Dan Connor played for the Dallas Cowboys in 2012 and played for the Carolina Panthers from 2008 to 2011. Connor is 27 years-old, 241 lbs, and 6’2″. He was a third-round pick from Penn State in 2008. Connor is most comfortable in the middle linebacker position which makes me wonder about the future of Chase Blackburn who is a free agent.

Louis Murphy could be a nice addition to the receiving corps. It looks like he’ll be competing with Jerrel Jernigan for the number fourth receiver spot. However, Domenik Hixon and Ramses Barden are both free agents and first-round tender has been placed on restricted free agent Victor Cruz. Murphy will give the Giants some negotiating room and also serves as a solid back up plan if they lose a few receivers to free agency.

Louis Murphy was a fourth-round pick for the Oakland Raiders in 2009. He is 25 years old, 200 lbs, and 6’2″. He played in Oakland for three years and was with the Carolina Panthers in 2012. In 2010, Murphy had his best year with 41 receptions and 609 yards. What I really like about Murphy is his speed. He has a career average of 14.5 yards in his 115 receptions.

Tight end Brandon Myers will visit with the New York Giants. Myers is 27 years old, 250 lbs, 6’4″. He was the sixth-round draft pick from Iowa in 2009. He’s played all four years of his NFL career with the Oakland Raiders. Myers had a breakout season last year with 4 TDs, 79 catches, and 806 yards. This is a guy who I believe is ready to be a top-tier tight end and exactly what the Giants need to overcome their red zone problems.

I like what Jerry Reese is doing here. He’s bringing on young, hungry players with 4-5 years experience in the league and giving them one year to prove themselves worthy of a longer contract to play out the remainder of their careers. After a breakout season last year, Brandon Myers is probably looking for a longer contract and probably deserves it. I suspect that if he signs with the Giants he’ll have a two-year deal, but not a three or four-year deal.

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.

Keith Rivers: Rivers had a fabulous first game as a Giant. No one knew what we would be getting out of Rivers when the Giants traded away a 5th-round draft pick for him this offseason, but he has the potential to be a steal if he keeps playing like he did last night. Rivers had 7 tackles, second most on the team, and was around the ball on practically every snap that he played. If he continues to play that well, the Giants’ linebacking situation becomes very sturdy.

Domenik Hixon: One of the biggest questions coming into this year was how the Giants were going to replace Mario Manningham, who left as a free agent to sign with San Francisco. Judging by last night, we may not miss him much. Coming off a second torn ACL in 15 months, Hixon had 3 catches for 55 yards, including a tremendous 39-yard grab to set up the Giants’ first touchdown. He had the second most receiving yards on the team, behind Victor Cruz’s 58, and was one of the few bright spots on an offense that struggled for most of the night.

Steve Weatherford: The punting game is never sexy, but last year’s transition from Matt Dodge to Steve Weatherford may have been the single biggest positional upgrade the Giants made from the year before. Last night, Weatherford was excellent as usual, punting four times for an average of 50.3 yards, including one punt that was downed inside the 20 yard line and another that should have been, but the coverage team couldn’t keep the ball from rolling into the end zone after it bounced perfectly at the one yard line.

The biggest silver linings are that this was only one game in a long season, and that the Giants easily could have won with a few breaks on key plays. The areas that failed the Giants were the same ones we figured would be issues coming into the season – the running game and the secondary. A lucky win would have glossed over those problems and created the illusion that nothing was wrong, but a loss to a division rival on a national stage ensures that no one will be overconfident heading into next week. Hopefully, the results will be better.

Offensive Coordinator Kevin Gilbride has confirmed that Domenik Hixon will start as the third wide receiver. Hixon was pretty much the front runner for the position throughout camp and he’s a veteran who knows what the Giants expect out of the position. It would be a great story if Hixon is able to have a breakout season. He’s put himself back into the mix this summer after two consecutive seasons with torn ACL’s derailed his playing career.

Hixon most likely will fill the void created by the departure of free agent Mario Manningham. He has big-play potential and with Nicks lined up on the opposite side it allows for Cruz to stay in the slot position where he had so much success last season. It’s important to remember that the Giants also can put Ramses Barden, Rueben Randle, and Jerrel Jernigan in on certain situations, so the depth is definitely there in the passing attack.

Injuries to Prince Amukamara (high ankle sprain) and Terrell Thomas (ACL) have forced the Giants to rely on unproven players to step up and seize the moment in their defensive secondary.

Defensive Coordinator Perry Fewell has confirmed that Michael Coe will be the starter against Dallas at cornerback in place of Amukamara. The Giants are impressed with Coe’s speed and mental toughness. Coe isn’t exactly a new face to the league, he’s 28 years old and entering his sixth season in the NFL. This will be his first ever NFL start after enduring through injuries and being waived by the Colts, Jaguars, and Giants in his first stint with the team.

Coe will get to play opposite veteran Corey Webster and he knows that Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo will most likely try to test him early by throwing in his direction as much as they can.

The Giants are also expecting to have rookie cornerback Jayron Hosley ready to play on Wednesday night. Hosley suffered a turf toe injury that cut short his preseason, however he’s going to be counted on to be ready to go.

As for Amukamara, the Giants are holding out hope that the he’ll be ready to go in week 2 against Tampa Bay. Thomas was placed on injured reserve for the second consecutive year ending his season before it can start.

This year the opportunity to make an impact is clearly there for Barden to grab. The Giants depth at wide receiver will be put to the test in 2012. Mario Manningham is now catching passes in San Francisco thanks to free agency and big-play receiver Hakeem Nicks is rehabbing from a broken foot. If there was ever a chance for Barden to show the Giants he’s ready it’s now.

