Aug

4

2008

Welcome to the inaugural entry to my New York Giants blog!  I’ve been bleeding Blue since the early 1980s, having seen every game save a half-dozen sprinkled throughout the last 25 years or so.  In this blog, I’ll offer my thoughts on various Giant topics as well as providing pre- and post-game reviews.  As some of you know, I’ve been a participant on various Giants online message boards since 1993, and for the most part have been acknowledged as a Giant optimist/rosetint/homer.  While I do admit to trying to take a positive spin on things, I do feel like I temper my optimism with some realistic expectations.  For my first blog entry, I’ll give all of you a brief rundown of my Big Blue Fandom with some thoughts about each coaching era of the Giants since 1983.



The Bill Parcells Era:  A lot of Giant fans cringe when they hear how I became a Giant fan.  It was 1983, and I was a skinny high school senior who hadn’t really had much interest in professional sports.  One day, I was listening to the radio when I heard some talk about a local kid making a push for the starting QB job with the Giants.  That was pretty cool; he wasn’t from my town, but he was from a neighboring rivaling high school rival.  It was my first real experience of actually knowing someone who knew someone who might have known someone else that was possibly making it in professional sports!  So I started reading the sports section of the local papers, and soon enough, I decided to become a Giants fan.  And yes, it was all because of SCOTT BRUNNER!  Lame, I know (now), but that’s how it happened.  Obviously, I started to learn the game and eventually realized that Scott just wasn’t very good.  But I also learned more about the history of the Giants and the importance of great defense.  Over the next few years, I became addicted to defense.  Oddly enough, though, my favorite player in the Bill Parcells era turned out to be cornerback Mark Collins.  I don’t really know why; I think I like defensive backs because as a kid, I tended to be on the small/skinny side, so my playground days were spent playing sports with guys bigger than me; but I was also a really fast runner (ran the 400m in high school track), jumper (long jumped, too), and was surprisingly tough in a crowd (was always a good rebounder in basketball despite the lack of size), so maybe I always saw myself as a defensive back. 

Anyways, the Bill Parcells era really formed my viewpoint on football:  Defense wins championships, run the ball and stop the run, control the clock, avoid turnovers, etc.  One of my favorite games of all time was the Monday night battle between the Giants and 49ers in the 1990 season with both teams being 10-1.  Although the Giants lost that game, it was IMHO played like the perfect game; a chess-match by both coaches, with execution being perfect on both sides of the ball.  The game was won by mere inches when a Joe Montana perfect throw beat Mark Collins by a fingertip to land in the outstretched hands of John Taylor in the end zone.  I wish the Giants had won that game, but honestly I can’t think of another game that was more perfectly played by *both* teams. 


The Ray Handley Era:  Worst 2 years of my Giants fandom.  ‘Nuff said.



The Dan Reeves Era:  I was actually very excited when the Giants hired Dan Reeves to be the head coach of the Giants in 1993.  Of the coaching candidates being talked about at the time (including Dave Wannstedt, and of course Tom Coughlin), I thought Reeves was the one who would fit best.  He had real NFL head coaching experience, had been to the big game (although he hadn’t won it), believed in running the ball...it all seemed right.  And the team responded with a big season, going 11-5 and running away with the NFC East title.  I remember thinking at the time that had the Giants gone with a better coach than Ray Handley two years earlier, this would have been a team capable of repeating and three-peating in the ‘91 and ‘92 seasons.  But unfortunately, it didn’t last.  IMHO, the big problem was that Reeves and George Young butted heads too much, and at some point Reeves only had faith in a handful of players.  It’s what led him to using Rodney Hampton purely as a battering ram (which led to Rodney’s career being far shorter than it should have been), because Reeves didn’t believe that any of his QBs could handle the job of throwing the ball.  And I’ll go out on a limb and say that I think that George Young is the main reason why the Giants faltered after Parcells left...GY did a poor job in finding Parcells’ successor, and then once Reeves came in, GY did a poor job adjusting to the new era of free agency.  The team went from a Super-Bowl quality roster to that of an expansion team in less than 3 years.  At that point, Dan Reeves didn’t have a chance to succeed.




