Neil Keefe

Dec 10, 2010

Sudden-Lee, Yankees Are Without A Plan

This is not good. This. Is. Not. Good. I was thinking of sending in the lyrics to Pearl Jam’s “Black” instead of writing this since I am holding back tears and shaking, but I wasn’t

This is not good. This. Is. Not. Good.

I was thinking of sending in the lyrics to Pearl Jam’s “Black” instead of writing this since I am holding back tears and shaking, but I wasn’t sure if turning in Eddie Vedder’s work as my own counts as plagiarism since it’s a song.

On Friday, I told Sweeny Murti that I had made a playlist of sad songs in the event that Cliff Lee didn’t choose the Yankees. I asked Sweeny what the Yankees’ Plan B was if he didn’t sign, and he said it wouldn’t be to make a sad songs playlist, but I’m not so sure it isn’t. (Now playing: “Everybody Hurts” by R.E.M.)

Cliff Lee wasn’t Plan A. He was The Plan. There isn’t another free agent pitcher even close to his abilities; in fact there isn’t even another free agent pitcher I would want on the Yankees. And according to Joel Sherman, Felix Hernandez, Josh Johnson and John Danks aren’t available. So I’m not exactly sure where the Yankees go from here. All I know is it’s never a good thing when you are googling “Sidney Ponson” to see if he is available knowing that he is probably somewhere on Cashman’s list of backup plans. And yes, he is. He was placed on the Atlantic League’s retired list on June 18. Ponson Part III, anyone?

I’m scared. I’m scared of what Brian Cashman might do now. I’m scared of what will happen to the Yankees in 2011. I’m scared that CC Sabathia might opt out after this season and sign with the Phillies. I’m scared that the Yankees are banking on the idea that Larry Rothschild thinks he can fix A.J. Burnett.

Last week on Twitter I joked that this offseason Brian Cashman publicly bashed the face of the franchise, forced the best relief pitcher in the history of baseball to talk to Red Sox, scaled a building in Stamford, Conn., had dinner with Carl Crawford and then hours later Crawford signed with the Red Sox and now you can add letting a pitcher turn down seven years and $154 million to that list. His offseason has been as bad as Tim Redding’s only start with the Yankees on July 15, 2005 against the Red Sox in a 17-1 loss at Fenway Park (1 IP, 4 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 4 BB, 2K). I was joking with that tweet, but now I’m not really joking because my 2011 summer hinges on whether or not Cashman can trade for a pitcher worth getting excited about. (Now playing: “All Out Of Love” by Air Supply).

I know people are sensitive about just about everything when it comes to the Yankees and there are those that get easily offended when Cashman’s decision making is questioned. But on a day like today after a night like last night, I think it would be unfair not to question Cashman and his decision to leave next season in the hands of a lefty willing to leave two years and $28 million on the table. This isn’t so much to blame Cashman for failing to land Lee since, according to Jon Heyman, Lee is the one that initiated talks with Philly and probably never wanted to come to New York. This is more to blame Cashman for putting the Yankees in a position in which they absolutely had to have Lee.

So, here’s a look at just how much of an impact Cliff Lee’s decision has on the Yankees. And to take us through all the aspects of Lee’s choice to pitch for the Phillies and not the Yankees are quotes from Michael Scott of The Office because right now that is the person who most resembles our trusty GM, who is one non-move from ruining the 2011 summer the same way that Cliff Lee just ruined Christmas.

“But I always thought that the day that Steve Martin died would be the worst day of my life. I was wrong. It’s this.”

When Derek Jeter was still not signed, I kept thinking, “What if he goes somewhere else? What if I have to write my ‘Tribute to Derek Jeter’ story at least four years before I’m supposed to?” I never really thought that Jeter would leave, but there was that chance that he might.

I always thought there was a slight chance I might have to write the story you are currently reading. I thought I might have to write about being devastated that Cliff Lee didn’t choose the Yankees, but really, I didn’t think I would because I just figured that the Yankees would give him whatever he wanted to make sure that they would never have to face him again. And when everyone tells you he is going to be a Yankee and that they will pay whatever it takes, you believe it. So much for that. (Now playing: “Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness” by The Smashing Pumpkins.)

“How do I feel about losing the sale? It’s like if Michael Phelps, came out of retirement, jumped in the pool, belly-flopped and drowned.”

This is bad for Brian Cashman. This is as bad as giving $82.5 million to A.J. Burnett or giving Javier Vazquez and Nick Johnson second chances or letting Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui go. Maybe Cliff Lee was never going to come to New York, but Cashman put the Yankees in a position in which they had to have Lee because there was no other option and now they don’t have him.

“My whole life, I believed that America was No. 1. That was the saying. Not, ‘America is No. 2.’ England is No. 2, and China should be like 8.”

George Steinbrenner bought the Yankees in 1973. In the 37 ½ years of his life that he ran the team (I know that number depends on when he technically stopped being in charge and you also have take away the years he was banned), only one ace turned down the Yankees’ money (to my knowledge) and that was Greg Maddux. Steinbrenner has been dead for five months, and the number of pitchers to turn down the Yankees’ money has already matched the total number during Steinbrenner’s 37 ½ years as The Boss.

Aside from Maddux, I never really thought anyone would turn down less money or not accept the Yankees’ eagerness to overpay for someone. But at the end of the day, it turns out the Yankees didn’t even offer Lee the highest contract in terms of average annual salary. Here were the offers to Lee, according to Jon Heyman:

Yankees: Six years, $148 million plus player option for seventh year at $16 million.

Phillies: Five years, $120 million.

Rangers: Six years, $138 million.

In the end, Lee left $28 million on the table, but did end up getting a higher average annual salary. (Now playing: “Every Breath You Take” by The Police.)

