaching the situation with the right attitude, I worry that he is not aware of what a difference his playing style will have to be like with a pair of runners who are totally unlike Tiki.

[*SDMF*]

That is exactly what Finn is, a finesse fullback that worked great with Tiki because he himself was a finesse halfback. But with Droughns and Jacobs in the backfield they need soemone to pop a LB and give them the gap to get their shoulders down and power through, something I do not think Finn can do.

 

While he is approaching the situation with the right attitude, I worry that he is not aware of what a difference his playing style will have to be like with a pair of runners who are totally unlike Tiki.

 

 

I dont buy into any of that with the speed Jacobs possess for his size.

[Lubeck]

I dont buy into any of that with the speed Jacobs possess for his size.

 

I don't buy into the idea that Jacobs with that size will have the ability to cutback like Tiki could. Speed has nothing to do with finesse.

[*SDMF*]

I don't buy into the idea that Jacobs with that size will have the ability to cutback like Tiki could. Speed has nothing to do with finesse.

 

 

Time will tell.

[Virginia Giant]

I dont buy into any of that with the speed Jacobs possess for his size.

Because he's fast doesn't mean he's agile. He's not gonna be able to cut around a block like Tiki for big gains, the LB and FB will need to be out of the way so Jacobs can punish the safety.

[*SDMF*]

No matter what you all say fact of the matter is no matter who is back there a fullback wont always put a LBer on there back. Wether its Finn or someone else there will always be a point wher Jacobs will have to find a way to finese around.

[Virginia Giant]

No matter what you all say fact of the matter is no matter who is back there a fullback wont always put a LBer on there back. Wether its Finn or someone else there will always be a point wher Jacobs will have to find a way to finese around.

What does that have to do with the price of rice in China? Of course a FB will not move a LB out of the way every time, if they did you'd see RB's scoring on every touch. Obviously BJ will have to show some elusivness, but thats not his game. He has power and speed, that does not equal agility or an oversized Barry Sanders or Tiki Barber. Finn worked well with Tiki's mechanical style of running where timing was a big factor. But more ften than not, with a straight ahead runner the FB should drive his man out of the running lane. Same as a tackle/center/gaurd. If they fail to do their job, the team fails.

[*SDMF*]

What does that have to do with the price of rice in China?