CB Aaron Ross has resigned with the Giants after playing for the Jaguars last season. Contract details are not yet available. He joins Terrell Thomas, Corey Webster, Prince Amukamara, and Jayron Hosley in the secondary.

TE Martellus Bennett has left the Giants and signed with the Bears. Bennett had 55 catches for 626 yards and five touchdowns last season. The Giants remaining TEs are Bear Pascoe and Adrien Robinson.

The Giants have also resigned RB Ryan Torain. The current running backs are Andre Brown, David Wilson, and Da’Rel Scott.

WR Domenik Hixon has received an offer from the Lions and he is waiting for more offers before making a decision.

Prince Amukamara was the number one draft pick of the Giants last year and unfortunately missed training camp and the first 10 weeks of the season.  He showed flashes of his athleticism, but like most of his colleagues was playing out of position for most of his games.  ”The Prince” will benefit from a full off season.

Brandon Bing was a rookie from Rutgers.  He will be evaluated again this off season. Mainly a depth guy at this point, but he did turn a few heads in Mini camp this year.

The Giants have added Steve Brown a third year safety out of Michigan to compete in camp along with Will Hill from Florida.  Chris Horton a 5 year veteran out of UVLA will also get a chance to compete for a safety position.

Michael Coe was among the many injured players in the secondary for the Giants.  Michael possesses some great speed and could be a valuable member of this team if healthy.

Kenny Phillips looked more like the guy we drafted a few years back.  His health is imperative, and hopefully he can make it through camp unscathed and continue to get back to his true form.

Antrel Rolle deserves a lot of credit for playing basically out of position since he arrived here.  He should be the strong safety complimenting Kenny Phillips.

Tyler Sash was another of the rookies that contributed greatly on Special Teams and should again benefit from the off season training and preparation.

Corey Webster had a pro bowl season.  He is a top corner in this league and should be even better next season as the Giants and Perry Fewell tweak their defensive system.

Terrell Thomas is a free agent coming off a second knee surgery.  The Giants have met with Terrell and they say they are on the same page moving forward.  Hopefully Terrell can recover fully, he is very talented, has speed, size and is a real fan favorite.

The Giants drafted Jayron Hosley  from Virginia Tech.  A 5’10″ 178 athletic corner.  He should get a very serious look in training camp.

Filling out the roster are new additions and old friends like Dante Hughes (CB), Janzen Jackson (S), Bruce Johnson(CB), Antwaun Molden(CB), Jojo Nicolas (S), Justin Tryon (CB), and Brian Witherspoon (CB).

The Giants will need to add depth to this area again.  The injuries that the Giants suffered, placing 7 DB’s on IR throughout the year was devastating.  Hopefully some of those guys can return, and then be complimented by others.  This is another area of great competition to look for in Training Camp this year.

The Worst: Too easy here, The New Orleans Saints in 1999 traded away every pick they had in this draft and a 1st and 3rd rounder the following year to acquire Ricky Williams at #5 overall.  This is not an indictment of Williams, but to trade away that amount of picks for one player that never won you a championship must be considered a bust.  Maybe the only saving grace for the Saints was that Washington, although getting such players as Champ Bailey, Jon Jansen, and LaVar Arrington, and winning the division title in 1999, didn’t return to the playoffs until 2005.  This is quite clearly the worst overall draft in history.

The Best: 2007 New York Giants.  Jerry Reese in his first draft as a G.M. had 8 picks in 2007, and here are the names: Aaron Ross. Steve Smith, Jay Alford, Zac DeOssie, Kevin Boss, Adam Koets, Michael Johnson, and Ahmad Bradhsaw.

I know I will here about the fact that only two of these players are still on the team 5 years later, but the contributions of all these men were instrumental in a very improbable Super Bowl Championship.  In the age of hold-outs, and free agency just getting everyone signed and on the roster is an accomplishment.  All 8 players played for the Giants that season and I’m sure we can all recite the impact they had on the magical 2007 season.  Kevin Boss stepping in for the injured Jeremy Shockey and making big catches against Dallas and New England, Steve Smith making third down catches and being left alone by the Patriot secondary on the final drive of the Super Bowl, Aaron Ross playing in the Dallas game with an injured shoulder, but still making big tackles to finish the game, and of course the sack by Jay Alford of Tom Brady in the Super Bowl.  Ahmad Bradshaw almost single handedly got the Giants into the playoffs with his performance in Buffalo the final week of the season, and of course Zac and Michael Johnson contributed greatly and are still with the team.