The Jim Fassel Era:  Jim Fassel coached the Giants for 7 years, including a trip to the Super Bowl.  It surprises a lot of people to know, then, that I consider Jim Fassel to be only a few steps better than Ray Handley as a head coach.  IMHO, Bill Parcells was responsible for raising the Giants out of mediocrity and into the elite group of NFL teams.  IMHO, Jim Fassel was responsible for dropping the Giants solidly back into the pack of mediocrity.  When I say this, some people react in various ways; some say “the Giants were already dropped into mediocrity when Fassel got there”, other say “he took the team to the Super Bowl, how is that mediocre?”, and yet others say “look at the players he had to work with; blame George Young for that!”.  And I agree with all of those things.  However, I think that at the point when Fassel took over, the team was still thinking like it was one of the elite; it was the entire 7 years of Fassel for the organization to get to a level where it just didn’t expect to win anymore.  Making the playoffs seemed to be the goal, not winning a championship. 

I think that teams are a true reflection of the head coach.  And what I found most disturbing during the Fassel era was that the players were easily buying into the cliches...when they’d lose, they’d have the politically-correct cliche answers for the media..."they wanted it more”, “anytime you blah blah, you need to blah blah blah, and we didn’t finish”.  On the one hand, it was a good thing that players were recognizing that they weren’t getting it done and taking responsibility for it.  But on the other hand, Fassel wasn’t making them suffer any consequences for the poor play.  I remember having conversations with other Giant fans who would say “well, he can’t bench Gragg for too many false starts...who would he put in instead?” I hated this assertion, because it basically meant that the players could suck and not worry about it because the other players sucked even more.  Fassel’s reputation prior to the Giants was as a QB coach, and he did help improve Kerry Collins.  But he really didn’t develop anybody else.  The team became mired in mediocrity and no accountability-with-consequence.


The Tom Coughlin Era:  I am proud to say that I first declared my desire for Tom Coughlin to be named head coach of the Giants back in 2002, right after he was fired from Jacksonville.  I didn’t think much of him back in 1993 when the Giants first approached him (he didn’t have much of a reputation beyond being the Giants’ WRs coach back then).  But after seeing his success at Boston College and then in the early years in Jacksonville, I knew that he was the guy I wanted for the Giants.  The Jags had a balanced offense that seemed to do well no matter who was injured.  The defense always seemed tough.  I knew Coughlin had a reputation for being a tough-as-nails-hard-ass, but all the great coaches had that reputation, too, so I thought it was a good thing.  When they landed him in 2004, I was elated.  And through the last 4 years, I am also proud to say that my confidence in his abilities as a head coach never wavered.  I’ve never questioned Coughlin’s football IQ (and I have questioned many who have questioned it).  I did know that he’d have some personality conflicts with some players, but I was at the point where I was like “if they don’t like it, I don’t want them on the team”, and I believed that eventually the roster would reflect the team that he wanted it to be.


As we enter the 2008 NFL season, I am very optimistic in my outlook for the Giants.  Having read about and attended training camp, I feel like this team has the right mentality, and the roster seems deep all-around.  I think that the roster depth is a direct result of Tom Coughlin and the coaching staff really doing a great job at developing young players, and making sure that the team keeps a team-first mentality.  My prediction for the regular season is 12-4 and a division win.  I know the historical odds are against it, but I believe the Giants will repeat as Super Bowl champions.  The teams thrives on beating the odds. Go Big Blue!


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6 Comments »

Comments merged with the forum topic: Blue Corner - My view on the New York Giants

Ok, let’s try this blog begun by Plam—which deserves credit as two things: the usual assassination of the coaching character and performance of Jim Fassel, plus the usual unadulterated hope for the future. I’m quite frankly astounded that too little attention has been devoted to the obvious truth in the NFC--that the Super Bowl has to be achieved by somebody and it usually spells temporary paralysis for our conference entries the next year.

