“I’m just happy, I’m happy all that’s over with,” said Umenyiora. “It’s time to get back to work. It was definitely frustrating (not being on the field this spring), but hearing some of the things they said, whether it was Kiwi or (Justin) Tuck or JPP (Jason Pierre-Paul) or Antrel (Rolle) – hearing the way they supported me, it made me want to come back even more and be around them. Those guys really stepped up for me. I really appreciate it and I’m happy to be here with them.”

This has been difficult for Osi because he loves the Giants and did not want to leave his teammates or the fans. 2012 will be his ninth season with the Giants and has played with no other team in the NFL.  Recently, other defensive players have been given contracts larger than the 2007 $41 million dollar extension he agreed to. This was the catalyst for Osi’s requests for more money. He was to make $3.975 million in the 2012 season. He has not been practicing with the team during the contract negotiations. Details of the new agreed have not yet been released.

“This gives me peace of mind, definitely,” Umenyiora said. “We just resolved a situation. It really was affecting me in a bad way. Because I didn’t like all the negativity that was surrounding the whole situation. I couldn’t stand it, because if you know me, you know I’m not that type of person. I’m just happy all that is over with and I’ll be there. I’ll play out this contract, I’ll play this year and I’ll play my heart out.”

“I appreciate Osi’s patience and effort through this process,” stated Giants GM Jerry Reese. “We talked it out, and it makes sense for everybody involved. We are very pleased, excited and looking forward to seeing number 72 on the field at Monday’s OTA.”

In his career, Umenyiora has made 333 tackles, 69 sacks, 30 forced fumbles, and recovered 13 fumbles. Last season he played 9 games and made 25 tackles, 9 sacks, and 2 forced fumbles.

Carter stated, “I’m guilty of [placing bounties] – I mean, first time I’ve ever admitted it – but I put a bounty on guys before.” “I put bounties on guys. If a guy tries to take me out, a guy takes a cheap shot on me? I put a bounty on him right now!”

The NFL recently placed heavy penalties on numerous New Orleans management, coaches, and players when NFL Roger Goodell Commissioner found the team guilty of using a bounty program to injure opposing players.

Wednesday morning Carter appeared on ESPN SportsCenter to clarify his statement. He emphasized there was no intent to injure opponents and protection was the only intent. He stated, “The difference is people going out of their way to hurt a player. Hitting a spot that we as players know is off limits, like his knees. You’re not telling them to go out and get someone, you’re telling them to protect you, run down the field to protect their skill guys.”

Carter added, “Bill Romanowski – he told me he was going to take me out before the game, warm-ups. No problem. [He said,] ‘I’m gonna end your career, Carter.’ No problem. “I put a little change on his head before the game. Protect myself. Protect my family. That’s the league that I grew up in.”

Bill Romanowski is a Pro Bowl linebacker who was with the Denver Broncos at the time.

When asked if Carter was the only player to create bounties, he replied, “Hell, no. Listen, on the football field, you only got certain protection, and your teammates are part of that protection. It’s built in, and if I’m playing a certain position where I can’t protect myself – how can the quarterback protect himself? But for his teammates to stand up and do something, there are certain positions you can’t protect yourself.”

“But you have to realize the league we grew up in, the bounty was based on protection, or a big hit, excitement, or for helping your team win. It wasn’t to maim or hurt the dude,” said Carter, who retired from the NFL following the 2002 season.”

The big question here is this: The subject of bounties in the NFL is very toxic right now, so why would a player want to associate himself with the practice of offering bounties? It seems the best course of action would be to keep your trap shut. Carter is on television every Sunday and on various ESPN broadcasts several times a week throughout the NFL pre-season, regular season, and playoffs. Is he really wanting for attention in the off season so badly that he’ll talk about anything to get in the news? This was a really poor decision by Cris Carter, especially when there are Hall of Fame votes at risk.

Cris Carter has been a Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist for the past five years. It will be interesting to see if these statements affect the Hall of Fame voting. For many years has been a great ambassador of the sport of American Football by displaying outstanding character and expert analysis. It would be a shame to see his reputation tarnished.

How do you believe this will affect Carter’s ability to enter the Hall of Fame? Should have kept quiet about offering bounties?