Those are my picks…What do you have as the best and worst full drafts?

Ross was a speedster coming out of college and had a lot of promise and upside.  Unfortunately while horsing around after practice in ’09 Ross tore a hamstring and played in only 4 games that year.  He has never been the same since.  When challenged by the coaching staff to step up and prove he deserved to start, he had some big games, and in the Super Bowl run of ’07 he constantly played hurt and made big plays.  This year, again he had some nice games when under scrutiny and in the biggest game of the year, but overall was inconsistent, and seemed to need to be prodded to play well.

We wish Aaron luck in Jacksonville, and thank him for his contributions to two Super Bowl victories

Ross, an alum of the University of Texas, was an integral part of the New York Giants defensive corps for five years.

He was the New York Giants first round pick in 2007, and racked up three interceptions in his rookie campaign. If not for injuries, Ross could have been one of the premier corners in the NFL.

New York Giants cornerback Aaron Ross (31) at Super Bowl XLVI press conference... Credit: Kirby Lee/Image of Sport-US PRESSWIRE

Ross is the second “core” New York Giant to leave this week. Mario Manningham signed a deal with the Niners to play alongside Randy Moss and Michael Crabtree.

His departure is not a surprise to most Giants fans. The plan is for Prince Amukamara to step into his place and become a shut down corner along with Corey Webster and newly re-signed Terrell Thomas.

The loss of Ross may hurt initially, but by mid-season, the Giants should be able to fill the void left by his departure.

For more news, updates, and analysis… Follow me on Twitter (@ERobertsNY)

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The Giants will have everyone except Mark Herzlich available for Sunday Playoff game In Lambeau Filed.

More good news as the Giants injury report remains extremely short.  Only real decision might be concerning D.J. Ware.   Bradshaw always rests on Wednesday.

I know that this is a late posting, but my computer got hit with a major virus, and this is the first chance that I’ve had to post. I apologize for my tardiness, but I hope that everyone understands.

The good news is that the G-Men won the battle of NY, and made everyone’s Christmas a little merrier, unless you’re a Jets fan. By virtue of the win, the Giants still control their own destiny (they would have anyway, with a win over Dallas this coming week), but the Giants’ emotional state is probably better for it. As is typical of the guys in blue, the game was a microcosm of the season: flashes of brilliance with periods of lackluster performance. More after the jump.From a statistical viewing, the game was somewhat even. The punting game was virtually equal, with each team punting 9 times. The Giants had a 43 yard average, while the Jets averaged 42 yards. Tynes drilled two field goals, while Coach Coughlin iced the Jets kicker, and Mr. Folk missed his one attempt. Offensively, the Giants running attack showed some signs of life in the second half. The rushing totals were ordinary, but after only 6 yards gained in the first half the G-Men came up with a respectable tally for the game. Both Jacobs and Bradshaw literally ran over people. 26 attempts for 115 yards versus 25 attempts and 105 yards for the Jets. About even, although it seemed as if the Jets secondary wanted no part of either of the Giants main backs. (more…)

Overall, this performance was pretty typical of the Giants in recent years. A game in the second half of the season, one that could have playoff implications, against the Eagles generally means the Giants will make no effort to win. They play with no sense of urgency. In fact, they seem to give the impression that they don’t even want to play. The only difference here is this is not week 16, where the Giants are out of chances to turn things around after two consecutive losses. There is still time to save the season and hold onto playoff hopes. See that? I found a pro already. Now let’s break this one down.

(more…)

“My question to them was, ‘Why?’ ” Coughlin said, when asked what he told the players in the locker room. “What did it take to understand what the Eagles were going to be like coming in here? You didn’t have to be a rocket scientist to know that team is 3-6, back to the wall, they’re going to play their butts off.

“To get where we want to go, we’re going to have to play harder. And better. And we didn’t.”

Coach goes onto say:

You’d think your team would rally around that,” Coughlin said. “We didn’t do that. We had someone try to retaliate, which didn’t help any more than take away a 15-yard [personal foul] penalty. I would expect the team to rally at that point, but I didn’t see that either.

