Today’s Giants’ receivers:

Part 3: How long will it last?

No question the Giants’ passing game was a big part of their success in the post season. With that, it comes with the territory that other teams would take some of that talent in the offseason if the opportunity arose. At the number 3 spot behind Nicks and Cruz, Mario Manningham would never get more targets than them. A quick and good receiver, Manningham has his issues. While more than capable of making big plays and having good seasons statistically, he has lapses in focus that require second chances in order for him to produce. He, at times, runs out of bounds on his routes and often has the ball hit his hands on its way to its preferred destination on the ground. Manningham is interesting because he is not quite a Killer nor is he a basic receiver. He is kind of clutch. He is Mr. Clutch Redux. In the regular season he dropped a touchdown pass that could have tied the 49ers late in the game. He made up for it in the NFC Championship three months later with a late game touchdown.  He had missed opportunities in Super Bowl 46. But he made a huge and beautiful catch on the Giants’ last and game-winning drive—perhaps that Super Bowl’s defining moment. He more often scores the extra touchdowns rather than the ones that count. Now the 49ers have picked him up in free agency after four seasons with the Giants, an all too familiar tale for the past 20 years.

Manningham's Super Bowl Catch

So, who will replace Manningham at the number 3 spot? As much as I admire the notion Giants management espouses that players must “step up” and take advantage of the situation, I don’t see too many Killers at depth. Maybe Dan DePalma, a kid out of West Chester University who was a standout on the practice squad will step up. However, Killers kill right away. They start making plays immediately. They don’t let the ball come to them, they go get it. They want to win. It’s business, not art. I guess that’s what I’d call Giants receivers’ like Steve Smith, Dominik Hixon, and Amani Toomer: Artists. Great athletes. Smart people...nice people. They know their craft and what needs to get done, but they’re not going to seize the moment and make every play count like their Killer teammates. Artists play as if the purpose is something other than winning. Killers know it’s the only thing.

Waive good bye to David Douglas.

Two receivers, an undrafted free agent from Arizona and a second draft pick out of LSU, I think are potential Killers: David Douglas (Arizona) and Reuben Randle (LSU). They waived Douglas while Randle made the cut. Both have made real plays in camp and in the preseason, but my Giants have their conservative tendencies and kept Ramses Barden (4^th yr) and Jerrel Jernigan (2^nd yr). Oh well, hopefully they will “step up.” Douglas should be claimed by some team soon (Seahawks? I hear the C’boys have been looking.).

Say hello to Rueben Randle (wearing Manningham's # no less; talk about a replacement!).

Unfortunately, with the Killer mentality come bigger egos. I like Victor Cruz very much. It’s fantastic to have him on the Giants. I think he’ll eventually want more money than the Giants will want to spend. To stay a Giant, he’ll have to love being a Giant more than himself. Too many people and teams will rightly make him believe he is worth more than the Giants value him. Especially if Nicks continues to be great too, Cruz will land elsewhere eventually. I hope not, of course. In a passing league you can never have enough great receivers and on your favorite team you can never have enough great players.

My hope is that the Giants continue to go after great receivers. The Steelers have a nice tradition of this going back to Lynn Swan and John Stallworth. Hines Ward will be at least enshrined in the Steeler Hall of Fame. Despite the fact that they’ve lost some good receivers to trade or free agency over the years the Steelers have still managed to maintain a good passing game with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The Giants could apply this strategy. I think it’s a good precedent to follow. The pieces are in place. For now, I will bask in the awakening of a dream decades in the making.

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Football, love of football, 

chronic traumatic encephalopathy

This is a really good article. I haven't read one like this in a long time. Mind you, it's not short, but it's a quick read.


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Unfair Disadvantage?

Here are the last 8 games of the upcoming 2012 season for the four teams in the 2011 AFC and NFC Championship games. There is also the 2011 median win-loss record for the last 8 upcoming opposing teams in 2012. Teams that went to the playoffs in 2011 are underlined and in italics.

Why can't it be less difficult for the GMen to repeat? Do you see the Patriots last 8 games there? Boy, it's gonna be tough to beat those pesky Jaguars and Dolphins. Brady will throw for 6000 yards. I know this was so last April, but man! It's about hope, people. It's about hope...

If the Giants do repeat I personally want Wayne and Garth style "We're not worthy!" submissive bowing and chanting from the Multiverse. Alright, I'm done.