The odds are—supported by facts—that we won’t even reach the NFC finals, let alone reach or win the Super Bowl again. What do I believe ? It’s almost irrelevant, since my hopes have zero to do with next Dec/Jan. But let’s go with history and logic for a minute:

1.) The G-men have never returned to the Supe, not just all recent NFC franchises

2.) The last time the NYG had back-to-back 10 win seasons was ‘89, ‘90 when Tuna was still in his prime. In his prime for just 1 season in eons, Tom Coughlin is hardly a Bill Parcells. Mark that down as fact, despite our fan-tastic applause for Tom last year.

3.) I was in love with Eli late in the year, but somehow I cannot believe that scrawny body and erratic arm won’t re-surface at least some of the time this season. It doesn’t take many bad games at QB to cost us a few wins and a few unexpected L’s is hardly surprising in the league these days. Especially the NFC.
Count me in as one who agrees he’ll have his 20+ TD passes, but I’d be willing to bet it’s no more than last year. Sure I now like Steve Smith but ... lemme know the last year that we developed a new young WR into a true threat in the windy Meadowlands. Wasn’t it Amani ?

4.) Sorry to report this, but B.Jacobs is still a locomotive who takes too many hits and could miss more playing time than he did last year. Somehow, I’m having a hard time believing in jail bird Bradshaw and always injury-prone Ward as proper insurance. Sure, I love ‘em when they’re chugging East-West on the field. But that’s the whole point: like mutual funds (egads!) “past performance is no guarantee of future success” (in the NFC it’s almost a curse).

5.) LB has always been a strong point in the history of the NYG. Yes, I like Pierce but couldn’t they manage to keep Mitchell for simple continuity in this thread ? We’d better stay healthy up front and here, since there is no guarantee that the LBs as a threesome will be of championship quality—likewise, while I’m happy with some improvements at DB, this area is not a given.

6.) Likewise at TE: sure, we all love Boss but we’re WAY, way down in experience at this post this year.

7.) And what if Plax has a more serious injury that greatly limits his on-field time ? He’s always hurting and always aging. What are the odds that he’ll repeat as a 19-game wonder ?

Can we return to the NFC finals ? Sure, it’s possible, but “everybody” will be gunning for us this year, unlike any year since 2001 as returning Supe losers. They’ll try and fail to pretend they’re the unheralded underdog. Nice try but it’s the most bogus thing I’ve heard all decade. We’re now the hunted, not the hunter.

So good luck to our G-men. I hope you’re up to the task but --well, it’s not just the odds which are against us repeating. It’s two decades of facts, an imperfect roster with missing pieces, plus absolutely zero proof that Coughlin & Manning have Consistency as their middle names. I certainly expect them to make the playoffs but.... well, enuf said.

DennyDiehl - 08/05/08 3:09 pm

Ok, let’s try this blog begun by Plam—which deserves credit as two things: the usual assassination of the coaching character and performance of Jim Fassel, plus the usual unadulterated hope for the future. I’m quite frankly astounded that too little attention has been devoted to the obvious truth in the NFC--that the Super Bowl has to be achieved by somebody and it usually spells temporary paralysis for our conference entries the next year.

Hey Denny, at least I’m not flip-flopping, right? grin

The odds are—supported by facts—that we won’t even reach the NFC finals, let alone reach or win the Super Bowl again. What do I believe ? It’s almost irrelevant, since my hopes have zero to do with next Dec/Jan.

The odds were against us winning it all last year, too.

But let’s go with history and logic for a minute:

1.) The G-men have never returned to the Supe, not just all recent NFC franchises

True.  After SB21 was the strike year.  After SB25 was a coaching change to the worst head coach in Giants history.  After SB35 was consistent with Fassel’s tenure of alternating good/bad seasons.  So this is the first SB the Giants will have with the coaching staff and the team largely intact.

2.) The last time the NYG had back-to-back 10 win seasons was ‘89, ‘90 when Tuna was still in his prime. In his prime for just 1 season in eons, Tom Coughlin is hardly a Bill Parcells. Mark that down as fact, despite our fan-tastic applause for Tom last year.

Parcells was certainly an elite coach, but I think you give Tom Coughlin far too little credit.  Coughlin is not yet to be considered at that top-tier level yet, but Coughlin’s 8-6 playoff record is not far off from Parcells’ 11-8 playoff record.