“I’m really disappointed. Coming out of San Francisco, the talk was — by the players — that we’ll fight, we’ll play hard, we’ll do all that. I didn’t see that. I saw the penalties. I saw the skirmishes.”

To see more of what Coach said, click continue reading… (more…)

We have landed at the halfway point of the 2011 season. Every team in the NFL have played out their first 8 games. Only two teams have played into the second half of a 16 game schedule, the New Orleans Saints and the Indianapolis Colts. The second half is upon us and the playoff brackets are beginning to take shape.

The NFC East has always been a competitive division, in and of itself and outside of the conference/division. The first impressions that many had of the NFC East have been blown out of the water. Regardless of record, any team in this conference is capable, at any time, of making the opposition sorry for mistaking a losing record for terminal weakness. We’ve got the grades and projections for the remainder of the season right here. Welcome to the NFC EAST Midseason Report Card! Check it out!
(more…)

In his postgame interview, New York Giants’ LT David Diehl said,

“It’s a determination. We knew in order to win this football game, you can’t settle for field goals down there. So, we had that determination – “Hey we get it down there, we’re putting touchdowns up” and that was the case today. It was an awesome win.”

There is bittersweet irony in that statement. The obvious, the Giants were forced into kicking 3 FGs yesterday against a solid Buffalo Bills defense, one of which was blocked from 50 yards out. The not so obvious, the Gmen are dead LAST in the FG department throughout the league. That might sound jarring, if it were any other category. But our Boys In Blue have been very successful down in the red zone thus far in the season and have been registering more touchdowns this year than those, quite often, disappointing 3 pointers. Is this the secret to their overwhelming, under the radar success? Read on my friends.
(more…)

For the fifth consecutive meeting the New York Giants toppled the St. Louis Rams. Needless to say, winning streaks mean NOTHING. But try telling that to an Eagles fan. It was both an unpolished victory and a dominant display of Big Blue athleticism, against a team that were not operating on all four cylinders. The same can be said of the NY Giants, however.

The end result shouldn’t come as a surprise to the football world, as the Giants were the odds on favorites. Many, including SS Kenny Phillips, considered this to be a “must win” situation. It seems more than a bit premature to pin the second game of the season as a “must win.” But when you factor in the magnitude of the upcoming game against the Philadelphia Eagles, it makes all the sense in the world. There were numerous comforting and unsettling familiarities that took place in last night’s matchup. Let’s take a look at them.
(more…)

The Offense:  The Giants moved the ball very well against the Jets. Now the Jets are not very good against the run, as Pittsburgh proved last year in the playoffs, but they are a top defensive team in the league and it was a good measuring stick.  Brandon Jacobs looked solid and ran committed.  He ran over a few Jets on his way to 51 yards on 10 carries, and more importantly ran well in short yardage situations.  This also shows the O-Line is starting to come together and working as a unit.  The receivers however, as a whole, look confused.  Hakeem Nicks made some nice catches against a very good secondary, and Mario Manningham was open a few times, but Eli failed to make the throw, and this is where the problem lies this off-season.  I think Eli has had to take too much on his shoulders what with a new O-Line, in particular a new center, and new receivers.  On certain plays Monday night Eli seemed to have to speak to every player on offense individually.  he would call the protections, then move the backs, then look at each receiver, then try and get people to move or go in motion at the proper time.  While I think Eli is a good Qb, he is going to need help as the season progresses.  I think some of these receivers are doing a great job, but at times they forget where they are.  They have taken penalties for illegal motion, illegal formation, they have not read blitzes correctly, and have run some bad routes.  It is all part of the growing pains of playing in the NFL, but these guys are going to need to step it up, become professionals, and be consistent on every play.  Travis Beckum, Victor Cruz, Devin Thomas, and Domenik Hixon are going to have to contribute something for this sesaon to be a success.

