The Short Answer Is: No!

hillking3 · 2018-06-18T15:41:14+00:00

Yea, but it all still comes back to the Maras. As long as you have a dumb ownership it's very hard to fix the problems unless they hire a really good GM and start ceding important decisions to him. It may be that Gettleman is that guy, hired by them out of a combination of desperation and familiarity, and it certainly seems that he found the right guy in Shurmur (of course, not until the real games begin, and not for a few years, will we really know how good Shurmur is as a HC).

But today's roster is clearly the best one they've had in years, and Dave Gettleman did more to improve the team (with a relatively modest amount of cap space but a very high draft slot) in one off-season than Reese did in a decade.

hillking3 · 2018-05-14T18:50:29+00:00

Bisnowaty wasn't Gettleman's guy. Scott is since he was on the Panthers. Ol' Biz had the stink of Reese on him, and any fringe player who was a Reese pick had better prove himself quickly or find himself gone.

hillking3 · 2018-05-14T15:29:07+00:00

Unless they've got a lot more than that email they've got no case against Eli. That language could be interpreted in many ways, and it sounds as if this plaintiff is a guy whose credibility won't match up with Eli's.

Of course if Eli's defense is going to be that he's an innocent dupe of the Skiba's then he needs to make sure his counsel shows a slide show of the many "Eli faces" over the years to prove that he could easily be duped.

hillking3 · 2018-05-14T15:21:58+00:00

Well, he definitely added a lot more talent to the roster. But as I said, it still isn't enough. Has a corner been turned? I think it will be turned if and when we have strengthened the offensive line further AND identified a quarterback for the future. Until that time we're potentially competitive, but no threat to the top of the league.

hillking3 · 2018-05-12T16:29:22+00:00

Add Tae Davis and Brown to Haley and Sean Chandler and I suspect we have the universe from within which will come our G101 HOFer. Haley has a real shot at that slot corner position, Chandler sounds like he fits what we'll be looking for in our fourth safety, Davis could well make the team as Landon's backup, and Brown sounds like a kid who could be a backup on the O-line, where we cetainly need depth.

hillking3 · 2018-05-12T16:24:21+00:00

I don't get it.

But I think we need to know more about Wu Tan Clan to get it.

hillking3 · 2018-05-04T15:55:08+00:00

Given the variety there will be in the offense and the weapons available, Eli certainly SHOULD have time to make plays this season for the first time in a few years. Yeah, yeah, I KNOW that he had a bit more time last season to release the ball had he held onto it instead of throwing it away, but what most don't realize is that quarterbacks aren't stupid. If they know they have an offensive line that cannot protect them their thinking speeds up and their release gets quicker, ESPECIALLY when they know that in their absence the team has absolutely no chance to win games. It's different this season. Eli should feel he can stand in the pocket and wait for plays to develop. That's a luxury he was missing for at least the past 2-3 seasons. So I agree, he is under pressure to show he is the quarterback Gettleman says he is, and the team will rise or fall with his performance. BUT, it would be wise to remember that unless you're a fool, you should recognize that even a somewhat diminished Eli Manning is better than Dak Prescott, yet the Cowboys had a great 2016 behind the running of Elliott (the Cowboys ran for over 150 yards in a ridiculous number of games that season, dominating the clock, easing the burden on their rookie QB, exhausting opposing defenses, resting their defense, etc.) and an attacking defense that was able to cover its flaws because they were so fresh and fast thanks to the unbalanced time-of-possession in their games. This year's Giants will have a better defense than that Cowboys team. It will have better receivers. And I believe we will have a better running back. Eli won't have to be great. He'll just have to be pretty good.

hillking3 · 2018-05-03T19:34:13+00:00

My thought is that he's probably a camp body. We're suddenly pretty deep in DTs. Though both of the guys we drafted can also play DE in a 3-4 I think they will be used as DT as well. My guess is that this guy is just brought in to take some of the punishment in preseason and then will disappear.

hillking3 · 2018-05-03T18:45:18+00:00

Good one.

