May 11, 2012; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants tight end Adrien Robinson (81) signals during a play during minicamp at the Timex Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Debby Wong-US PRESSWIRE

So the Patriots claimed Jake Ballard off waivers.  Maybe to needle the  GMen after beating them in 2 superbowls, but Probably to fill a spot when they have to make a decision about Hernandez. Either way, what does it mean for Eli Manning and the Giants Offense?

Immediately it means nothing as Ballard was not going to play this year, and long term it doesn’t mean much more. After all Its not like Ballard was Mark Bavaro. But there is still a huge hole to fill at TE and it appears that not taking  tight end Coby Fleener early in the draft could be costly.

So what do we have now? There is TE/FB Bear Pascoe, he is a good blocker and has shown some glimpses in the short passing attack but nothing to make anyone think he will be the go to guy down the seam. Then you have Martellus Bennett who may or may not have a weight issue. He played at 270 last year and is now up to 291, which according to Mike Popecould be one reason why he has had ahamstring injury. He is a bit of a wild card since playing behind Witten he does not get a lot of balls thrown at him. And lastly there is Rookie Adrien Robinson. He missed most of mini camp due to finishing school and will need to add some muscle and work on blocking. Needless to say he will not be a big factor early in the season.

The tight end position is the biggest question mark for the 2013 season and unless someone steps up to become a reliable target it could be our Achilles heel in the road to a repeat.

Apr 26, 2012; New York, NY, USA; New York Giant fans react to the pick of David Wilson during the 2012 NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall Mandatory Credit: William Perlman/The Star-Ledger via US PRESSWIRE

After all the mock drafts and all the speculation the picks have all been made. So how did Big Blue do? With the departures of Brandon Jacobs, Mario Manningham, Aaron Ross, Dave Tollefson and with Ballard and Beckum not being able to start the season due to injury there were holes that needed to be filled. Due to successes Reese has had in recent drafts he has earned the benefit of the doubt when it comes to selecting players.

Overall I would rate the Giants draft as a B. They were able to fill the holes they had with players that have very good potential. David Wilson and Rueban Randle were very solid picks with huge upsides. Jayron Hosley is an extremely athletic corner that can make up for his lack of size with raw ability. Adrien Robinson is a big fast TE that will help the running game, although he tends to take plays off. Brandon Moseley OT has a huge upside, he is a physical player with a lot of experience. Since he played in the spread offense there may be a learning curve. The last two picks of OT Matt McCants and DT Markus Kuhn were very good picks for the late rounds. Both have all the tools to play at this level, but need some time to excel and hone there playing skills and have the ability to become the diamonds in the rough all teams look for in 6th and 7th rounds. There should be some nice surprises when all is said and done.

December 11, 2011; Charlotte, NC, USA; Carolina Panthers tight end Jeremy Shockey (80) catches the ball and scores a touchdown while playing against the Atlanta Falcons at Bank of America Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Sam Sharpe-US PRESSWIRE

As we awake on this Saturday morning, nearly six days removed from being freshly crowned NFL champions, the twitter world is a buzz. I was going through my twitter feed there wear nearly 10 plus tweets from various Giants websites talking about the possibility of bringing back Jeremy Shockey. In case you did not know, the “shock” as License Plate Guy referred to him as, is a free agent this year.

As we know the Giants will be in the market for a TE come this off-season. It is highly likely that both Jake Ballard and Travis Beckum will start the season on the Physical Unable to Perform list (PUP List). That leaves only Bear Pascoe on the active roster as true tight-ends. Jerry Reese will have to address the position along with numerous other positions throughout the off-season.

As a Giant, we know Shockey had HUGE difficulties with Manning in his last injury plagued season with the Giants. Shockey was a strong personality and at that time, Eli was a young UN-PROVEN player. Things have changed. Eli is now a two-time Super Bowl Champion and Super Bowl MVP. Shockey is a aging veteran who has largely shut-up and just played the game recently.