The Defense:  This will be another strong unit this year.  Even with the loss of Terrell Thomas, the Giants proved the other night that they are deep enough and talented enough to be a top defensive team this year.  Aaron Ross continues to play like he did his rookie year.  Antrelle Rolle quietly, well quietly for him, has moved to the nickel corner in passing situations and looked good on Monday night.  The defensive line has learned to get pressure using just the 4 linemen, and that is a big key to success.  If you can rush a QB in this league using just the four guys upfront, your chances of success go way up.  Of course the addition of Osi and “The Prince” down the line will only improve this unit.  The much maligned linebacking core has even looked good this pre-season, and will continue to improve as we move forward.  Giant fans love their Defense, and this unit will make you proud this year.

Special Teams:  And now for the bad news.  Wow, as good as they seemed to look the week before, that’s how bad they looked this Monday night.  A step back for most units.  The punt return situation has remained the same….awful.  As a Giant punt returner your main job has always been to secure the ball first and foremost.  That became a major challenge Monday night.  I think Thursday night will be a test for some young players, and some veterans, to see what we can accomplish in this area.  I am hoping it was just an off night by a young player trying to impress. We will see. Kickoffs will be returned by Devin Thomas, and he will be a major upgrade over the 17 yard average from a year ago.  The punting competition continues, and the health of Lawrence Tynes will determine who the place kicker will be.

So, Thursday night will be a last ditch effort by some players to show something, but I imagine the final 50 if not 53 has already been determined.  Stay tuned to GMENHQ.COM for all roster moves when they are announced on Saturday, and as always, enjoy the game!

I thought the first team defense looked very strong. Plainly speaking, the Jets are a talented football team. To me, their offensive line is easily top 5 in the entire league. Yet during the game I felt the Giants defensive line controlled the trenches. This is a very good thing. There is little game planning involved in a defensive line player beating an offensive line player. Yes, a team can leave more players back to block, or create a game plan attempting to minimize the impact of one player, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Giants front four played better than the Jets five offensive lineman. I think the best example was the QB sneak on 3rd and inches. It was line against line, and the Giants didn’t budge. To me, that was probably the most impressive part of the night.

Aaron Ross was another impressive player. I was at the game tonight, and I decided early on I was going to try to keep my focus on Ross to see how he did in coverage. Ross was lined up against Burress and Holmes all night, and had pretty solid coverage. In fact there was only one time I thought his man beat him, and lucky for Ross, the Giants pass rush chased Sanchez from the pocket before he could make the throw. So, while I’m still a bit worried about Ross, he has definitely alleviated some of my concerns with his play this preseason.

Side note: It appears in nickel situations Rolle will move up to cover the slot receiver and Grant will take his place at safety. The Giants played this way all night. I was not particularly impressed with Rolle’s coverage, but I believe he will improve on this. Also when Brian Williams entered the game, he primarily covered the slot receiver.

Then there was Michael Boley. I have been waiting for Boley to become a Pro Bowl player for a number of years now. Perhaps it will never happen, but tonight he gave me reason to hope. He looks real fast out in coverage, and should again help us against tight ends. He was stout against the run, filling the holes nicely, and flying over the field to make the tackles. Not only that, but he looks like the best tackler on the team.  I’m expecting big things from him this season.

The offense didn’t have as good a night. Let’s stick with the positives though. The offensive line looked better this week. They have been improving each week, and hopefully that continues throughout the season. I thought Bradshaw, Jacobs and Ware all looked great. Jacobs has looked the best, and looks like he returned to the dominating form we saw in 2008. (And now a tangent: Earlier today I saw an ESPN video where Ron Jaworski said the Giants won’t get nine wins this season because they won’t be able to establish a power run game like they want to. He claimed they don’t have the personal, specifically mentioning the poor play at tight end. I couldn’t disagree more. It might be hard to remember, but in 2008 nobody thought Boss was a good blocking tight end. He got thrown off his blocks too many times to remember. 2008 made me realize how good a blocker Shockey was. I mention 2008 because that is the only season under Coughlin that I thought we could be categorized as a power running team. We did it without good tight ends that year. If Jacobs and Bradshaw play well, and the offensive line plays up to its potential. we will be a power running team again)

Individually, I thought Manningham and Nicks ran some nice routes and each had a few nice grabs. Victor Cruz had a nice game as well, and even two tight ends got involved (Jake Ballard and Travis Beckum).

Once the starters left I don’t think there were a ton of positives. David Carr played so poorly, no one really had a chance to excel on offense. Defensively the Giants got pushed around. No one on the line really stood out. In fact, the only player I thought that did stand out was Clint Sintim. He was in on every tackle, and got pressure when he was sent on a blitz. I guess this means the Giants are fairly thin, but I think that was something we already knew.

