An honest assessment..

[Nas]

So we know it's hard to repeat as champs. I think the goal is always be competitive.. give yourself a chance.

 

I think we can pretty much get over the loss of everyone we've lost.. we either added similar if not better talent or have a stud like Tuck to step in for the Great Strahan.

 

What do you guys think?

[UK-Giantsfan]

So we know it's hard to repeat as champs. I think the goal is always be competitive.. give yourself a chance.

 

I think we can pretty much get over the loss of everyone we've lost.. we either added similar if not better talent or have a stud like Tuck to step in for the Great Strahan.

 

What do you guys think?

 

QB - Carr/ Woodson should be better backups than Jared / Wright

RB - No reason that Jacobs / Bradshaw / Ward will not be as good or better than last year

O-line- Should be getting better , still very young and versatile

WR -healthy Plax , Toomer , Smith , Manningham looks excellent to me

DLine- will not be as good without MS ( Tuck needs to prove me wrong )

LB - dont think Mitchell was that good anyway ....prefer the young guys like Wilkinson to step up

Secondary -losing Gibril could hurt us ...but looking forward to Phillips . Ross will improve

Special teams- Tynes worries me / Feagles must be getting too old soon !

 

we will surely be very competitive in 08 IMO

 

 

 

 

[BIGBLUE01]

QB - Carr/ Woodson should be better backups than Jared / Wright

RB - No reason that Jacobs / Bradshaw / Ward will not be as good or better than last year

O-line- Should be getting better , still very young and versatile

WR -healthy Plax , Toomer , Smith , Manningham looks excellent to me

DLine- will not be as good without MS ( Tuck needs to prove me wrong )

LB - dont think Mitchell was that good anyway ....prefer the young guys like Wilkinson to step up

Secondary -losing Gibril could hurt us ...but looking forward to Phillips . Ross will improve

Special teams- Tynes worries me / Feagles must be getting too old soon !

 

we will surely be very competitive in 08 IMO

 

Agree on almost everything, except I think Tuck for Strahan is an upgrade at this point. No disrespect to Mike obviously, he is the greatsest, but Tuck is a younger version and has already started making an impact. Also, Mitchell was good IMO, but I too am stoked at the possibilities that Wilkinson brings.

[Nas]

Agree on almost everything, except I think Tuck for Strahan is an upgrade at this point. No disrespect to Mike obviously, he is the greatsest, but Tuck is a younger version and has already started making an impact. Also, Mitchell was good IMO, but I too am stoked at the possibilities that Wilkinson brings.

 

Mitchell was good but not great. The flashes I saw from Wilkinson showed he's better. Let's hope everything falls in place for us again.

[BIGBLUE01]

Mitchell was good but not great. The flashes I saw from Wilkinson showed he's better. Let's hope everything falls in place for us again.

 

Yeah, Wilkinson, Tuck and Bradshaw have me salivating at the possibilities.

[fishgutmartyr]

QB - Carr/ Woodson should be better backups than Jared / Wright

RB - No reason that Jacobs / Bradshaw / Ward will not be as good or better than last year

O-line- Should be getting better , still very young and versatile

WR -healthy Plax , Toomer , Smith , Manningham looks excellent to me

DLine- will not be as good without MS ( Tuck needs to prove me wrong )

LB - dont think Mitchell was that good anyway ....prefer the young guys like Wilkinson to step up

Secondary -losing Gibril could hurt us ...but looking forward to Phillips . Ross will improve

Special teams- Tynes worries me / Feagles must be getting too old soon !

 

we will surely be very competitive in 08 IMO

Pretty much agree, but I'm a bit more optimistic.

 

RB--there's a young guy (I forgot his name-sorry!) that might replace Droughns, so we might actually improve there. Either way, we know Rueben can do the job, so at worst we see no change.

 

DLine--While we might have a drop as far as DEs are concerned, we also have Robbins, Cofield (now in his 3rd year), and Alford (who should have more of a handle on things) at DT. So if Tuck handles the DE, we might actually see a slight improvement. It really depends on how Tuck handles being a target rather than wild card. We'll certainly see more from the tackle position than we did with Joseph.

 

LB--I'm just glad we don't have to assume half the squad will be injured at one point. Considering that the oldest guy starting will either be Pierce (still in his 20's) or maybe(!) Clark, we're in better shape here than in years.

 

Secondary--I think we're actually in better position this year than last. No rookie corners starting, and other than Wilson, what did we have last year at safety? This year we have 3 safeties with game time experience, and a 4th that might just become a starter on pure atheletic ability. Don't get me wrong, I liked Wilson, but I think overall we might see a net gain.