While with the Giants Shockey put up good numbers. He played in a total of 83 games, had 371 catches for 4,228 yards and 24 touchdowns. Whether you like him or not he was very productive while in the Giants blue. Also, do not forget that Jermey Shockey was one of the Giants players who went and visited Wellington Mara while he was dying. It is much documented how much Shockey loved Wellington and considered him a father. Last year with the Panthers, Shockey played in 15 games and had 37 catches for 455 yards.  Those are not bad numbers at all. The Giants are looking to replace 43 catches and 694 yards (with Beckum and Ballard out).

I have been thinking about this for about the last two-to-three hours and I’m torn. Shockey was my favorite Giant when he played with

Feb 5, 2012; Indianapolis, IN, USA; New York Giants tight end Jake Ballard (85) limps off the field with crutches after being injured in the game against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons-US PRESSWIRE

the team. I know him and Eli had their problems. But times have changed. Shockey has grown up and significantly matured and well we know Eli is now a top five if not a top three QB in the league. If Eli, Shockey, and Coughlin can sit down and have a productive meeting and the price is right (a one year deal for deal for the 2-3 million range) I say bring him back.  We are going to need help at that position. Pascoe can block fine, but we need a receiving threat. Especially if we loose Manningham.

For those of you wondering what other options are out there, here you go: Jermichael Finley, Fred Davis, John Carlson, and Shiancoe. Finley will most likely sign a long-term deal with the Packers. Honestly the rest of the choices do not wow me and I would rather have someone who always had his heart in the right place. We need someone to hold down the fort until Ballard and Beckum come back. For those of you who say draft a TE, that is an option. However, is that option going to give you almost 40 catches?

This will be a very interesting off-season for the Giants. We have many needs and we were not expecting TE to be one of them. Bringing Shockey back on the Giants terms may be an inexpensive and effective way to fill the gap until the cavalry shows up. The Giants will also probably be looking to sure up at the OL, LB, the Secondary in general and the interior DL.  Stay with GmenHq for the off-season news associated with your Super Bowl Champion New York Giants!

2012 started off on the right foot for the New York Giants and their fans as they defeated the Dallas Cowboys for the second time this season by a 31-14 margin to clinch the NFC East title, guaranteeing at least one more week of New York Giants football in perhaps the sweetest fashion possible. The Giants will face the Atlanta Falcons in New York next Sunday in the first round of the playoffs.

Thoughts from the game-

-Surprise, surprise- Victor Cruz came up big once again. What else is there left to say about him that hasn’t already been said?

-Hakeem Nicks get a lot of attention for his receiving talents (and rightly so). But he also deserves to get some props for the job that he does when it comes to blocking downfield for his teammates. If he doesn’t make the blocks that he did on Cruz’s touchdown catch and Ahmad Bradshaw’s first tally, those guys might not have scored.

-Travis Beckham really needs to work on his blocking. He struggled last week against the Jets and again tonight against Dallas. The Giants are definitely missing Jake Ballard in that regard.

-My fondness for Henry Hynoski continues to grow. It’s nice to have a fullback with hands, isn’t it?

-Eli Manning’s touchdown to Nicks was his fifteenth of the season in the fourth quarter- a new NFL record.

-Speaking of Eli Manning, it was mentioned tonight that his pocket awareness and movement has been so much better this year than in previous seasons, and that has a lot to do with his success this year. I could not agree more.

-It’s amazing how much better the entire Giants defense plays when the defensive line dominates. And it wasn’t just Jason Pierre-Paul getting pressure tonight. Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, Mathias Kiwanuka, and Chris Canty all contributed. New York managed six sacks tonight and Tony Romo never really got much of a chance to get comfortable.

-The Giants did manage to get a few breaks tonight, managing to recover one fumble and then DeMarcus Ware being flagged for jumping offsides when the Cowboys recovered another Giants fumble.