Now to address Eli and the turnovers. Eli Manning did not have a good game. I don’t want to read too much into this. It was a preseason game, and I have no idea how much they game planned. Still, I thought he failed to get into a rhythm and almost never looked off his first receiver. There were plenty of times I knew the receiver getting the ball before the snap. The rest of the time I figured it out maybe a second after the snap. My point is, it looked like Eli tried to get the ball into the hands of the first option, instead of looking off if the receiver wasn’t open. I thought this was the reason for the first interception, as he tried to force it to Cruz, even though he was barely open. He had to lead him or the trailing corner would’ve picked it off. Since it was such a small window, he led him by a lot, hoping Cruz could run and make the catch. It was too far in front of Cruz, though, and it flew in front of his outstretched hands and into the safety behind him. The second pick wasn’t entirely Eli’s fault. He escaped from the pocket and headed to the left when he spotted Bradshaw streaking down the sideline. Eli threw a back shoulder pass, but Bradshaw didn’t know and kept running, leading to an easy pick for the defense.

The tight ends didn’t have a great game either. The Giants seem reluctant to have Beckum on the line, and had him almost exclusively in the slot. This didn’t cause them to become predictable, as they did run out of the formation, but if Beckum is primarily gonna be a receiver, I wish he had more catches. The Giants have not looked good in the red zone this preseason, and lack of an option at tight end is a big reason for that. It will be interesting to see how the Giants address this issue in the regular season.

Overall a solid game for the Giants.

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I am definitely a fan of this move. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I strongly believe the Giants needed to sign a corner with experience to have any semblance of depth in the secondary this season.

Last season with the Falcons, Williams was the nickel corner, and, from talking to Falcons fans, did a real nice job for a team that went 13-3 in the regular season. He was injured for their only playoff game, and several fans believe that was part of the reason the Packers were able to torch them through the air. (So I guess that can be seen as good news and bad news. Good news that he had a true impact on a 13-3 team as their nickel corner, but bad news that the guy has had injury problems when he is coming in to fortify a position because of our injury problems.) While he filled the role nicely in Atlanta last season, I am not sure Fewell is planning on naming Williams as the nickel corner this year. I still believe Fewell favors the three-safety set he implemented last season, and will likely allow Grant to fill that role again. This doesn’t mean Williams role is going to be limited to “security blanket.” All good teams need six good defensive backs, and Williams will be the sixth man in this unit. Think of him in the same role Aaron Ross played last season.

Speaking of Aaron Ross, I think he has a good chance of stepping up this season. Back in 2007 he made a major impact for the team. During the week 3 comeback against the Redskins, one of the key changes to the defense was the insertion of Ross into the starting lineup. He had a stellar season that year, and continued his success in 2008 when he and Corey Webster formed one of the best corner duos in the NFL. The following season he was hurt and Thomas took his spot. Thomas played terrific, and, due to problems at safety, when Ross was healthy he was forced to play out of position. He was healthy all of last season, but was buried on the depth chart, and struggled when assigned to cover the slot receiver.

I think there are two players you can compare Ross to. First is Osi Umenyiora. He was injured in 2008, and healthy in 2009, but failed to make his usual impact. In 2010 he returned to form, and many people believed it was because he needed a full season to recover. If that is true, then 2010 was Ross’ season to recover. The second player is Corey Webster. Webster was a talented corner who lost his confidence early on in his career. He had a stellar game against the Bucs in the playoffs in 2007 and has completely turned it around. Forcing Ross to play out of position in 2009 and, to an extent, in 2010 could have hurt his confidence. With the coaching staff granting Ross’ wish to stay on the outside receiver, he has seemed way more confident this camp. Hopefully that confidence will help with the turnaround. (Yes, by this point it is fairly obvious that by compare, I meant make excuses for. Still I think there is enough reason to believe that either one, or some combination of both of those was the reason he has kind of fallen off a bit from his first two seasons.) He got off to a nice start against the Bears this past Monday, and hopefully he can continue to build on that

Side note: as horrible as this is, this might be the perfect situation for Ross. Both Thomas and Ross are in contract years. Before the injury, there was no way Ross would be kept over Thomas. Now, if Ross has a stellar year, the Giants might have a hard time deciding which one to keep. Webster is still costing a lot against the cap, so I have my doubts the front office will be able to keep them both. Personally, I hope they bring Thomas back over Ross because I believe Thomas has turned into one of the leaders on this team, but that doesn’t change the fact that this is an amazing opportunity for Ross.

