Okay, own up, which one of you is Tom?

[boohyah]

Ripped out and posted from Giants.com. Eisen's mailbag.

 

 

Is "Tom" an employee of the Giants perhaps?

 

Mike,

 

Okay Mike, are we better off with or without Shockey? We all know that JS is a great offensive weapon (defenses have to have schemes just for him), but there are pluses and minuses for every player. JS's energy on the field is unbelieveable, but his emotions (staying within himself on and off the field) should have been under control at this stage of his career. It appears to me that JS always wanted to be the premier receiver and the hell with any blocking assignments. Even though he proved to be an outstanding blocking TE, the fact is, he could not duplicate his earlier career accomplishments and that had to get to him. Yes, there were several injuries over the passed years and there were several dropped passes, and then the team won the Super Bowl without him. But, there are still questions out there, does Eli perform better without someone yelling and screaming that he wants the ball? Does the team have better continuity when everyone feels that they are playing as an unit? Should a player ever say that his coach was out-coached after losing a game? Should a player have a sceaming match with the team's GM? Who knows the answers to all those questions. All I know is, if I was an NFL owner, I would not have a disgruntle player on my team. That is, if you are not happy with my organization, you are history. JS will definitely be missed and I wish him the best and hope he finds placidity in his life. So tell us Mike, are we better off with or without JS?

 

Dear Tom:

 

Well, Tom, you might have set a record for the longest question ever published on The Mailbag. As you can imagine, there’s no easy answer. Quite frankly, in the short term we might not be as good without Shockey for the simple reason that Kevin Boss does not yet play at his level, particularly as a blocker. As much as Shockey contributed to the passing game, I believe that is not where we will miss him the most. Boss is an outstanding receiver and a lot of the balls that went to Shockey can now go to a wide receiver, perhaps Steve Smith or Mario Manningham. But the coaches acknowledge that Boss must improve as a blocker. Boss has the size and desire and he has added 20 pounds of muscle, so he is certainly capable of getting better in a hurry. Kevin Gilbride, the offensive coordinator, said this week he might use more two-tight end alignments if necessary. In the long term, I think the Giants are better off. I know full well that Shockey caught 371 passes and was selected to four Pro Bowls and was a fiery presence on the field. But he simply didn’t want to be here any more. It might be a cliché, but it’s true – he could have been an enormous distraction. And while he might have played the good soldier for a while, I don’t think over time he would have kept his unhappiness in check. I think it was wise to take the draft choices and start over without him.