-The offensive line has consistently played well as a whole in the past week or two. Jay Ratliff and Ware hardly got a sniff at Manning all night. The Giants running game still isn’t a strong as I’d like but they’re definitely better off running the ball to Kevin Boothe’s side when he’s in at guard.

-It was, once again, an overall team effort, with both the offense and defense playing well. The defense managed to contain the Cowboys well and the offense was able to score when needed. The Giants are on a bit of a hot streak right now and if they play like they did tonight, they can beat just about any team they’re up against.

Keep in mind that even with this horrendous loss, the Giants are still in contention for the NFC East division title, hard as that may be to believe. They will have to win both of their remaining games against the Jets and Cowboys if they want to play postseason football, and they’re going to have to come out full force and show the world that they deserve to be a playoff team.

Thoughts from the game: (more…)

Hopefully the players mentioned below will be available in your league to help you out for this week, and possibly beyond…

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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.

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Just like last week against the 49ers, they had us all on the edge of our seats, anticipating another miraculous fourth quarter comeback from Eli Manning and company, and once again, they came up just short. The 17-10 loss to the Eagles means the Giants dropped to 6-4 and 1-2 in division games. They’re now second in the NFC East behind Dallas.

A few observations from the game:

-One of the first things my father taught me about football was that it starts and ends at the line of scrimmage, and tonight’s game against the Eagles showed me how right he was. The Giants offensive and defensive lines alike were outmanned by the Eagles throughout the game. Eli Manning was given very little time to throw and had to scramble most of the night. Brandon Jacobs and DJ Ware had few holes with which to work. And the defensive line got next to no pressure on Vince Young, giving him time to throw and get comfortable. Frankly, I was amazed they even managed the one sack they did get.

Chris Canty did play a good game though.

-Speaking of the defensive line, I have to admit that I was looking forward to see Osi Umenyiora get to suit up against Philadelphia. He traditionally plays well against them (who can forget his glorious six sack game back in 2007?) so to see him as a non-factor all evening was a bit of a disappointment.

-One more thing about the defensive line- has anyone else noticed that almost all of their pressure seems to come from the outside? When they’re effective at getting to the quarterback it’s not that a big deal but if they miss, it leaves the middle open, allowing opposing quaterbacks to either step up and throw or scramble for some yardage. That was definitely evident tonight, especially with Umenyiora being shutdown by the left tackle all game.

-Congratulations to Prince Amukamara on his first career interception! It had be a big confidence-booster for a rookie to get his first pick less than seven minute into his NFL career. I was overall pretty pleased with Amukamara’s first game and it benefits the Giants to have another cornerback in rotation.

-Mark Herzlich was decent overall in his first career start at linebacker. He had a few spectacular plays against the run but his pass coverage needs some work.

-Actually, that statement about Herzlich applies to all the Giants linebackers. Just look at how Kiwanuka got smoked on Steve Smith’s touchdown. As they did last week, the Giants did a great job of shutting down the run but the linebackers kept leaving guys open. That’s the one area where they really miss Michael Boley.

-The poor play of the offensive line was partially to blame for the poor run game, but how much do the Giants miss Ahmad Bradshaw?

-The Giants now have a defensive takeaway in 23 straight games, dating back to last season.

-I guess Jake Ballard is human after all. He had three pretty significant drops that could’ve been difference-makers. But it’s hard to complain after what he’s done for them at tight end this year and he came back and had a big catch after leaving the game to get his elbow examined. (Thankfully the x-rays came back negative.)

-On the bright side, I think it’s become more evident each week that Victor Cruz is the real deal and not just a fluke. He still needs a little work when it comes to dropping passes but he’s been extremely clutch for New York all season and helped the Giants set up another potential comeback. New York’s depth at wide receiver is astonishing.

-While we’re on the topic of Cruz, am I the only one who gets nervous when I see him returning punts over Aaron Ross? I just keep thinking about how Domenik Hixon’s back-to-back season ending injuries came from returning punts and I’d hate to see the Giants lose Cruz that way too.