So, with this signing, and possibly another pick-up after roster cuts, the Giants should have enough talent at corner to make a playoff push, especially if Prince Amukamara comes back and plays well this season.

The talent is there. I know we lost Steve Smith, Kevin Boss and Barry Cofield in the offseason, but that doesn’t change that fact. (honestly, I think everyone is freaking out WAY too much about this. Aside from Steve Smith I don’t think we lost any player that was above average. And in Steve Smith’s case, we lost a player at a position that we have an abundance of talent)

Focusing on the defense, I think we can all agree that the Giants showed how dominant of a unit they could be at times last season. Remember, for a while they were ranked as the number one unit in terms of total yards allowed, and they finished the season with the most takeaways in the league. So why don’t we remember how dominant they were? Because they choked down the stretch and gave up a billion points in the time it took to blink. (those numbers were only slightly exaggerated)

This season the Giants will have the same defensive system and coordinator for the first time in three years. A system and coordinator that the players like and respect. If they can keep themselves motivated they have a chance of replicating what the Ravens did back when they terrorized Kerry Collins for 60 minutes. (and subsequently made us forget how magnificent he was against the Vikings a game before)

Now I could bullet the reasons why the defense should be dominant, but I think they showed that at times last year. Instead let’s look at the reasons this defense could fail to live up to these lofty expectations.

1. Poor depth in the secondary

This is something that troubled me last season, as I thought they only had three starting caliber corners (Webster, Thomas, and Ross) and a single injury would leave them exposed. Luckily the Giants did not have a single significant injury in the secondary last season. The problem is, with Prince injured the Giants are in the same predicament. Bringing back Deon Grant helps stabilize the safeties, but the corners are once again an injury away from getting torched on a weekly basis.

2. Lack of talent at linebacker

Right now the three starting linebackers are Michael Boley, Jonathan Goff and Mathias Kiwanuka. While Kiwi spent some time at linebacker before, he is more a defensive end than a linebacker. Boley has been with the team for two seasons and has failed to make a big impact. Finally, Goff was average at best in his role, and did so little to impress the coaches last season that his spot hasn’t even been guaranteed.

3. Without Osi and Cofield the defensive line won’t be as dominant

Osi recently elected to have surgery (so he gets a second opinion, is told he is cleared to play. tells everyone he is going to play so he doesn’t let his teammates and coaches down, then has a surgery that will keep him off the field for weeks, and let his teammates and coaches down. I don’t get it. Either say right after the second opinion I’m going to have the surgery, or don’t have the surgery. Don’t claim you are going to be the bigger man, then a few days later act like a child in a pissing match with your parents) and Cofield left in free agency. Those two players were two of the most productive players on the line, how do the Giants replace their production?

Now that we’ve outlined the three biggest problems surrounding the Giants defense why don’t we show why they aren’t a big deal. Let’s start with the easiest one. The Linebackers:

This is another issue I think is talked about way too much. With the way the Giants like to play defense, the linebackers are not impact players. For starters, teams almost always trot out three wide receivers, which means three corners and two linebackers. Keith Bullock was the third linebacker last year and he barely saw the field. Secondly, the Giants prefer to play with three safeties than three linebackers. For those two reasons, it is rare to have more than two linebackers on the field, and there are plenty of formations with just one. But what about the lack of talent? Michael Boley is a better player than people give him credit for. He was hurt his first season, and actually played pretty well last year. Boley, combined with the play of Grant and the safeties, were the reason why the Giants defended the tight end position so well. For Kiwanuka, he looked fantastic in this same role early last season. He had four sacks in the first three games before getting injured. I remember I was so excited about his development last season, and it was a huge blow when he was injured. I am not worried about his play at all. For Goff, he had a solid season. I’ll admit it wasn’t great, but it was leaps and bounds better than what I thought he would do. With a season under his belt I expect him to play even better than he did last year. In short, I am not saying the Giants have amazing linebackers. What I am saying is I don’t see the position as this great weakness that will hinder the Giants potential to be a dominating defense.