		Last Games (2012)	NYG	SF	NE	BAL
		8	Steelers	Rams	Bills	Browns
		7	Bengals	Bears	Colts	Raiders
		6	Packers	Saints	Jets	Steelers
		5	Redskins	Rams	Dolphins	Chargers
		4	Saints	Dolphins	Texans	Steelers
		3	Falcons	Patriots	49ers	Broncos
		2	Ravens	Seahawks	Jaguars	Giants
		1	Eagles	Cardinals	Dolphins	Bengals
		Median W-L (2011)	11 - 5	7.5 - 8.5	6 - 10	8.5 - 7.5

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Woe! Go 9ers!

 

It's a long way from the NY Giants anti-abortion commercials of the 1980s, that's for sure. The stance isn't political, but it is reassuring. Very mature.

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No dope...I mean, dope.

“David Copperfield still has tricks we never figured out, [but we know] it’s not magic.”

-Colin Cowherd, 8/24/2012, on cheating, suspicion, and getting caught in sports in general and on Lance Armstrong in particular.

I think it’s a conservation law in sports magnified at the professional level. You bust your ass, you work hard, you have success or you cheat, you have success, and your ass gets busted. I also think Lance Armstrong’s defense is that a witch is not a requirement for a witch hunt, and Colin Cowherd is saying people have been accused of and successfully condemned for less, so why should Lance be any different?

Apparently, doping in cycling is extremely common. For instance, the cyclists who came in second and third to Lance were caught doping in the races he won. If everyone is doping, can we just make some error correction on their times and say these would be the times they finished with?

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Hazing, bullying, "horsing around;" it's all bad

Well, after any tirades I've had over Bountygate, it's only fair I rail on my own team for its idiocy. The video of the hazing of/"horsing around" with 2nd year cornerback Prince Amukamara is wrong for a number of reasons. The main thing that hurts most is the look on Amukamara's face after he gets thrown into the cold tub--a recurrence from his rookie year's hazing. It would kill me to see that look on anyone's face I care about, especially on my sweet little man, Liam. I can only imagine what it feels like for those care for Amukamara.

But clearly--and let's make no mistake about it--there was never a time when football was a gentleman’s game.

Nuff said, I think.

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Today’s Giants’ receivers:

Part 2: Is it a golden age in Big Blue or just a passing league?

Manningham, Nicks, and Cruz: could it be a Giant "Posse?" No, because Manningham went to the 9ers. BUT...there is another...

After the 1990 season, the Giants competitive tenure began to weaken as the stars and leadership of the era retired or went to other teams. However, the tradition of a wide receiver deficit continued as strong as ever. Even though Mark Ingram made one of the greatest plays in Giants history in Super Bowl 25 and Amani Toomer—drafted in 1996—would eventually become the Giants all-time leading receiver, Ingram wasn’t making plays “all day” in Super Bowl 25 and Toomer was a model of consistency and dependability, but never dominant. In the 2000 season the Giants went to the Super Bowl. Their offense was crushed by the Ravens defense; a bad day in Giants history. Two weeks prior, Sean Payton’s offensive scheme lit up the fireworks and took advantage of the Vikings defensive weaknesses in a 41-0 blowout at Giants Stadium.

There were Killers on the field at the wide receiver position that day, but they were wearing purple. The Vikings’ Randy Moss and Chris Carter were one of the League’s most feared receiver tandems at that time. They are arguably two of the top ten receivers of all-time. Nonetheless, you could say the Giants’ defense played pretty good too. It also seems like Moss took plays off after the Giants took a very early and large lead. In many ways, it was just one of those games no one expected. The point is that Giants’ receivers Toomer and Ike Hilliard were doing their part and they did a good job. I rooted for them like they were Randy Mosses or Chris Carters. But 41 points for is not as impressive as 0 points against. Like in years past the Giants’ defense ruled the day. Perhaps they always will.