 

[NightFire]

I think our biggest loss is going to be obviously Strahan and Mitchell. Since Tuck looks good it shouldn't be too bad for the Strahan loss but Mitchell maybe bigger than most people think. Our LB core has been a weak spot for a while now and he is a sure tackler. Wilkinson does look good and has been on the team for 2 years so hopefully he will do better as a starter.

[BIGBLUE01]

When talking LB corps or DLine, we are all forgetting about Kiwanuka. He is definatley a force, even coming off injury.

[socalscholar]

My thought exactly!

 

Kiwi is the big X Factor on Defense this year!

 

He adds to depth at 3 positions.

 

Bringing a pass rush from SLB, DE, or DT.

 

The coaches seem more excited this year because

of the extra flexibility they have this year.

[Sephiroth]

For the DL, we're going to be a little weaker without Strahan... but don't forget we signed Wynn to play Tackle on passing downs. But you just can't assume we'll be better without Strahan... we won't.

 

At LB, it's a push. We lose Mitchell, who's great against the run but not as good in space... and we get Wilk, who's GREAT in space but a question mark against the run and as a pass-rusher.

 

I agree our secondary will be better. Knight is at least as good as Gibril in this stage in their careers, and Phillips has me really excited. Our new rookie corner should be pretty good too, and we still have our 4 guys from last year coming back.

[eagleEye]

Mitchell was good but not great. The flashes I saw from Wilkinson showed he's better. Let's hope everything falls in place for us again.

 

 

Wikinson hasnt played enough to make an accurate rating of him yet. I hop to see Vlackburn get some reps. He came in a few years back and did produce. So we'll see.

[Allstarjim]

For the DL, we're going to be a little weaker without Strahan... but don't forget we signed Wynn to play Tackle on passing downs. But you just can't assume we'll be better without Strahan... we won't.

 

At LB, it's a push. We lose Mitchell, who's great against the run but not as good in space... and we get Wilk, who's GREAT in space but a question mark against the run and as a pass-rusher.

 

I agree our secondary will be better. Knight is at least as good as Gibril in this stage in their careers, and Phillips has me really excited. Our new rookie corner should be pretty good too, and we still have our 4 guys from last year coming back.

 

 

I think we will be as good as we are healthy. And as good as Eli is. We enjoyed relative health last year... only Shockey and Kiwi were the major injuries, I believe. We need a repeat of the kind of health we enjoyed, especially on the offensive and defensive lines. And Eli needs to build upon the consistency that he showed from wk 16 on.

 

Couple of notes, we will have Bradshaw for the whole year (assuming good health and no suspensions), so I expect our running game to be more dangerous over the course of the entire season than it was last year.

 

As for the receiving corps, I expect it to be better as well. Steve Smith showed us what he can do and now will be asked to do it over the course of a 16 game season. I think with Boss, a good route runner with good hands, the offense will be more balanced and diverse than any Giants offense ever. I'm not kidding. With 3 good running backs and a litany of options (Burress, Toomer, Boss, Smith) and a few guys that could be x factors in Manningham and Moss (still possible), should they emerge, this offense will be truly one of the best units in the NFC. Of course they are anchored by the most consistent and disciplined offensive line in the NFL that is only starting to get respect, and for the love of God they need to stay healthy.

 

On defense, Kiwanuka is the x factor. If he can continue his maturation and be just as much of a pass rushing force over 16 games like he showed in the beginning of last year, the defensive pass rush could be better than last year, also considering that Tuck will be on the field full-time. I can't imagine how qb's are going to feel under center knowing that Tuck, Kiwanuka, and Umenyiora are coming and coming quick. I expect the Gmen to be seeing a lot more shotgun formations, lol.

 

The linebackers will be just as good if not better. Losing Torbor and Mitchell will not be a factor as Kiwi is back, and we made a very good signing with Danny Clark. I'm not as sold on Wilkinson being a stud like others. I have seen him make mistakes in coverage where I was like, "what were you thinking?" However, I think he's on the verge and we have quality depth at linebacker.

 

As for the secondary, I disagree, Seph, that Knight is as good as Wilson. Knight is a knowledgeable veteran, but he is not as athletic as Wilson nor as good a tackler. However, I'm hoping Phillips emerges quickly, and I think he has a good shot at doing so, coming from Miami, where they play top quality opponents. I expect a smooth transition to the NFL for him and am anxiously awaiting news on how he does in camp. If Webster continues the solid play he had down the stretch last season, and Aaron Ross stays consistent or gets even better, the secondary shapes up to be a strength of the team as opposed to somewhat of a question mark going into last season.

 

Overall, there really are no holes on this football team to speak of. This is the most excited I've been going into a season as a Giants football fan ever.

[BIGBLUE01]

Wikinson hasnt played enough to make an accurate rating of him yet. I hop to see Vlackburn get some reps. He came in a few years back and did produce. So we'll see.