3.) I was in love with Eli late in the year, but somehow I cannot believe that scrawny body and erratic arm won’t re-surface at least some of the time this season. It doesn’t take many bad games at QB to cost us a few wins and a few unexpected L’s is hardly surprising in the league these days. Especially the NFC.
Count me in as one who agrees he’ll have his 20+ TD passes, but I’d be willing to bet it’s no more than last year. Sure I now like Steve Smith but ... lemme know the last year that we developed a new young WR into a true threat in the windy Meadowlands. Wasn’t it Amani ?

I’ll continue to say this although I know you’ll disagree; Eli didn’t go through any major transformation in the last 5 games.  The players around him played better...fewer dropped passes, better routes and more options (especially with Steve Smith coming back), better weather, playcalling that gave him more short/medium route options, etc all contributed to Eli’s numbers being better.

As far as developing young talent, I agree it’s been a while since the Giants have done a good job at this.  This is one of the reasons why I didn’t like Fassel...he did not know how to develop young players.  Coughlin, on the other hand, has done a great job at doing that, which is why we were able to get the rookies to be big contributors last year, and why we seem to have so much depth compared to years past.

4.) Sorry to report this, but B.Jacobs is still a locomotive who takes too many hits and could miss more playing time than he did last year. Somehow, I’m having a hard time believing in jail bird Bradshaw and always injury-prone Ward as proper insurance. Sure, I love ‘em when they’re chugging East-West on the field. But that’s the whole point: like mutual funds (egads!) “past performance is no guarantee of future success” (in the NFC it’s almost a curse).

Jacobs’ injury last year had nothing to do with taking too many hits...he had someone blocked into his knee.  And ok, you can say “past performance is no guarantee of future success”, but then all this talk is pointless anyways, because you can say that about anyone.  But I will point out that in Coughlin’s history of headcoaching (not just with the Giants), he has *always* gotten good productivity from his running game, even in the face of injuries to his top players.

5.) LB has always been a strong point in the history of the NYG. Yes, I like Pierce but couldn’t they manage to keep Mitchell for simple continuity in this thread ? We’d better stay healthy up front and here, since there is no guarantee that the LBs as a threesome will be of championship quality—likewise, while I’m happy with some improvements at DB, this area is not a given.

I agree that the Giants have a history of great LBs, and that the current group is not all that distinguished.  However, with the system that Spags is employing, we don’t need great LBs.  This is a system that makes Dhani Jones look pretty good and turned Jeremiah Trotter (an average athlete IMHO) into a Pro-Bowl MLB.

6.) Likewise at TE: sure, we all love Boss but we’re WAY, way down in experience at this post this year.

I actually think Darcy Johnson will get the starting job ahead of Boss.  I do agree we lack experience there, but I believe in the coaches’ ability to get them prepared.

7.) And what if Plax has a more serious injury that greatly limits his on-field time ? He’s always hurting and always aging. What are the odds that he’ll repeat as a 19-game wonder ?

Yes, this is a big area of concern.  As I’ve said before, I believed Plax to be the offensive MVP of the team.  If he is not effective, then the offense will suffer.  However, I am more hopeful of our depth at WR this year than I was last year, with Smith, Hixon and London all showing great skills in training camp.

Can we return to the NFC finals ? Sure, it’s possible, but “everybody” will be gunning for us this year, unlike any year since 2001 as returning Supe losers. They’ll try and fail to pretend they’re the unheralded underdog. Nice try but it’s the most bogus thing I’ve heard all decade. We’re now the hunted, not the hunter.

Given how “disrespected” we’ve been...we’re not even projected to win the NFC East...I think there will be less “hunting” than normal from other teams.  Of course, the division games will always be tough.  In either case, tho, I think the team has the right mentality to stand up to the challenge.

Good replies, Phil, as I fully expected .... and very close-to-the-earth vs. pie in the sky (aided, of course, by the fact that we ARE The Champs).

Given how “disrespected” we’ve been...we’re not even projected to win the NFC East...I think there will be less “hunting” than normal from other teams.  Of course, the division games will always be tough.

