Torbor or No Torbor

[Lughead]

TORBOR MAY NOT REPLACE KIWANUKA

 

By PAUL SCHWARTZ

November 20, 2007 -- The Giants need a new starting strong side linebacker, and it's no sure thing Reggie Torbor is next in line.

 

Torbor replaced Mathias Kiwanuka early in the 16-10 victory in Detroit after Kiwanuka on the second play went down with a broken left fibula that ended his season. Torbor, who was credited with two tackles, has been a backup on the strong side throughout most of his four years with the Giants, but yesterday Tom Coughlin did not name him the starter for Sunday's game against the Vikings.

 

"Reggie came into the game and completed the game, played well enough for us to win," Coughlin said. "Mathias has many situational defensive positions he plays as well and we'll have to work out how we'll deal with that as well."

 

There's a decent chance the Giants will not move Torbor in and instead could insert Gerris Wilkinson into the lineup. Wilkinson as a rookie last season started two games on the weak side, but in practice takes reps at both the strong and weak sides. The Giants like his athleticism. Chase Blackburn is an option, but he works exclusively at middle linebacker.

 

Kiwanuka will soon be placed on season-ending injured reserve. In the dime package, Kiwanuka is a down lineman in the four defensive end alignment that has been a force for the Giants. Fred Robbins, a starting defensive tackle, will likely move into Kiwanuka's spot.

 

"Freddie will certainly be a bigger part of the package," Coughlin said. "We'll take a look at various other people in spots."

 

*Coughlin said he does not see any evidence the upright running style of RB Brandon Jacobs has caused the many injuries (knee, ankle, hamstring) his legs have suffered this season. . . . Coming off the 31-20 loss to the Cowboys, winning in Detroit can be considered a bounce-back moment for the Giants. "We heard all week about we're going to collapse and lose eight in as row and all that stuff," G Chris Snee said. "This is a different team."

 

Coughlin lamented the lack of production on offense and was troubled by Jacobs and Sinorice Moss losing fumbles. "We went into the game knowing full well this was a very, very good ball-stripping team and we got pick-pocketed twice," Coughlin said. There was praise for Eli Manning. "He did a very good job, his percentage was high, [he] did not throw an interception, he was very smart with the ball," Coughlin said. Asked why the Giants in 49 pass attempts did not once throw the ball into the end zone, Coughlin said, "Certainly I would like to be more aggressive."

 

Jesus if Chase Is exclusive to only in the Middle, why not get him learning the whole LB scheme when they were in Albany. I don't get why they can't make LB'rs interchangeable left side right side inside , strong week middle . I mean damn it's only football it's not rocket science.

[fringe]

Torbor spelled backwards is robot almost.

[boohyah]

I say give Torbor his chance, he's the best of the rest.

[osi724dasack]

give him a shot 1-2 games...the guy has been on the team a few years now so he should get a chance before Wilkinson

[fishgutmartyr]

He's started before. He couldn't break the starting lineup when it was Carlos Emmons and Brandon Short. What exactly do you guys think you're going to see?

 

May as well see how Wilkinson is developing, in case we have to draft LB again.

[Storm]

Why is Chase Blackburn still on the team? God forbid Pierce gets injured! His exclusivity sucks and most likely, even if Pierce were to go down, Wilkinson and Torbor would get the nod over someone with barely any athleticism.

[boohyah]

Why is Chase Blackburn still on the team? God forbid Pierce gets injured! His exclusivity sucks and most likely, even if Pierce were to go down, Wilkinson and Torbor would get the nod over someone with barely any athleticism.

 

 

Blackburn is an energy guy and he plays with a lot of effort so he's good to spell guys a la Frankie Ferrara, but he's not starter material at all. I think he should be in on a few snaps each game.

[boohyah]

He's started before. He couldn't break the starting lineup when it was Carlos Emmons and Brandon Short. What exactly do you guys think you're going to see?

 

May as well see how Wilkinson is developing, in case we have to draft LB again.