Enter (and exit) Plaxico Burress

Things stated to change at the receiver position for the Giants when they traded for Plaxico Burress in 2005. Burress, a 6’ 5” 220-some odd lb man, was originally drafted by Pittsburgh out of Michigan State in 2000. By his second season he was a Killer and continued killing defenses when he played with the Giants—even when playing hurt. He scored the game-winning touchdown against the then undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl 42—arguably one of the greatest Super Bowls ever (who can forget David Tyree’s catch?)—and, frankly, embarrassed Green Bay’s all-pro corner back Al Harris in the NFC Championship game two weeks prior. Defenses had to game plan for Burress. He stretched the field. I think he helped make good running backs look like Jim Brown and opened up good match-ups for the other receivers to exploit. For example, the Giants in 2008 had two 1000 yard rushers and a great three-headed ground attack called Earth, Wind, and Fire. I believe this was, in part, because opposing defenses couldn’t afford to leave Burress one on one with a corner back. With a fresh back ready in rotation and rarely 8 men in the box, Earth, Wind, and Fire ran all over the League. It was awesome. Well, it was awesome until Burress shot himself in the leg at a Manhattan night club. He took a sabbatical in jail (Burress was let go by the team. He returned to the NFL to play with the Jets this past 2011 season. Who knows where he’ll land next. He’s still good.). That year, after a 12-4 season with home field advantage throughout the playoffs, the Giants were one and done when they got there. But, you couldn’t say they were slouches in the receiver department anymore. 

Zack says I have a man-crush on Hakeem Nicks. I think he's just jealous because Crabtree hasn't worked out like 9er fandom hoped. Take that Zack!

Enter Hakeem Nicks. Nicks was drafted to replace Burress in the first round in 2009 out of North Carolina with an already great play-making resume from his time at school. Not huge, not fast, Nicks is a play-maker of the first order. At 6’ and 210 lbs, he works the field like he’s as big as Burress. He’s tough like Gary Clark used to be. By his third season he has out-gained in yards and catches Burress and Toomer’s own first three seasons. In touchdowns, Nicks has out-gained them by a magnitude of roughly 2 and 4, respectively.  Nicks is number two all-time in the NFL for single-season post season catches, yards, and touchdowns and has a Super Bowl ring this year. He killed in the 2011 post season. He makes one handed grabs with defenders all over him. It almost seems like referees don’t call interference because they feel the defensive backs need as much of an advantage as they can get. He will only continue to get better if he stays healthy.  He’s also become a leader of the receivers. Nicks is definitely primed to challenge Toomer’s career records if he can play his career out with Big Blue. Most of all, though, Nicks has Eli Manning as his quarterback.

The most recent development in the receiver department is Victor Cruz. If Nicks is a thoroughbred, Cruz is a wild mustang. Cruz was an undrafted free agent out of UMass Amherst when he was invited to Giants’ training camp in Albany in 2010. He did really well. He made his first splash in a preseason game on a Monday night against the Jets. He caught 3 touchdowns. His first one was a spectacular one-handed grab over the defender in mid-stride that he ran the rest of the way after the defender fell down. You could just tell by the other catches he made that night that he was a play-maker of the first order as well. What luck? However, Coach Coughlin and the Giants are a conservative bunch and Cruz had trouble in special teams where he was expected like most players to traditionally earn a spot on the roster. He saw little action. Then he pulled his hamstring and, because the Jets wanted him, Big Blue quickly put him on IR for the rest of the 2010 season.

Cruuuuuuuuz!!!

 Cruz still had trouble finding his way into the line-up at the start of the 2011 season and made the fifth spot on the receiver depth chart, not really a stable place to stay. But, as the fates would have it, the Giants would lose their number 2 receiver to their rival Eagles before the start of the season, lose their number 3 receiver to a second consecutive season ending ACL injury in the second game, and gain and lose a free agent at the number 4 spot in the span of a week because he just didn’t fit. Now Cruz was at the number 3 spot. He stepped up big in the third game of the 2011 season against the Eagles like he did in the preseason Jets game a year earlier.

For the next few games he was a bit of a clown. He would provide a big play one moment (touchdown!) then give one away the next (turnover?!). He was still raw. As the season went on, however, he got better. The rest is history. He makes huge plays with 5 catches over 60 yards this season. In two back to back must-win games at the end of the 2011 season against the Jets and Cowboys he had catches and runs for 99 and 74 yards, respectively. Both those plays were early in the game and just about broke the opponent’s backs. It was weird. Maybe they just knew they couldn’t stop him. He only makes a handful of catches a game, but they’re huge when they happen. You can see the opponent’s frustration immediately. Really, it’s weird. He must be good. He absolutely saved the Giants’ season in a very big way. He also broke the Giants’ single season receiving record for yards. The prior record was Toomer’s. Now he’s famous. He does a salsa in the end zone for his touchdown dance. It began in the Week 3 Eagles game. It might be more famous than him. Like Nicks, he is also lucky to have Eli Manning as his quarterback.

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Today’s Giants’ receivers:

Part 1: Where art thou, Giants’ receivers?