 

I was hoping we'd get to see BLACKBURN............

[GorillaNJ]

How has Corey Webster not come up this far.... Which CW shows up this season? The one that played man-to-man as well as could be done against Galloway, Jennings, TO, & Randy Moss, or the one that sucked so bad he might as well sat down after the center snapped the ball.

[fringe]

Agree on almost everything, except I think Tuck for Strahan is an upgrade at this point. No disrespect to Mike obviously, he is the greatsest, but Tuck is a younger version and has already started making an impact. Also, Mitchell was good IMO, but I too am stoked at the possibilities that Wilkinson brings.

i disagree- strahan's a big loss and it will be felt in all facets- the run defense and short passing (screens) game, especially. as well as leadership. i don't think tuck has those instincts yet.

[Nas]

When talking LB corps or DLine, we are all forgetting about Kiwanuka. He is definatley a force, even coming off injury.

 

I'm begin caustious here, I'm not ready to sing his praises till I see how he performes after the injury.. meaning the injury didn't have any permanent damage.

[BIGBLUE01]

i disagree- strahan's a big loss and it will be felt in all facets- the run defense and short passing (screens) game, especially. as well as leadership. i don't think tuck has those instincts yet.

 

I dont know about short passing, but he seems fine against the run, not to mention he is as much a menace to QB's if not more as Mike was at this point in his career. I agree ther leadership is not there like it was w/ Mike, but I dont know how anyone would replace that. Dont get me wrong, Tuck has a way to go to match Mike, but I think in the grand scheme of things, we have a younger version of Strahan.

[Tempest]

Screw the honest assessment, here is what everyone is telling us:

 

 

We're totally screwed, we won last year and that was a fluke!

 

How can we possibly continue to win more games?

 

We're called the New York Giants, not the New England Patriots...

 

We don't have Tony Romo, Brian Dawkins, or Clinton Portis. Only the three best players at their position in our conference.

 

Now look at our schedule...

 

4 teams we're playing in 2008 were division winners and we play one of them twice.

The other teams are automatically better than us because they are neither the Cardinals, Dolphins or Raiders.

 

Then there is that organization of ours...

 

I'm betting that we will hear very shortly how Coughlin was using satellite imagery to steal not only defensive play signals but in fact were taking snapshots of entire playbooks. Also an item of note...Justin Tuck and Michael Strahan were bionically enhanced during the 2007 season when they were "supposedly" recovering from injuries which led to the pair combining for a total of 122 tackles and 19 sacks. If you thought they did a good job on those two, start drooling now over Mathias Kiwanuka 2.0

 

[Treehugger]

When talking LB corps or DLine, we are all forgetting about Kiwanuka. He is definatley a force, even coming off injury.

This is definitely true, though I agree with Wolfy that lots of people are underestimating what Mitchell brought to this defense; a sure tackle. Wilkinson is swifter in coverage and therefore probably more versitile for different packages (amazing watching him cover Moss) but the loss of Mitchell and Strahan (a great run stopper) will be felt when defending the ground game. One of the reasons I didn't mind seeing Gibril go (besides the price) was because he was always a hitter, not a tackler.

[Treehugger]

How has Corey Webster not come up this far.... Which CW shows up this season? The one that played man-to-man as well as could be done against Galloway, Jennings, TO, & Randy Moss, or the one that sucked so bad he might as well sat down after the center snapped the ball.

Before that, which Eli is gonna show up?

[BIGBLUE01]

This is definitely true, though I agree with Wolfy that lots of people are underestimating what Mitchell brought to this defense; a sure tackle. Wilkinson is swifter in coverage and therefore probably more versitile for different packages (amazing watching him cover Moss) but the loss of Mitchell and Strahan (a great run stopper) will be felt when defending the ground game. One of the reasons I didn't mind seeing Gibril go (besides the price) was because he was always a hitter, not a tackler.

 

This does worry me. We've been a great run stopping team lately, and I hope this wasnt too much too lose. Although I believe Tuck will adapt nicely.

[Treehugger]

This does worry me. We've been a great run stopping team lately, and I hope this wasnt too much too lose. Although I believe Tuck will adapt nicely.

Both Tuck and Osi are awesome at chasing a play down from the backside but it takes experience and savvy to stop the play at it's conception like Mike could. I can see teams exploiting our young rush in that way this season ie. screens.

[TrashTalker92]

i read somewhere they were moving KIWI back to DE... that true??

[Nas]

i read somewhere they were moving KIWI back to DE... that true??

 

He's versatile enough to do both.. depending on the situation.

[CrazedDogs]

i read somewhere they were moving KIWI back to DE... that true??

 

I think only on 3rd downs, or if Tuck gets injured.