Jonathan Vilma

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell showed no mercy to the New Orleans Saints coaches and management and he is showing no mercy to the Saints players. He has finally come to a decision on the fate of Saints players who were involved in a cash-for-hits bounty system and these are some of the heaviest penalties in NFL history. Here are the penalties and the players who received them:

LB Jonathan Vilma: Suspended for all of 2012 without pay. This is effective immediately and runs through the playoffs and the Super Bowl. It is reported that Vilma placed $10,000 cash on the table in the team’s meeting room and said he would pay anyone who knocked Brett Favre out of the NFC Championship Game in January of 2010.

DL Anthony Hargrove: Eight-game suspension without pay. The NFL said that he targeted Favre in the NFC Championship Game. The NFL says, “Hargrove also actively obstructed the league’s 2010 investigation into the program by being untruthful to investigators.” Hargrove later confessed to his role in the bounty program. Hargrove is now with the Packers.

DE Will Smith: Four-game suspension without pay. Smith helped to create the bounty program with former defensive coordinator Gregg Williams.

LB Scott Fujita: Three-game suspension without pay. He participated in the bounty program when he played for the team. Fujita is now with the Browns.

In the statement from the NFL Roger Goodell stated, “It is the obligation of everyone, including the players on the field, to ensure that rules designed to promote player safety, fair play, and the integrity of the game are adhered to and effectively and consistently enforced. Respect for the men that play the game starts with the way players conduct themselves with each other on the field.”

Goodell also stated, “In assessing player discipline, I focused on players who were in leadership positions at the Saints; contributed a particularly large sum of money toward the program; specifically contributed to a bounty on an opposing player; demonstrated a clear intent to participate in a program that potentially injured opposing players; sought rewards for doing so; and/or obstructed the 2010 investigation.”

In this scenario, Leinart will backup Carson Palmer and Terrelle Pryor will become the third string QB. There is some history to go along with this story.  At the University of Southern California, Carson Palmer was preplaced by Matt Leinart and Leinart worked with Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Knapp while Leinart was a QB at the Houston Texans last year.

Leinart suffered a fractured collarbone last year less than two quarters into his first start of the season. He was starting in place of the injured Matt Schaub.

Last year was a career year for the 29-year-old linebacker and he played in all 20 games. He played strongside linebacker for first and second downs and lineman for passing situations. Kiwanuka finished the season with 84 tackles (fourth on the team), 3.5 sacks, 13 tackles for losses, 9 quarterback hits, an interception, 2 forced fumbles and a fumble recovery.

Mathias Kiwanuka had a neck injury in 2010 and missed most of the season. As a result, he did not get a large contract when he re-signed a two-year agreement in the offseason. His career year last season convinced the front office to offer a longer more lucrative contract.

Now I’m no fortune teller and I’ve been called crazy on many occasions but I am getting the feeling that the Giants are filling all defensive positions with the intention of trading Umenyiora to fill vacant or weak positions. Is anyone feeling the same thing?

NFL Predictions Week 11 – The tides are definitely turning in the NFL. The results from last week are, as they say, the pudding to which the proof resides. If predicting the weekly winners of the NFL were the stock market, this thing crashed BIG time last week!

We’ll take a look at how the panel at ESPN did last week, along with myself, and we will look into the future to determine who are the teams to beat this week. Sit back, grab a cup o’ joe and check out who we think are the bee’s knees of Week 11.
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Are you ready for the second half of the 2011 NFL season? Do you think you can handle the adrenaline rush from the multitude of clutch comebacks? Or, for that matter, the overwhelming depression of staggering defeats?

If you answered, “Yes!” to these questions, then you are a true BLUE football fan! Let’s get it started! Week 10, or weak 10 for some teams around the league, finds us on our continuing mission to deliver you the winners of every NFL game, alongside the pigskin picking’ panel at ESPN. Who have we picked this week? Who won the battle of the predictions last week? You might be surprised at the results. read on…if you dare!
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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!
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It was a glorious day to be a New York Giants fan yesterday and the morning after is just as sweet. The energy around town is electric. All of the New York Metro area, sorry Buffalo, is flying high, with good reason. Jets fans are happy with the outcome of their game, 27-11. The New York Giants are more than just a little bit happy. They are downright ecstatic!