Mr. McConkey

As may or may not know, I’ve been a New York Giants fan since I was a kid and could finally understand what my dad was screaming about on Sundays. Right away, I loved the game and I loved the wide receiver position. My dad taught me how to run patterns like the button hook, the post, and the slant. I played wide receiver in high school. As I began to learn more about the game and its history I saw how the position changed over the years. I loved it all: Jerry Rice’s ability to run after a catch and ability to make a play when it was needed most, Sterling Sharpe’s great power and speed for his average-sized frame, Jimmy Orr’s calling and waiving to Earl Morrall for the ball in Super Bowl 3, Andre Read going across the middle and running for-yet-another-touchdown in 1990, and, of course, Lynn Swan’s premiere Super Bowl 13 catch—the greatest play ever viewed in slow motion. And what great names: Jerry Rice, Sterling Sharpe, Jimmy Orr, Lynn Swan, Fred Bilitnikoff, Dwight Clark, Al Toon, Art Monk, Flipper Anderson. This list goes on. Of course, there was my favorite receiver: Phil McConkey, who played for the Giants and made two exception plays in Super Bowl 21—one off a flea flicker and one off a tipped pass in the end zone for a touchdown. I’d never seen a receiver keep the ball after a touchdown before that play. All these receivers had great awareness and were able to create space for themselves on the field. They made plays. They were original.

Four Kings of Pass Catching

However, as much of a fan of McConkey as I am, outside of those two plays in the Super Bowl, he was not Jerry Rice or Jimmy Orr. Really, no Giants receiver had ever been or was to be a receiver of the first order in the near future. My favorite position was a deficit on my favorite team. For instance, in addition to Rice, San Francisco had Dwight Clark, Freddie Solomon, and John Taylor—all big-play makers in Bill Walsh’s West Coast offense. The Seahawks generally had little to celebrate from year to year in their club, but they had Steve Largent. When Largent retired in 1989 he had broken nearly all the basic receiving records in the NFL. And he was a bad ass—leveling Broncos safety Mike Harden in 1989 with a Hines Ward-like blind side tackle in revenge for a nasty hit he received from Harden in the two team’s first meeting that season. In this second meeting, Harden had intercepted the ball and was running it back when out of nowhere in the frame of view, Largent blasts him off his feet, separating the safety from the ball, recovering it and then talking trash to him as soon as the refs blew the play dead. Amazing. 

The Posse: Sanders, Clark, and Monk

Closer to home, the Giants’ division rival Redskins had their “Posse” made up of Art Monk, Gary Clark and Ricky Sanders, who in 1989 all had over 1000 yards receiving, together made 21 touchdowns, and contributed an average of 15 catches a game. That’s production at the wide receiver position. Put it in a frame and mount it on the wall. For comparison, with fewer games played no less, in 1987 Rice had 22 touchdowns alone. What I call anyone who is regularly productive at their position in pro football is a “Killer.” And we can’t forget the original Killer at wide receiver, Don Hutson, who, at the end of 10 seasons with Green Bay, was so far out ahead of all his contemporaries it took Largent a 14 year career 44 years later to break him.

For years after Y.A. Tittle, Frank Gifford, and Alex Webster retired, the Giants mostly had Killers on defense. Sure, maybe teams had to game plan a little for Fran Tarkenton, Joe Morrison, Homer Jones, Rob Tucker, Mark Bavaro and Joe Morris, but it was the defense they truly had to overcome. The Giants’ defense won them championships in 1986 and 1990 and made them competitive throughout that stretch of time. The Giants’ offense authored the Miracle at the Meadowlands. They were smash-mouth, ground and pound, and predictable on offense and aggressive, extremely physical, and smart on defense. During this time, their linebackers were the epitome of the position with Harry Carson, Carl Banks, Gary Reasons, Pepper Johnson, and the great Lawrence Taylor (also known simply as L.T.) as the standard-bearers. 

The real LT

God love ‘em, but McConkey, Lionel Emmanuel, Bobby Johnson, Mark Ingram, Stacy Robinson, and Steven Baker with the passing attack led by oft-injured quarterback Phil Simms scared nobody. The linebackers scared the entire league. Carson wrote prose and poetry about hurting running backs while forcing them to less than 4 yards per rushing attempt from 1981 to 1987, Banks’ nickname was “Killer,” and L.T. ended Joe Theisman’s career on a Monday night in 1985 when he literally broke his leg in half in front of everyone—its awkward bend to the side creating an audience and League-wide cringe. The next season L.T. was so dominant he would be the NFL’s MVP and lead the Giants to their first Super Bowl. As Bill Parcells would say years later, “He changed the way the game was played on offense.” 

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