 

Fish, Torbor was never going to start over Emmons as long as Emmons was healthy. The Giants always kept Emmons in because they held out hope for the fact "he'll play like he did with the Eagles". Short played out of his skin and had a ton of experience which makes the fact they didn't bring him back kind of wrong.

 

I think Torbor is the best option right now, he may not be the solution, he's just the best now.

 

And to Jerry Reese, please, please, please draft a linebacker in rounds 1 or 2 next year for goodness sake.

[fishgutmartyr]

Fish, Torbor was never going to start over Emmons as long as Emmons was healthy. The Giants always kept Emmons in because they held out hope for the fact "he'll play like he did with the Eagles". Short played out of his skin and had a ton of experience which makes the fact they didn't bring him back kind of wrong.

 

I think Torbor is the best option right now, he may not be the solution, he's just the best now.

 

And to Jerry Reese, please, please, please draft a linebacker in rounds 1 or 2 next year for goodness sake.

 

I don't know, maybe I'm just letting my being totally unimpressed by Torbor influence me. But I do seem to recall Emmons being moved to weakside in part for Torbor to play.

 

Oh, and Reese is going to have to do something next year, since both Mitchell and Torbor are UFAs next season, and he'd be out of his mind to keep both, rather than try to upgrade.

[boohyah]

I don't know, maybe I'm just letting my being totally unimpressed by Torbor influence me. But I do seem to recall Emmons being moved to weakside in part for Torbor to play.

 

Oh, and Reese is going to have to do something next year, since both Mitchell and Torbor are UFAs next season, and he'd be out of his mind to keep both, rather than try to upgrade.

 

 

You have a way of putting it don't you smart ass.

 

You're probably right about that, but keep in mind that I try and put our past linebacker issues out of my mind, because I simply get too wound up thinking about how we refuse to address it through the draft.

 

Oh I'm sorry, we did, Zak DeOssie!!

 

[fishgutmartyr]

You have a way of putting it don't you smart ass.

 

You're probably right about that, but keep in mind that I try and put our past linebacker issues out of my mind, because I simply get too wound up thinking about how we refuse to address it through the draft.

 

Oh I'm sorry, we did, Zak DeOssie!!

Listen, you crazed, thread-title writing attention whore, I was saying you might be right in giving him another chance!

 

Seriously, you guys have a point--the last time we saw him play was in Lewis' defense, which did a remarkable job making players look bad. He deserves a game in Spag's defense. Besides, with Tavaris Jackson throwing, he can pretty much concentrate on running defense.

 

I still see Reese extending Mitchell over Torbor (depending on his asking price), but who knows?

 

I'm not too worried going forward about how the LB position gets handled--I think our days of signing guys in walkers because their names are shiney are done. Reese couldn't look at the past two years and not notice the pattern, could he?

[boohyah]

Listen, you crazed, thread-title writing attention whore, I was saying you might be right in giving him another chance!

 

Seriously, you guys have a point--the last time we saw him play was in Lewis' defense, which did a remarkable job making players look bad. He deserves a game in Spag's defense. Besides, with Tavaris Jackson throwing, he can pretty much concentrate on running defense.

 

I still see Reese extending Mitchell over Torbor (depending on his asking price), but who knows?

 

I'm not too worried going forward about how the LB position gets handled--I think our days of signing guys in walkers because their names are shiney are done. Reese couldn't look at the past two years and not notice the pattern, could he?

 

 

I'll be honest, it's a big worry for me. Kiwi shouldn't be playing linebacker, Any good Giants team in the past has had a backbone of fine linebackers. I'd keep Mitchell also.

[Lubeck]

Blackburn is a good special teams player don't forget.

[Treehugger]

I'm hoping DeOssie is ready to step up. I wanna see what he's got.

[fishgutmartyr]

I'll be honest, it's a big worry for me. Kiwi shouldn't be playing linebacker, Any good Giants team in the past has had a backbone of fine linebackers. I'd keep Mitchell also.

Amazing how spoiled we were.