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Giants working out CB's Dre' Bly, Witherspoon, Wilson, and Gordon

BleedinBlue

By BleedinBlue
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BleedinBlue

BleedinBlue

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They are also working out QB's and more WR's which make no sense to me.....but what do I know... :wacko:

 

Giants work out veteran cornerback Dre' Bly and other defensive backs

Mike Garafolo 9/15/2010

 

With their depth at cornerback questionable at best, the Giants brought in a few players at the position for a workout Tuesday.

 

One of them was 11-year veteran Dre' Bly, who was recently released by the Lions. The 33-year-old Bly, a starter with the Rams, Lions and Broncos from 2002-08, spent last season with the 49ers, for whom he recorded three interceptions. Bly has 43 regular-season interceptions in his career.

 

Bly's agent, Kennard McGuire, did not return phone and e-mail messages Tuesday. It's unclear if Bly left the area without a contract.

 

In addition to Bly, the Giants also worked out DBs Brian Witherspoon, C.J. Wilson and Cletis Gordon.

 

Witherspoon, 25, was an undrafted free agent from Stillman College for the Jaguars in 2008 who averaged 11.3 yards per punt return and 24 yards per kick return as a rookie. Witherspoon was waived late last season and claimed by the Lions, who waived him in April. Witherspoon was with the Panthers in camp this season.

 

Witherspoon was timed at a sub-4.3 40-yard dash leading up to the '08 draft and apparently is still running in that range. He could be an option down the line for the Giants in the return game.

 

Wilson was Witherspoon's teammate this summer. In fact, he was with Carolina since the team drafted him in the seventh round in 2007. He played in only 15 games with the Panthers the past three seasons.

 

Gordon, 27, played in only one game for the Cowboys last year. He was an undrafted free agent with the Chargers in 2006. He appeared in 14 games in both 2007 and 2008 but made only one start.

 

* * * *

 

The Giants have an opening on the practice squad after signing TE Bear Pascoe to the active roster. Of the above I mentioned, only Wilson has practice-squad eligibility.

 

But the Giants might add one of the other players they worked out Tuesday. They are:

 

TE Marquez Branson (Broncos undrafted free agent)

 

QB Jarrett Brown (49ers undrafted free agent)

 

QB Levi Brown (seventh-round pick of the Bills)

 

WR Samuel Giguere (Colts undrafted free agent in '08)

 

RB Shawnbrey McNeal (Chargers undrafted free agent)

 

* * * *

 

C Chris White, who started nine games for the Texans last season, also worked out. He is not practice-squad eligible but is obviously on the team's list for possible signings in case Shaun O'Hara's ankle acts up.

 

* * * *

 

Matt Dodge can exhale for now. No punters were brought in for workouts.

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BleedinBlue

BleedinBlue

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Dre' Bly would be a serviceable backup.... (e.g., McQuarters in 2007).

According to Ralph V on twitter, the Giants constantly work people out with no intentions of signing them, but want to know what kind of shape they are in just in case they need to sign someone quickly due to an unforseen injury. I suppose though, that if someone stuck out as "more than servicable" or better than someone already on the team, they could get signed.

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JMFP

JMFP

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No one is asking Coughlin to be Parcells The Prostitute with kickers....but what is it with his loyalty to marginal kicking talents anyway? :huh:

 

T....this is the Million Dollar Question.

 

For the life of me, I simply can't understand the blind spot with respect to the kicking game/special teams.

 

Any casual Giants fan knows our placekicker has a weak boot. Every field goal is an adventure....there is simply no spot of the field where Tynes cannot miss from. It took the guy three tries to win the NFC championship for us in Green Bay.

 

As far as the punter is concerned, I have no clue about this Dodge kid.

 

For YEARS now, a bunch of us have identified stud kickers from the NCAA.... one of them, Gano, is kicking for the Redskins now.

 

The Redskins held a slim three-point lead with less than two minutes to play when Graham Gano trotted onto the field for the biggest -- and longest -- field goal of his professional life. The second-year kicker had only four field goal attempts as a pro heading into the night, and the 49-yard attempt was the longest he'd ever stared down.

 

"I thought as I was going out there, 'this is a pretty big kick, you know, against Dallas,' " said Gano. "But I'm never really nervous. I get some butterflies before a game, but football's fun to me."

 

He drilled the kick, which meant that on the Cowboys' final drive, Tony Romo needed a touchdown rather than a field goal to stay in it. And it's a good thing because the Cowboys reached the Washington 13-yard line on their final possession, well within field goal range.

 

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/redskinsinsider/redskins-graham-gano-im-never.html

 

Another kicker - Louis Sakoda....is kicking in the CFL now. I saw this kid in person when Utah played Michigan at the Big House. I'm not shitting you when I say this kid was the MVP of the game.....he was crushing field goals AND punts. The looks in the stands was like "who the fuck is this guy?".

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BlueInCanada

BlueInCanada

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Yeah, I fail to see the problem with him. He missed 5 field goals last year and his kicking percentage is 85.2.

 

David Akers, NFC probowl kicker for 2009.

 

Missed 5 field goals and has a kicking percentage of 86.5.

 

Nate Keading AFC probowl kicker for 2009.

 

Regular season missed three and had a kicking percentage of 91.5

 

Playoffs wen't 0 for three and cost the Chargers the AFC championship game.

 

What's your point?

