Pixote

From what I can tell we have as a team 5 INTs and 7 sacks as well as I believe several blocked kicks and fumble recoveries. Yes, we have had 3 and outs by our defense. No, it is not Babbich's fault the players are not giving effort, not containing the outside, wrapping up tackles or staying in their gaps. That is the players responsibility. During the preseason we will play a very vanilla defense. I will pass judgement on the defensive players after the season starts. I will pass judgement on Babbich after the season ends. Too early to make a decision now.

I agree, I do not think I am going to give up the ship just because of the preseason. Every HC approaches preseason games differently. Some will risk injuries to key players just to have an impressive preseason record. Some will play starters too much instead of giving players "on the bubble" an audition. I think Lovie looks at the preseason as a time to experiment and look at marginal players, and at most, keep his core players healthy. Injury wise, we have had an excellent preseason. We enter the season as healthy as we have in many years. I expect good things from this team.

I can agree with you on your observations. Manning has to be pressured up the middle, he is a pocket passer, can pick up the blitz and read the defense. The question is, will we stop the run? Yesterday against Cleveland they ate up our defense with the run. However, if I am not mistaken, Harris & Dusty were held out as well as M Brown, who is excellent in run support. If we can not stop Addai & Rhodes, they could in turn control the closk and our D will be winded by the 3rd quarter.

We are going to see very little of our starters. I have been checking out games being played on NFL.com and I do not even recognize half of the players in the lineups in the 1st quarter. I think we will see, despite what Lovie has said, that we will not worry about the win as much as escaping with no significant injuries. I also noticed that the Patriots were losing in the 2nd quarter and that they have not won a game in the preseason either. Does that mean they suck? Preseason does not mean anything and those who are worried because we lost our first 3 games are not looking at the whole picture, IMHO.

Well we can only keep so many WRs on the roster and from what little I saw of him in preseason he certainly did not impress me at all. I understand he did not impress in camp either. I thought when we selected him in the 7th round we got a real steal. However, it appears I was wrong. I think if he had cleared waivers we would have brought him back on the practice squad. If NYG cut him, as they may well do, then look for the Bears to possibly bring him back via the PS.

AP is an average blocker at best BUT he is one of our best ST players on the roster. Definately not Average.

Prior to last year I do not remember the opinions of Fred Miller being what they are today. Yes, he sucked last year. R Brown also struggled at guard, but of course he was injured. Many want him back. Kruentz struggled, Tait struggled, Graza was hot and cold. They just failed to do the job. However, like Brown, they were also beat up. Well, it has been documented that Miller played last year with ankle and knee injuries. Is it possible that this player who did quite well prior to last year and all of a sudden had a bad year could revert back to his previous level of play if healthy? This guy in my opinion is a good player who had a bad year primarily do to trying to play on a bad ankle and knee. Age might have some contribution as well. But I have to believe he has enough left in his tank to help this team by giving them a solid backup who already knows the system and players.

In checking out an article from ESPN trying to project the 53 man roster for the Giants in 2008 it mentioned this for the OL: I just do not see a trade happening. They are not deep on the OL.

Exactly right DB. It seems as if nerves are raw and everyone is on edge. I am seeing a lot of finger pointing, name calling, posters calling each other out, etc... We all need to just relax and keep everything in proper perspective.

It was often mentioned last year he was playing with injuries, just like most of our OL was. A quote from one of the articles on the possibility of resigning Miller:

I am anxious to see the cuts from the teams this week. I am sure Angelo is equally interested.

Now THAT is funny! Good one nfo

I am taking from what I am reading he would be brought in as a backup. League minimum is about right for a backup. I would like the move on the Bears part at that price. Maybe give him a small bonus to sign or an incentive to offset what the Bucs are offering, but nothing big time.

Now that is a positive! That guy really sucked as a sports writer.

Smart move on his part, he has nothing to prove, why not go out with a SB trophy and enjoy!

Bowen: Don't worry about the Bear's D - yet Good article from the Sun-Times that puts things into proper perspective.