Now the second easiest question, the defensive line:

Yes, Cofield and Osi played well last season. No, their contributions won’t be impossible to replace. For one, I don’t see Cofield as being anything special. He is a good player, but good players are replaceable. Linval Joseph and Marvin Austin are more talented than Cofield was. Will they be able to showcase those talents on the field? We’ll see. I strongly believe at least one of them will, and let’s not forget, we still have Chris Canty, who has played well for the Giants. For Osi, he will be back with the team probably before the midpoint of the season. In the meantime, JPP has looked great. (While I say this I am terrified he is going to have some freak injury that costs him the season. It seems to happen every year with a player that is about to breakout. Kenny Phillips, Victor Cruz, Kiwanuka…twice) While it would be ideal to have Osi in the rotation, I don’t think it will destroy the team to be without him for part of the season.

Finally the hardest question, the secondary depth:

This is probably the thing that worries me the most. If there is an injury to Corey Webster or Terrell Thomas, I have no idea how the Giants will fare. I guess we’ll have to watch the rest of the preseason to see if someone emerges, but for now it worries me. Prince should be back at some point this season, so hopefully he can come back and add some much needed depth. (or perhaps his injury appeased the sports gods enough that we don’t need to lose another player to injury?) I am worried about a corner coming in without any training camp and having a screw in his foot, but on the bright side, how well do you need to know the playbook to play man-to-man, and if he is cleared to play hopefully that injured foot isn’t bothering him. Still I can’t help but think of this issue as the biggest problem the Giants face.

Still, looking back on these issues and last year’s performance, I think it is fair to say that if the Giants can stay motivated, they can be a top 5 unit in the NFL. Basically, just like Dan said in his article, the biggest thing keeping the Giants from being a top unit is themselves. So this season will tell us one of two things: the coaching staff is incapable of motivating these players, or the Giants have a bad locker room and need to completely overhaul their roster. Something tells me the coaches will go first.

Jennings, in 25 career kick returns, has averaged a very respectable 22.4 yards per return. Contrast that to Hixon, who in 80 career regular season kick returns has averaged a return of 24.57 yards. While that loss is almost negligible, the punt return comparison shows just how much the Giants really are losing in Hixon. Domenik has averaged a robust 11.04 yards per return in his 48 career punt returns. Jennings, meanwhile, has 54 returns but only 6.2 yards per.

At the very least, Jennings will step in and provide competition to the current threesome competing for the job: Aaron Ross, Mario Manningham, and my favorite of the three, Sinorice Moss. If Jennings cannot take the return job, there is a likelihood we could become a special teams coverage contributor.

The Giants tried to go outside their current roster, and signed Chris Davis, a kick off return specialist. However, he failed his physical and was thus waived after sitting out all last season with hamstring problems.

Three internal candidates seem to come right to mind: cornerback Aaron Ross, and wide receivers Sinorice Moss and Mario Manningham. Personally, all these three candidates I like Ross the least. As you’ll no doubt see if you continue to follow this site, I am by no means at all a fan of Aaron Ross, and while he’s a burner, the less he’s on the field the happier I will be. Manningham is no doubt explosive, but he carries the ball so precariously, it seemed he was fumbled once every few catches if he wasn’t bobbling it. That’s the main thing you need out of a returner: ball security. Excellent returns and fantastic field position are a large part of the game. But very few things are as devastating to a team, especially a defense, as stopping a team and then immediately fumbling the punt. The winner, by default, in my eyes, is Moss. Moss is quick, and always seems to perform during training camp and preseason. He has not been able to crack the field consistently, however, perhaps this is just the role he needs to excel.

At this poibt nothing has been decided. It’s a three way race, and there’s still the possibility the Giants could reach outside the organization again for an answer as more cuts come from other teams.

Craig Dahl (ankle) is probable vs Washington.

Plaxico Burress (ankle/knee) is listed as questionable vs Washington.

Aaron Ross (hamstring) is listed as probable vs Washington.

Gibril Wilson (knee) is doubtful vs Washington.

Jeremy Shockey (stomach) is questionable vs Washington.