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Gman329

Gman329

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Kickers sometimes go through ups and downs, as does their confidence and mechanics. Right from the beginning of training camp this year, Tynes has been in a groove. It's like a golfer when the stroke is right (something I know nothing about!) - he's hitting everything clean and true. I'll ride that as long as it lasts and hope it lasts a long time! Sometimes people hate just out of habit. Right now, Tynes is a very good kicker.

 

As for Dodge, the Giants have invested too much time in him to just give up on him after one game. They obviously saw something they liked when they drafted him and must be seeing good things during practice - enough to give him a little more time, anyway. Remember too, he's the holder who's been working with Tynes exclusively. Cutting Dodge means messing with the good thing Tynes has going now, too.

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JMFP

JMFP

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The Giants lose a lot from Tynes' poor kickoffs.

 

Exactly.....line drive kickoffs, barely reaching the 10 yard line on a good day.....the Panthers dominated field position because of our shitty special teams play.

 

Let's face it....Tynes doesn't have the leg needed for kickoffs. And I don't trust him on FGs, either...he's blown more than his share of tries inside 40.

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CrazedDogs

CrazedDogs

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Exactly.....line drive kickoffs, barely reaching the 10 yard line on a good day.....the Panthers dominated field position because of our shitty special teams play.

 

Let's face it....Tynes doesn't have the leg needed for kickoffs. And I don't trust him on FGs, either...he's blown more than his share of tries inside 40.

 

I don't understand what Tynes has that Jay Feely didn't. Feely was MUCH better on kickoffs and had more range on FGs, he was an 11th man in kickoff coverage, and he was exactly as reliable in the clutch as Tynes. I'll never understand why the Giants cut him to bring in an across-the-board downgrade in Tynes.

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TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt

TaylorBanksCarsonVanPelt

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T....this is the Million Dollar Question.

 

For the life of me, I simply can't understand the blind spot with respect to the kicking game/special teams.

 

Any casual Giants fan knows our placekicker has a weak boot. Every field goal is an adventure....there is simply no spot of the field where Tynes cannot miss from. It took the guy three tries to win the NFC championship for us in Green Bay.

 

As far as the punter is concerned, I have no clue about this Dodge kid.

 

For YEARS now, a bunch of us have identified stud kickers from the NCAA.... one of them, Gano, is kicking for the Redskins now.

 

 

 

Another kicker - Louis Sakoda....is kicking in the CFL now. I saw this kid in person when Utah played Michigan at the Big House. I'm not shitting you when I say this kid was the MVP of the game.....he was crushing field goals AND punts. The looks in the stands was like "who the fuck is this guy?".

 

 

 

Coughlin and kickers is akin to the question of the ages...why are we here? I agree with you 100%

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JMFP

JMFP

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I don't understand what Tynes has that Jay Feely didn't. Feely was MUCH better on kickoffs and had more range on FGs, he was an 11th man in kickoff coverage, and he was exactly as reliable in the clutch as Tynes. I'll never understand why the Giants cut him to bring in an across-the-board downgrade in Tynes.

 

 

That's a great point.....Feely had the much stronger leg, and he played coverage like a football player.

 

It's too early to say whether the New Meadowlands will have the same issues with wind that the old Giants Stadium had.

 

However, assuming it is similar, I can't explain why we'd be satisifed with Tynes' leg strength.

 

Oh well....so far, one game in the books, and we won in spite of special teams....certainly not because of it.

 

Down the road, when the weather gets cold and the wind starts to kick up, I'll be really pissed off if we lose because of some shitty ST play.

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RandolphScott

RandolphScott

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Didn't they just cheap out on Feely? I don't think he was cut, they just didn't want to pay for a new contract (though they ended up paying Tynes more later).

 

I think Coughlin felt Feely was too outspoken and not one of his guys, plus I'm sure missing those 3 kicks in Seattle and missing badly against the Bears in 2006 led to his demise.

 

I felt Jay Feely was fine, but I think Tynes is decent as well.

 

Lets face it...some fans never got over Feely missing 3 field goals that day...

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fishgutmartyr

fishgutmartyr

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Tynes is an average kicker. I remember hearing the same complaints about Feely when he was here--he rarely got touchbacks either.

 

As for Dodge, he's played in a total of ONE NFL regular season game, 5 games of any kind. Worse, he is replacing one of the few punters with a legit argument for hof consideration. Unlike other players, a rookie punter has no one to cover his back if he makes mistakes. Especially with the overall performance of special teams so far. He may very well suck, but give him a couple more games before forming a mob.

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CrazedDogs

CrazedDogs

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Tynes is an average kicker. I remember hearing the same complaints about Feely when he was here--he rarely got touchbacks either.

 

As for Dodge, he's played in a total of ONE NFL regular season game, 5 games of any kind. Worse, he is replacing one of the few punters with a legit argument for hof consideration. Unlike other players, a rookie punter has no one to cover his back if he makes mistakes. Especially with the overall performance of special teams so far. He may very well suck, but give him a couple more games before forming a mob.

 

Um, Feely was regularly one of the league leaders in touchbacks. Not the top guy, but always top five or ten.

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CrazedDogs

CrazedDogs

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I think Coughlin felt Feely was too outspoken and not one of his guys, plus I'm sure missing those 3 kicks in Seattle and missing badly against the Bears in 2006 led to his demise.

 

I felt Jay Feely was fine, but I think Tynes is decent as well.

 

Lets face it...some fans never got over Feely missing 3 field goals that day...

 

Thats a point, who knows what was going on in the lockerroom. But IMO he'd have to be one hell of a loud mouth to outweigh the extra 30 yards of field position a game we're giving up with the replacement weak legged kicker.

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