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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While this was not my expectation, I can’t say that I’m really surprised. Kiwankuka had a similar role last season, and was making a big impact before his injury. I understand that was in a very limited amount of time, but the coaching staff has always been confident that Kiwanuka can make the transition to linebacker, and I am sure Perry Fewell will make sure that Kiwanuka’s primary role will still involve taking the opposing quarterback down.

As for Sintim, you have to wonder if this means the coaching staff has lost confidence in him. Recently linebackers coach Jim Hermann has come out to say that isn’t the case, but there must be some truth to it. If Sintim was performing at the level his draft status indicates, the coaching staff would want to do anything in their power to get him on the field. The fact that the Giants would rather give the snaps to Kiwanuka, even though Osi Umenyiora is currently on the sidelines, has to indicate some kind of displeasure with where Sintim currently is in his development.

As for Osi, this move indicates to me that the Giants are confident he will be on the field for them opening day. If they had any reservations about that, they would have Kiwanuka taking snaps at defensive end since he is the logical replacement for Osi in the starting lineup.

In the offseason, all the experts deemed the Giants’ biggest weaknesses to be along the offensive line and the linebacking corp. Both look to be solidified by young players already on the Giants roster. The players I’m talking about are William Beatty and Clint Sintim. Those players are entering their third season in the NFL, a season many believe is the season that young players become stars in this league.

In addition to the signing of David Baas, the progression of Beatty will allow the Giants’ offensive line to return to the productive levels we have seen back in 2007 and 2008. David Diehl, David Baas, and Chris Snee form one of the best interior lines in the league, and flanked out at right, Kareem Mckenzie looks to add another solid year to his resume. This leads to the only question mark on the line, William Beatty. Beatty was a guy with first round talent, and fell to the second round simply due to the tremendous depth at the tackle position that year. In his third season with the Giants, he should have a firm enough grasp of the offense to make a huge contribution. If he does, watch out.

Michael Boley and his hefty contract will undoubtedly start at weak side linebacker this season. With Jonathan Goff’s great season, and lack of competition, he should look to man the middle for another year. That leaves the strong side spot open. All indications have been that the coaching staff is looking to Sintim to fill that role. The third year player has worlds of talent, it just hasn’t been realized on the football field yet. It is his third year, however, and you’d hope by now Sintim would be able to show something. Like Beatty, if he can reach his potential he can turn what was a question mark into an asset for the Giants.

In addition to these two players, look for Travis Beckum, Hakeem Nicks and Ramses Barden to all improve on their previous performances, giving the Giants the impact players so many are craving from free agency. It might not be splashy, but the Giants have the makings of an improved team. That is scary when you realize they were 10-6 and possibly eight minutes away from being the 2nd seed in the playoffs last season.

The injuries that the New York Giants have had to contend with this season have passed over the borderline and into the territory of the obscene. Before the start of the preseason, and at the very first practice, their “Plaxico Burress successor”, Domenik Hixon, suffered a season ending accruciate ligament injury. From that practice up until the game against the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night, the Giants’ receiving corp continued to be depreciated by a nasty little injury plague.

There was a glimmer of hope on Monday night though. David Diehl, Steve Smith and Hakeem Nicks all made it back into the starting lineup only to find the injury plague back in full swing. Steve Smith was Big Blue’s second leading receiver before his pectoral injury. In the 3rd quarter of the Vikings game, Smith suffered a hamstring injury and is likely to miss at least one game.
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Through the draft the Giants added two players, fourth round selection Phillip Dilliard and sixth round pick Adrian Tracy. Add that to the current linebackers on the roster, Chase Blackburn, Michael Boley, fan favorite Zak DeOssie, Jonathan Goff, Brian Kehl, Clint Sintim, Gerris Wilkinson, and Kenny Ingram (who has never entered a game). None of those names ring out like those old Giants linebackers of lore. But who knows what we will think of them after this season?

The race for the Mike or Middle Linebacker boils down to 4 players: Goff, Dilliard, Wilkinson, and Blackburn. Whoever wins the competition will be expected to quarterback the defense the same way Antonio Pierce did under previous defensive coordinators, which could be too much to throw on rookie Dilliard’s plate immediately. Many fans were playing Rolando McClain was going to fall to the Giants in the first round, but that obviously didn’t happen. The Giants obviously expect a lot from Dilliard, but how much they can realistically expect from a first year player remains to be seen. Of all the races profiled thus far this one seems the most wide open. Jonathan Goff has been getting most of the reps so far with the first team, with Dilliard mostly with the second, but really none of the four options have been ruled out yet, and while it could very well be Goff’s to lose, it would be just as easy for Dilliar for even Blackburn or Wilkinson to win it.

Michael Boley spent parts of last season hurt, but when he did play he did so servicably. He should remain as the starter at one of the outside linebacker spots. The other outside spot most likely belongs to Clint Sintim, who has seen a few reps in the middle himself. If the season ended today, it would most likely be Boley and Sintim on the outside with Goff anchoring the middle. The Giants know more or less what to expect from Boley, as long as he stays healthy. It is Goff and even more Sintim that are the players to watch. Of course, if the front four do their job, they will help cover up any weakness in the young linebacking corps.