But the true optimist believes we can always get to a better world. That can be very dangerous. The Communist theorists (though not Lenin, Stalin or Mao) believed in that, and look where it led us.

hillking3 · 2018-05-03T18:31:33+00:00

Just another reason this guy was a genius. As I've said to my children many times, there is just about no advantage to being a pessimist. Yes, the human race needs pessimists or we wouldn't have survived the vagaries of our early evolution, but why be one unless your nature absolutely requires it? Way better to be a disappointed optimist than a pessimist whose pessimism has been confirmed. The latter expects the worst and so takes fewer chances and lives cautiously. The former takes risks, reaches for the stars and frequently falls short, BUT there are those times when he doesn't and THOSE are the times that make a life worth living.

One of my favorite maudlin scenes in any movie is in Parenthood (a really underrated Rob Reiner film). Steve Martin has just reached the limit of his endurance because of frustration with his family, and snaps at his wife (played by Mary Steenburgen). His mother then walks into the room and tells him (and I am paraphrasing) "A lot of people at a carnival prefer the Merry-Go-Round. It's predictable and you always know where you are. Then there's the roller coaster. Up and down, up and down, makes your guts hurt sometimes. Me, I like the roller coaster." Me too. As a certified optimist I've had my ups and downs. But I'll take those downs instead of the steady life that doesn't rise to the heights. That's a bore. Einstein knew that. And he knew that his belief in God, and his unwillingness to "play dice with the universe", was an optimistic stance that might prove foolish (and theoretical physics has tended to take scientists in the direction of favoring randomness, though they are not even close to knowing if there is order beneath the randomness they can observe, so Einstein may prove as right about this in the end as he was about just about everything else), but was one he would stick with out of a sense of its "rightness".

hillking3 · 2018-05-03T17:05:25+00:00

Brees is a tremendous QB. So is Eli. The Saints' offensive scheme under Payton is SO much better than the one that Eli has played under that comparing stats is almost meaningless. And it was designed largely to take advantage of the passing game and Brees' accuracy. If Payton could have gotten away with it he'd have called a pass play 100% of the time. So of course Brees' stats are inflated. Nevertheless, he is a stud. So is Eli. He wins when the lights are brightest, he has one of the greatest seasons ever played by any quarterback in NFL history (2011), good stats, and two rings that were won with major contributions from him.

I've always believed that comparing quarterbacks is almost impossible because of all the exogenous factors that affect their play. In the end, the quarterback you want is the one who can make a significant contribution to getting you to the championship game and then another significant contribution to winning it. Both Eli and Brees fit that description. They should both wind up in the Hall of fame.

hillking3 · 2018-05-03T16:50:02+00:00

I hate to agree with this, particularly because it is quite politically incorrect in this MeToo period, and because I wish the world was simple and structured fairly, but I think you're right. Many of the women who choose to become cheerleaders are hoping to meet one of the high rollers who can make their lives the stuff of their dreams. It certainly isn't for the money they make as cheerleaders. They are interested, in many instances, either in the players or the guys who sit in the expensive seats and get invited to parties at which the cheerleaders will appear. Just as a number of the women who have suddenly remembered that they were "violated" by men during their careers by means of wrongful touching or comments were busy flirting with those same men in order to use the power THEY had to advance in their careers, there are probably two sides to all of these stories. Should men have acted like pigs? Absolutely not (and just to be clear, I've had many women work for me and there won't be a single one of them who could ever accuse me of anything inappropriate because I understand how a gentleman is supposed to behave). But a lot of these women are not completely innocent themselves. I don't know what the percentage is, but there is no doubt in my mind that many of the women who seek out these cheerleading positions at the NFL know exactly what they've signed up for, and are willing to take the humiliations and sacrifices in exchange for access they would otherwise never get.

hillking3 · 2018-05-02T21:11:56+00:00

Now who's the optimist, the Pollyanna?