Giants fans could not contain their excitement. So, they took to the internet, Twitter in this case, to share their Big Blue pride. The virtual sea of Tweets from Giants fans were countless. Reading the Tweets from my followers was both side-splitting hilarious and jam packed full of emotion. Needless to say, I thought I would share a small collection of them with our readership who are not up on the whole “Tweeting thing.” Read on to experience the virtual Big Blue love.

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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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OK fans, let’s get this out of the way right now. The Rams?! Really? The Rams beat the Saints. My head is still spinning on its neck like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. What can you say? Any given Sunday. Well, we’ve got another Sunday (and Monday) right around the corner and our picks are fresh out of the oven.

ESPN has baked up a tasty little batch of predictions for the upcoming week, as did I. Each week I go head to head with the experts and their two fortune telling robots. The race is pretty close and is still anyones game. Read on to see how they did, how I did and what teams we’re labeling as the easy wins, the fights to the finish and the upsets of the week. Check it out!
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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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It’s hard to believe that we are at Week 8 of the 2011 NFL season. It seems like only yesterday that we were fretting over a football season that would not be. Now, we find ourselves at the midway point with a view of the regular season’s end on the horizon. Only the strong will survive the remaining eight games and make it into the post season. Who will be the chosen few?

Well, the high priests of predictions at ESPN, and yours truly, are here to help you make sense of it all. Each week I take a shot at fortune telling, alongside the eight esteemed members of the ESPN brain trust and their two trusted robots. How did they do last week? How did I do? Who are we collectively picking this week? Read on to find the answers to the questions that bother you so.
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The New York Giants sit atop of the NFC East in Week 7. They also find themselves with a much needed Bye Week. Fret not, football fans. There is still plenty of pigskin to go around this week! There are some great games that you won’t want to miss…and some that you would probably prefer to watch paint dry instead.

We hop over the fence to see what teams the experts over at ESPN are picking this week, as well as gawk at their results from last week. Naturally, we’ll be doing the same for yours truly. Each week, I go head to head with the big boys and live to tell about it. How did I do last week? Who am I picking this week? Come on in and take a look at my breakdown and analysis for each game.
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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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Of the six categories of weekly leaders in the NFL for Week 5, three of them were New York Giants (Eli Manning, Jason Pierre-Paul and Victor Cruz). That was then. This is now! Welcome to Week 6 of the 2011 NFL season. We are just over one-third of the way through and, as we have discovered already, ANYTHING can happen!

This week, we take another gander into the looking glass of the ESPN braintrust. Week 5 proved some of the ESPN pundits to be kings among men. It also proved that some of them are…well…not so much. How did I do? Who am I picking this week? Continue on for my break/down-beat down and analysis of all this week’s upcoming matchups.
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While the playoff race has begun in the MLB, football season has only just begun. This week we embark on the 2nd quarter of the 2011 NFL season. We’re beginning to see who’s hot and who’s…well…pretty damn awful. Those of you who tune into GmenHQ.com religiously have extra insight into each upcoming week of football before they happen.

Not only do we tap into the prize picking panel at ESPN to see who they favor each week, but the higher ups at Fansided.com have a unique extraction method that involves electrodes, Justin Bieber music and a plumbing snake, which is what brings you, our readers, my weekly predictions right here at GmenHQ.com. So, let’s take a look at how ESPN did last week, how I did and our collective predictions for Week 5. Quickly, I can’t take much more of this!
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For the second consecutive meeting at the University Of Phoenix Stadium, the New York Giants defeated the Arizona Cardinals. Prior to these last two games, the Cardinals had a 7 game winning streak, in Arizona, against the Giants. While the numbers were high for Larry Fitzgerald and company, the points on the scoreboard were not high enough.
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Week 4 – the NFL lockout is slowly becoming a distant memory and the playoff race is taking shape…well not quite. But we are one quarter of that way done with a football season that almost didn’t happen. Tie flies when you’re having fun!

Keeping with tradition, we gaze into the crystal balls of the necromancers of the NFL over at ESPN. We’ll look into their picks from last week, this week and see how I rank among them. Who am I picking this week? What’s my record thus far? Read on for my breakdown and analysis of each game.
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