Well, the latter point is part of the equation, with Philly always dangerous with McFlab healthy and Dallas flat out tough & talented with a balance attack. The Skins probably, as well. But I gotta’ feel certain that the rest of the league saw or heard about the victory parade ("we stomped you out!") and we are, after all, still playing in The Big Apple, even if it’s Jersey. No way we’re not the hunted—bigtime—especially with Eli at QB. 

In either case, tho, I think the team has the right mentality to stand up to the challenge.

Until I see otherwise, I’m compelled to agree. One thing I always admired about Eli, even when he stunk, was his uncanny ability not to get too fazed by his horrid games. So I’m not predicting an implosion this year—simply a very good chance that we’ll come up short.

DennyDiehl - 08/06/08 2:54 pm

Well, the latter point is part of the equation, with Philly always dangerous with McFlab healthy and Dallas flat out tough & talented with a balance attack. The Skins probably, as well. But I gotta’ feel certain that the rest of the league saw or heard about the victory parade ("we stomped you out!") and we are, after all, still playing in The Big Apple, even if it’s Jersey. No way we’re not the hunted—bigtime—especially with Eli at QB. 

I think division games are always tough...and as a result, I don’t think they will be any tougher this year because we are the defending Super Bowl champs, because these games are already about as tough as they can get.

With specifics to the division teams:

Dallas: Obviously very talented, and beat us twice during the regular season last year.  Certainly will be our toughest challenger in the division, but I’m not sold on Wade Wilson’s ability to lead the team.  Will be interesting to see if Marion Barber can carry the load, since he’s never done it before and Julius Jones is gone.

Philly:  As you say, “always dangerous with McFlab healthy”.  That said, he has not made it through an entire season healthy since 2003.  And Westbrook is in a Plax-like state...not practicing because he wants a new contract.  This is another off-season where they’ve failed to get a legit #1 WR, and their defense is getting old.

Washington:  They’ve got talent on that team, but the new head coach, Jim Zorn, is a rookie and wasn’t even originally hired to be the head coach (he was hired to be a rookie OC under the wing of Jim Fassel, until Snyder realized that Fassel wasn’t the right man for the job...they couldn’t find anyone else, so they gave Zorn the job).

I think division games are always tough...and as a result, I don’t think they will be any tougher this year because we are the defending Super Bowl champs, because these games are already about as tough as they can get.
Dallas: Obviously very talented, and beat us twice during the regular season last year.  Certainly will be our toughest challenger in the division, but I’m not sold on Wade Wilson’s ability to lead the team.

I know you tend to believe that pros don’t salivate or get unusually revved up; that they just man up according to their professional duties and abilities. But I’ve always believed that most actually look for any added psychological edge they can latch onto. Didn’t we latch onto our underdog role with a vengeance ? The mere fact that they beat us twice has to give them extra incentive; wouldn’t we feel the same way if we won the first two but lost the playoff ?

As for Wilson’s unproven ability to lead the team, that was one helluva year they had, despite the late-season injury to Romo’s throwing hand. Given that we won the entire enchilada, I’d find it pretty hard to justify questioning their coach’s leadership or season. Likewise, their running game; with a passing attack like that they should be fine on the ground, offense hardly something they have to worry about. Should be some great games.

It’s not that I don’t think that pro football players can reach higher performance levels because of added motivations.  But my perspective is that at some point, they reach a level of motivation that anything additional doesn’t really do anything.  I mean, there’s only 24 hours in a day that they can prepare, and there’s there’s a physical limitation that humans have where they really can’t go any harder. 

You can probably convince me that the sting of losing to the Giants in the playoffs after having beaten us twice is a signficant motivating factor for the Cowboys.  But for the Eagles and Redskins, I don’t see it as that much more than what the division rivalry already has for them.  In fact, I think the Redskins in our season opener are going to be more worried if the new head coach’s system is going to work or not rather than being focused on trying to take down the Super Bowl champs.

As far as Wade Wilson’s successful season last year goes, I will watch him and his team this year very closely to try to gauge how much of their success is due to Wade, and how much is “Parcells residue"…


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