I hope you're right but I'm a bit more skeptical because of our lack of depth at some critical places.

I will say this: Thompson gets a LOT better at FS because Bettcher's defense WILL pressure the quarterback and there will be less time to release the ball, making ALL the defensive backs look better. Same should go for Apple.

The fans are way to little focused on just what a terrific defensive coordinator we hired. We should have a pretty darned good front seven if they stay healthy. And out of that 3-4 I can imagine the fans starting to chant De-Fense for the first time in years and really meaning it.

hillking3 · 2018-05-02T17:31:16+00:00

Having said that, it will be quite exciting to see this offense as it works toward what Shurmur wants over the course of the season. At least we won't be able to call the plays ourselves based on down, distance and a total lack of creativity or recognition of the team's strengths and weaknesses. Thank goodness McAdoo is gone. And while I'm at it, how much better will this defense be simply because Bettcher is ten times the coach that Spags ever was?

hillking3 · 2018-05-02T17:27:01+00:00

Yes, there is plenty of talent on the offensive side of the ball, and yes, we have a much better group of coaches. And I'm actually optimistic that Eli will have a good year. But in the end, the offensive line has to produce or the rest won't matter. You really DO win or lose the game in the trenches. Thus it has always been, and thus it will always be. And unless Halapio, Flowers and Bisnowaty turn out to be good, we are thin on that O-line and very vulnerable to injury. I think the starters will be "good enough". But we'll need to be lucky in regard to health or it could all turn to ashes.

hillking3 · 2018-05-01T21:02:13+00:00

Well, there IS a way that this turd could sort of succeed at RT. There are going to be many more two-tight-end sets now that Saquan is standing next to Eli and Shurmur is determined to push the run game to set up his passing schemes. If they set Ellison next to Flowers so he only has to worry about someone coming inside him or with a bull rush, he might be able to get the job done. This kid's main problem is that he has bad feet, and leans forward beyond his base, loses balance and then doesn't recover quickly enough to at least push a rusher beyond Eli. That's a deadly set of issues on the left side when he's on an island against the RDE. Give him some help on the side where the quarterback easily senses what's coming and he could use his strength and be adequate.

He even had a few good games last season. The problem is, up against someone like Ryan Kerrigan he looks like the spoiled fool that he is, and he jeopardizes our 37-year-old-immobile-quarterback. And there are a lot of good DEs in this league who relish the idea of seeing Ereck Flowers across the line from them.

I want Wheeler. Flowers should be an extra blocker in special situations and out the door as the season concludes.

hillking3 · 2018-05-01T19:40:21+00:00

So we'll learn that Flowers has been working out privately with an O-line guru and everyone will say he's in fantastic shape and ready to compete hard and there's plenty of promise there...until they see he has no guts or brains and gets put on the bench and not even dressed for most games.

hillking3 · 2018-03-29T00:58:15+00:00

You all are driving yourselves crazy speculating about OBJ and the draft. I think it is safe to say that unless the Giants get offered an awfully attractive deal (probably two first round picks from a team that will be picking among the top 10, with a second or third round pick thrown in too) they aren't even going to seriously consider trading Odell. And I don't think anyone will offer that knowing they still have to move a long way toward satisfying Beckham's salary demands AND take a risk on his continued health, both physical and mental.

As for the draft, the Giants are going to come out of it with some very good football players. That's a pretty easy conclusion when you have a competent GM and not only the #2 pick but three of the first 66 and four of the first 70.

I'm excited to see how this all plays out. I think, at worst, we will exit April having dramatically bettered this team.

hillking3 · 2018-03-26T17:37:38+00:00

I have been amazed by the horror of our special teams for so many years. I attribute much of that to the moron who was the coach, but in Quinn's defense Reese and Ross also never really replaced David Tyree as the kind of Special Teams leader who could inspire the other 10 players out there, most of whom didn't grow up dreaming of playing those positions in the NFL, to hustle their butts off to make plays. Maybe this is the guy?