Based on what head coach Tom Coughlin has said about Barden, it’s apparent that the Giants feel it’s time to see if he is indeed the impact player they believe he can be.

“It’s time, it was time last year. The guy is going to make a mark in the league. He’s smart. He’s been around long enough. He’s been in the heat of it. You know, he’s made plays. He just needs to make them more consistently. That’s all I hope. (That) this is his time.”

It’s the size of Barden that caught my attention when the Giants started talking him up after taking him in the third round of the 2009 draft. He’s 6-foot-6 and was so impressive in his first training camp, it brought back reminders of how successful quarterback Eli Manning was throwing red zone passes to Plaxico Burress.

Injuries and a deep depth chart at the wide receiver position has slowed down Barden’s development. However with Manningham’s departure, there is a prime spot up for grabs. If Barden can stay healthy and produce, he’ll fit nicely in the passing game with Nicks and Victor Cruz for Manning.

Barden is entering the final year of his contract. The Giants went out and drafted receiver Rueben Randle and re-signed Domenik Hixon. If that’s not enough for motivation to get it done, I don’t know what else would work. Nothing is going to be just handed to him, he’ll have to earn it.

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 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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Welcome to December Giants fans. Forget what you knew. Forget the last 11 games. This is a NEW season, a 5 game season and one whose road is not paved to perfection. In fact, buckle up. It’s going to be a bumpy ride!
I am by no means a numerologist. Yet, I could not help but notice that the number 5 has reared its mysterious head throughout Big Blue’s 2010 season. The New York Giants went on to win 5 consecutive games after losing 2 straight earlier in the year. What every Giants fan is hoping for is DEJA BLUE. That has already begun – another 2 straight losses and the beginning of another possible 5 game winning streak. Last Sunday’s victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars brought in the first of this very hopeful winning streak.
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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 could have put Hixon directly on Injured Reserve, but his salary would have been counted against the team’s training camp salary. By letting him pass through waivers, his salary is now off the the Giants cap but remains property of the team.

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.

Many will remember that Hixon required season ending surgery on his knee after an awkward cut on the first Giants practice on their new turf. The injury caused much alarm, or alarmism depending on your viewpoint, as to the safety of the turf at new Giants Stadium. Players and management took up both sides, and the fact that almost all NFL teams now use the same kind of turf was cited by defenders on both sides.

Regardless, this could be a sad way to end what at times looked like could be a beautiful friendship, to paraphrase the legendary Humphrey Bogart. There’s still a chance that if Hixon clears waivers he will be placed on Injured Reserve. However, there is no safety net here, if another team claims him, he’s all theirs.

Hixon had many highlights for the Big Blue. Many will remember his 74 yard kickoff return in the regular season finale against the undefeated New England Patriots. He also recovered a fumble in that postseason against the Green Bay Packers. After the Plaxico Burress fiasco, Hixon started and caught 4 passes for 102 yards in the first half before leaving with a concussion.

Of course, his career was more marked with promise than with actual results. Just as frustrating were the dropped passes that seemed to plague Hixon, as well as the injuries. Hopefully he clears waiver and can build upon the potential he’s shown so fleetingly on the field.

The Hixon news is all too familiar to the Giants who have suffered significant injury losses before the season in 2008 (Osi Umeniyora) and again in 2009 (Jay Alford and Guy Whimper).  How big is the Hixon loss?  In our opinion, pretty big, but not insurmountable by any means.  Hixon was number 4 on the depth chart at wide receiver behind Smith, Nicks, and Manningham, and was going to be pushed for snaps by Ramses Barden, Derek Hagan, Travis Beckum, and maybe even Sinorice Moss (whose roster spot may just be safe now).  Hixon’s real value is on special teams, both in kickoff and punt returns and that is the greater concern. 

Jerry Reese has mentioned Manningham and Aaron Ross as possible punt return men, but do you want to risk Manningham to injury on special teams after he had a breakout season in 2009?  And Aaron Ross has had a difficult time staying healthy and hasn’t been involved in the punt return game since his days at Texas.  Still, both of these guys might just get a chance to take over punt return duties.  Antrell Rolle could be an option, but his importance to the secondary (and in consideration of his $37 million dollar deal) make him an unlikely fit there. 

Sinorice Moss looks good on paper as a replacement for Hixon, but he has shown virtually nothing in the past when given the opportunity (and save your jokes and slams on this one, we are only referring to Moss’ inability to break through on special teams and not to his shortcomings at the wide receiver position).  Andre Brown, returning from his lost rookie campaign, is a likely option on kickoffs and the Giants also might consider Danny Ware.  One name to watch is undrafted rookie free agent Tim Brown out of Rutgers who has impressed in camp and has the skills to excel in the return game. 

Jerry Reese has not ruled out trade options and you can be sure he is looking at the waiver wire and street free agenst as we speak.  Could Buffalo’s Roscoe Parrish be a good fit?  If Jerry is thinking trade, this is the guy I want as Parrish has shown the ability to make big plays on special teams and also adds a little more depth at wide receiver.  If Parrish can be had for a later round draft pick, Reese should pull the trigger.  Reese and Coughlin are not going to hit the panic button so expect a little time to pass as the Giants look at their in-house options first. 

There has been a lot said about Ramses Barden, his spectacular minicamp performances, and his increased understanding of the offense.  Barden (and Beckum) both have an opportunity to move up the depth chart and earn playing time as the 4th wide receiver slot is now open.  Let’s see who steps up, Stay Blue!