-When DeSean Jackson negated his own 50 yard reception by taunting defensive coordinator Perry Fewell, I found myself wondering how he can expect the Eagles to pay him the big bucks when he keeps pulling stunts like that.

-The Giants continue to struggle on third downs. Once again, they had trouble converting third downs on offense and the defense gave up six third downs on the Eagles game-winning drive. That’s one problem that definitely needs addressing.

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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The hype for this Sunday’s matchup between the Super Bowl XLII rivals has begun. The New York Giants make their way up north to face the New England Patriots in Gillette Stadium. New England are undefeated at home, so far this season (3-0). In fact, the Pats have not lost a home game since November 30, 2008, against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Both teams are coming off of mediocre performances. The Patriots offense looked subpar last week. Their defense has been struggling all season long, giving up the most yards per game in all of the NFL. The Giants offense looked confused at times, but Eli Manning delivered an electric performance. Their defense struggled all game long, but came up with some very big plays to ensure the win, albeit from one of the worst teams in the NFL. Big Blue are certainly capable of beating the Patriots this season. But can they do it against a team who are 20-0, at home, since December 16, 2008? Let’s hear what Tom Coughlin and Bill Belichick have to say.
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Offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride is as stunned as anyone. He called Ballard, who spent most of last season on the Giants practice squad, the team’s biggest surprise on offense.

So that got me thinking. What do the numbers actually look like. If you look below you will see the comparison between the two.

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.
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After Week 1, there is no guaranteed contract for veterans, and Donald Lee fits this mold. This is also the reason why the Giants have yet to sign a linebacker, and plan to after Week 1.

Donald Lee is a 9 year veteran who has spent the bulk of his career in Green Bay. His most successful year came in 2007 when he had 575 yards and 6 touchdowns.

Clearly Lee’s best years are behind him, but he would be an excellent addition to the Giants in a veteran capacity. He could mentor Ballard/Pascoe/Beckum, and establish a rapport with Eli for the year. Eli always tends to use tight ends as a security blanket, and Lee certainly would be up for the challenge.

Until then the Giants will have to test out the Ballard/Pascoe/Beckum trio against the Redskins and further evaluate from there.

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Beckum rarely lined up near the line, instead taking the majority of his snaps in the slot, which must indicate that the Giants are not comfortable with his blocking. This would be fine, if Beckum proved to be a good receiver, but he has not made an impact there either.

Don’t get me wrong, I think the Giants can win with the roster they currently have. They have always primarily used their tight ends as blockers, and at this point I think Jake Ballard looks like a better blocker than Boss did in 2008. Ballard’s problem is he is an average receiver at best.

While these two could tag team to give the Giants both a receiving and blocking option at tight end, it hurts the Giants chances of deceiving the defense, as it will be easier to predict run or pass based on the players on the field.

With plenty of tight end options currently on the market, why not look into bringing in another option? Currently Donald Lee, Allen Reisner, Jeff Dugan and Desmond Clark are on the open market. Each of these players is both a capable blocker and receiver.

Donald Lee was the Packers primary tight end before they drafted Jermichael Finley, and a back-up with the Eagles last season. Allen Reisner is a rookie who was very impressive with the Vikings. Despite having Kyle Rudolph, Visanthe Shaincoe and Jimmy Kleinsasser the Vikes tried to keep him, but when Xavier Adibi hit waivers, the Vikings moved on. With injuries at linebacker they have very little depth, and could not pass up a talent like Adibi that fits so perfectly into their Cover 2 system. With the aforementioned depth at the position, it was a necessary decision to release the impressive rookie. Dugan has been a great blocker for the Vikings, but, like Reisner, was cut due to the depth at the position. Desmond Clark was a great tight end for the Bears, but has seen his production reduced due to the drafting of Greg Olsen, and the switch to Mike Martz’s offense, which rarely utilizes the tight end as a receiver.

All four of those guys are better than anyone the Giants have on their roster. It seems silly to me to not bring one of them in. It would go a long way to shoring up one of the Giants biggest holes.