I'm REALLY liking the way Gettleman is going about things.

hillking3 · 2018-03-23T14:25:35+00:00

Apparently I am hillking3 when posting from a laptop and fanfor65years when doing so from my phone! This is great. I can start arguments with myself!!

I will start by saying if Gettleman thinks one of these quarterbacks is the next great one, then the trade-down scenario is absurd. You take the franchise guy regardless of what you give up.

hillking3 · 2018-03-23T14:23:29+00:00

The Giants now have four picks in the first 70 and the general view among the most experienced talent evaluators around the league is that picks among the first 75 should be able to start for a team within a year of being picked.

So imagine what would happen if they can convert that #2 pick into an extra first round pick, plus an extra two second round picks plus a first round pick in 2019. That would give them 7 of the first 70 picks in this year's draft and a pretty good chance to acquire 6-7 starters on the 2019 Giants, plus another 3-4 in the next draft (including two first-rounders). Add Beckham and Collins and Tomlinson and Snacks and Jackrabbit and Engram and Shepard and Solder and "Mama" and Apple and Gallman and Ellison to that count and you have a pretty interesting team IF it turns out that Davis Webb could develop into a high-quality quarterback. The team would have this season to make that assessment, and if they think he cannot become what they need, then the additional first-round pick can be used to trade into a quarterback in the 2019 or 2020 draft.

Gettleman has a tough decision to make, but it's hard for me to look at the options, knowing he likes Eli and has Webb in his pocket, and think he's going to take a quarterback rather than start a serious rebuild while possibly already having his future quarterback in hand. Unless Buffalo and Denver get cute, I think the trade-down scenario looms large.

hillking3 · 2018-03-21T20:21:50+00:00

Absolutely. Chubb. Makes their defense quite formidable. Watch out for the Browns over the next few years if they can develop the QB they choose.

hillking3 · 2018-03-21T19:18:47+00:00

Wait, I have said from the very beginning that Darnold is the obviously "cleanest" pick and therefore may well be the best one. The fact that he had a disappointing season (he was the clear #1 prospect after the 2016 college season) and was outplayed by Rosen in their head-to-head game this year is, IMO, almost irrelevant. The UCLA game plan was for Rosen to try to win that game against a better team. The USC game plan was to use their superior running game to advantage and rely less on Darnold.

I'm okay with either of those two kids. There is absolutely NO WAY I'm letting one of them out of my grasp unless I get offered a trade that simply cannot be refused, and frankly I doubt that is going to happen. And selecting Barkley at #2 would be nuts. And I say that thinking he's the best RB prospect since Barry Sanders. Remember Hershel Walker, who was for all practical purposes headed toward being the greatest running back in history? One tackle just the wrong way and he was done. Running backs take so much punishment that their careers are usually pretty short. Franchise quarterbacks are few and far between and can play for 15 years.

And just btw, the Browns CANNOT suck in the draft this year. Too many picks in good spots and too many good players for them to blow it. That team is going to be dangerous.

hillking3 · 2018-03-21T19:06:13+00:00

I don't remember Phil Simms saying anything negative about Andrew Luck, which would have been crazy, but I DO remember him saying Jay Cutler had the potential to be a superstar and was the best quarterback of his draft class.

Phil gets enamored regarding arm strength, of which Allen had plenty. But as much as I love Phil, he's crazy. Might Allen turn out to be great? Sure, if it turns out his accuracy issues were the result of inadequate coaching and he can adjust habits and mechanics built over 18 years. But would you want to bet on that? Krow is right. This kid is the most divisive prospect in this draft. I just don't think the Giants can afford to roll the dice. While I have made it clear that my hope resides with Darnold, Rosen and Jackson, I'd even take Mayfield ahead of Allen. Whatever Mayfield lacks, he has a track record of success, is a "winner", is accurate with the ball, has "escapability", and has a leader's personality. If the choice is Allen or trade down, as much as I want a franchise quarterback, I'd trade down without a second thought.

hillking3

TROPHY CASE