I understand from footballguys.com that the Giants are talking with Strahan about coming out of retirement. He is currently vacationing in Greece and is "mulling" it over.

Since when has M Brown ever been described as fast? When drafted the knock on him was his speed. Brown will be fine as long as he remains healthy. He has never been a speed demon, he knows schemes, angles, and is probably one of the most intelligent ball players we have on defense. He is going to make a heck of a coach when he retires if he chooses to go that route.

Let's see if he passes the physical before we jump to conclusions. I still have to wonder with all the teams that are needing OL help, why a player with this guys skills over his first 4 years would be unemployed at this time of the season. 2 years without taking a snap. That is a long time off.

While I also question at times the coaching on defense, I sometimes get the feeling it is ultimately the fact that players need to execute the fundamentals of the defense they are assigned and it appears to me they are not doing so, as well as simple basics like taking proper angles and wrapping up a tackle. So as I said, maybe a little on the coaching, but a whole lot on the players execution. I have no doubt the players are skilled enough to execute, now they just need to do so and stop thinking about the fat checks they are depositing. All that said, I think we will have a top 5 defense this year.

I love talking about an upcoming draft, but to talk about the 2009 NFL draft before the 2008 NCAA or NFL season has to get off and running, kind of crazy IMHO. I will wait until we see how we do this year, know what our needs will be on the basis of what we see this year, where we will be drafting, and know a whole lot more about the players that might be available in the 2009 draft once we see what they do this year in their respective conferences.

2001 draft as said by others, not JA's draft. 02 - Marc Columbo - good pick that got injured and we finally had to let him go with an injury settlement. Certainly not JA's fault. 03a - Rex Grossman - Good prospect that has never quite worked out - any QB selected is a potential bust, the hardest position to fill in the draft. 03b - Berard Berrian - an excellent selection by JA - not his fault that he felt he was worth far more than what he was actually worth, the Viking paid way too much for him. 05a - Cedric Benson - great looking prospect coming into the draft that was a bust because of his attitude and off the field behavior 05b - Mark Bradley - kid has a world of talent but can not avoid injury - hopefully he can shake the bad luck 06 - Devin Hester: best return man of all time - agree. 07 - Greg Olsen: i think hes a star - agree. 08 - Chris Wiliams - yes, he is injured, to call him baby huey is stupid IMO, he may still be the answer for us as LOT, he seems to have all the tools and a great work ethic and attitude. All in all,JA is a master in the area of drafting defense but is not as good at drafting offense, HOWEVER, I do not think he is as bad as many think he is, he just has had some bad breaks in areas of injuries (Columbo & Bradley) and attitude (Benson, nuff said & Berrian thinking he is worth more than he was)

Exactly, if I was called out in public as being a liar, then I would certainly want to set the record straight. I do not blame him for defending himself against what would appear, IMO, as false allegations.

I personally can not understand all of the criticism JA is getting. I think he is doing all he can to give us the best chance of winning. Does he do everything everyone on the forum wants, no. Does he do everything I would like to see him do? Of course not. However, I think he is doing his best to give us the "edge". Fans will always look to disagree with management when things are not so rosy. It is far easier to point out mistakes made in the past than successes. All GMs make mistakes in draft selections and personnel moves. This is not an exact science. In many cases it is a matter of the "best educated guess". Any time I begin to second guess JA I remind myself what it was like before we had him as our GM and "Mikey" was running the show. With that bit of flashback, I thank (insert who every you pray to, if you do so) that we have JA as our GM. (Trying like h*ll to be politically correct LOL).

When you consider all the signings we did locking up key players in the off season, I think it is amazing we have 9.2 Million left to sign FAs that might become available. Like I have always said JA & Cliff Stein are probably the best "cap managers" in the business. Now that we have basically all the major deals over with, this should make us even BIGGER players in the future with lots of cap space as the cap increases (or disappears). I think this bodes well for our future. While other teams are struggling with cap restrictions I think we will be very healthy financially.