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

They were without their leading receiver. Their starting running back, full back and center all missed the game due to injury. Their 1st pick overall in the 2011 NFL Draft made the trip, but did not play.

Of the six categories (ten positions within each slot), not one…NOT ONE single member of the New York Giants earned themselves a slot in the NFL Weekly leader board. They were shutdown for the entire first half. Just how did Big Blue pull off their biggest upset of the season? We’ve got answers. Join me on this incredibly inspiring fact finding recap.
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Personally, I think the GIANTS should look long and hard at Harris. Grant has proven to be nothing special this season. Yes, he has been playing out of position from time-to-time, however, he has still sucked. Grant has  misread run plays, blown assignments, and overall just looked lost out there.

I would welcome the addition of Chris Harris to the GIANTS secondary. However, I think it is nothing more than a pipe dream at this point. The GIANTS have surprised us though with their player signings….

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.
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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.

Grant was a favorite of the players, and will be a great mentor to rookie Tyler Sash.

The signing was most likely in part to the shoddy play of Aaron Ross in the game against the Panthers.

The expectations for the 2010 New York Giants safety regime were quite high, to put it mildly. This “inimitable” squadron turned out to be…well..not too bad. This, of course, is debatable. Despite a few bumps in the road, one of the Big Blue safeties was voted to the Pro Bowl.

Paralleling the children’s tale, “Goldilocks And The Three Bears” (minus Goldilocks), Deon Grant, Antrel Rolle and Kenny Phillips represent the three facets of a professional football player’s career. Phillips – a relative rookie. Rolle – close to the midpoint of his profession. Grant – a seasoned veteran with more days behind him than in front.
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The Eagles love to go deep with DeSean Jackson and who wouldn’t? He may be the fastest man in football and certainly one of the most exciting. The one difference between these two football teams may be #10.

Phillips and Grant have been stalwarts in the Giants’ secondary this season but now is when the rubber meets the road. The 2 safeties have very little room for error and must perform at a very high level. No missed tackles, bad pursuit angles or morphing into a greyhound chasing the rabbit. I am not suggesting they must assume all the responsibility in curtailing the Eagles’ designs for big plays but Phillips and Grant cannot hand out any gifts. This is a time when one or both can be the impact player(s) that teams need in this type of contest.

So what is to be done to lessen Jackson’s impact on the upcoming game? The Giants must be in position to hit and hit often. Safeties, linebackers, linemen and corners must harass Jackson at every opportunity. They cannot allow free releases from the line, and when DeSean makes a catch he must be crushed. He is allusive and fast which only heightens the challenge, but for the Giants to prevail they must neutralize Mr. Jackson. Jackson must be a marked man.

This may be the biggest challenge the Giants’ safeties will have faced all year and certainly the most critical.  Not only must they maintain depth in relation to Jackson but they also need to support a running attack that victimized the G-Men last time out. Their mantra must be “stay alert and do not get fooled”. This is not an exercise for the faint of heart and at 6’1″ and 6’2″ over 200 lbs., respectively, I don’t think they are shrinking violets. I do hope they did their homework.

The Giants have some weapons of their own. Their ability to provide pressure with a 4 man pass rush is perhaps their greatest asset for that allows 7 in coverage and the ability to double DeSean.  Pressuring Michael Vick into quick throws and using confusing defenses will go far in mitigating the big play ability of Jackson. But without stellar safety play, all will be for naught.

The stage is set. The gun is loaded and the trigger cocked. Kenny Phillips and Deon Grant are the two formidable and physical objects capable of disarming the dangerous Eagles’ vertical offense. On a gun the safety is activated by a simple push of the thumb. Giants’ safeties need to be activated by Perry Fewell with the same ease and effectiveness.

Source: Jennifer Brown/The Star-Ledger

In the world of professional sports where players, more often than not, take the “Imma get mine” attitude, a rare story of brotherhood and sportsmanship has been developing. This inspirational subplot to the 2010 NFL season, which has been riddled with dirty play, hefty fines and soap opera scenarios, could only belong to a football team whose heart is True Blue.

The New York Giants pride themselves on being team players. Deon Grant said in the 11/28/10 post game interview,

“we’re a true family.”

There is no greater example of that than the relationship between Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. Jacobs lost the starting running back position earlier in the year only to find himself with the job once more after Bradshaw had fumbling issues. While the starting job may go back and forth between them, their bond as teammates, friends and “brothers” continues to evolve.
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