“Here’s the sitch. Two weeks ago, I was in the worst relationship of my life. She treated me poorly, we didn’t connect, I was miserable. Now, I am in the best relationship of my life, with the same woman. Love is a mystery.”

Before the winter meetings, it was expected that Cliff Lee would be a Yankee, and once the Red Sox got Carl Crawford and the Yankees improved their six-year offer to seven years, it was basically a guarantee that Lee would sign with the Yankees.

And before the winter meetings, the Yankees rotation was CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett, Ivan Nova and Sergio Mitre, but it was expected to improve over the next week. Guess what? That’s still the rotation right now. So before the winter meetings the thought of that rotation was a joke, and now it’s still our rotation. Do I expect the rotation to stay the same? No. But I also don’t know how Lee’s decision will impact Pettitte’s.

“You know what? I had fun at prom. [pause] And no one said yes to that either.”

Brian Cashman and the front office will have to speak to the media about what went wrong in trying to entice Cliff Lee to the Bronx, and I fully expect them to spin in a way that make it sound like it’s no big deal. I’m sure they will tell Yankees fans how they are focused on the bullpen and the bench, and they will eventually believe their own lie that this is somehow for the better.

After the Red Sox traded for Adrian Gonzalez for prospects and not a single current major leaguer (I wonder if Jed Hoyer is still technically a Red Sox employee) and signed Carl Crawford the same night that Cashman had dinner with him, Cashman said you just have to “tip your hat” to the Red Sox for making great movies. I wonder if he will tip his hat to the Phillies too? Why not? Seems like the polite thing to do. (Now playing: “With Or Without You” by U2.)

“You know what Toby, when the son of the deposed king of Nigeria e-mails you directly, asking for help, you help! His father ran the freaking country! OK?”

Brian Cashman was embarrassed in July when the Mariners used the Yankees to get the Rangers involved in a deal for Cliff Lee. The Mariners got the Rangers to offer Justin Smoak, and once they did, they cited David Adams’ ankle injury as a way to cancel the deal on the Yankees.

At the time I was crushed. The Yankees missed out on the chance to add Lee even if it came at the cost of Jesus Montero. Here is what I said to Sweeny following the deal that didn’t happen:

“Many people thought that Lee to the Yankees would be too much or even “overkill” given the already star-studded roster. I was clearly not one of those people and even though I have been anxiously awaiting the debut of Jesus Montero, I could deal with the Yankees losing him given the depth of catchers in the minors. The Yankees would have gone from favorites to win the World Series to heavy favorites, and would have had a real chance to run away and hide in the AL East.”

And here is Sweeny’s response:

“I don’t think it was a necessary move to make, but I’ll repeat what one GM said to me last week when I told him the Yankees didn’t need Cliff Lee. He said to me, “Everybody needs a Cliff Lee!”

If Lee gets traded to the Yankees, they probably would have beaten the Rangers and might have won the World Series. Lee would have had a half season under his belt in New York and been reunited with his so-called “best friend” CC Sabathia (maybe they aren’t exactly best friends after all) and fellow Arkansas native A.J. Burnett, and would have never had a taste of the Rangers, so they wouldn’t have had much of a say in the sweepstakes. The Yankees could have signed him to an extension after trading for him or waiting until right after the season, and just like that there would be no problems.

Then again, what if the Yankees had traded Montero for Lee, and then Lee still left for Philly the way that the Rangers traded Smoak for a half-year rental? I’m just glad Chuck Greenberg made it impossible for me to feel sorry for Rangers fans. (Now playing: “How’s It Going To Be” by Third Eye Blind.)

“There are ten rules of business that you need to learn. Number one: You need to play to win. But, you also have to … win, to play.”

Here is the Yankees rotation as of today:

CC Sabathia, Phil Hughes, A.J. Burnett, Ivan Nova, Sergio Mitre.

One second, I need to grab a tissue.

Here is the Red Sox rotation as of today:

Jon Lester, Josh Beckett, Clay Buchholz, John Lackey, Daisuke Matsuzaka.

Am I the only one that sees a problem here?

Let’s not forget that the Red Sox were without Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis for a large portion of the year and still caused me to hyperventilate as late in the season as September 26 when there were only seven games left. A healthy Red Sox team in 2011 with the additions of Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford has kept me awake for nearly a week and will probably cause a great deal of stress this winter and eventually ruin my summer. Merry Christmas, Cliff Lee!

“I miss the feeling of knowing you did a good job because someone gives you proof of it. ‘Sir, you’re awesome, let me give you a plaque! What? A whole year has gone by? You need more proof? Here is a certificate.’ They stopped making plaques that year.”

Two years ago, Brian Cashman ended the World Series drought by unloading the Yankees’ checking account on CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira, and the Yankees won the World Series. Then, instead of doing all he knows how to do (spend money), he tried to be a real general manager and get creative. So he traded for Javier Vazquez and signed Nick Johnson. He let the No. 2 hitter and the World Series MVP both leave via free agency and essentially ripped apart two of the Yankees’ most important offensive weapons and two players essential with winning and big-game pedigrees. He did trade for Curtis Granderson, so it wasn’t all bad.

Now, Cashman is going to need to get creative again. The problem is being creative doesn’t win in baseball. You either have a lot of money to spend or you have enough homegrown starting pitching that you don’t need to spend money. Look at the Red Sox. After trying to save some pennies on Mark Teixeira and trying to get creative with reclamation projects like John Smoltz and Brad Penny and Mike Cameron, and winning zero postseason games since all of this, the Red Sox went to the winter meetings with Adrian Gonzalez already in hand and left with Carl Crawford. Lots of money. Zero creativity.

I can’t wait for the creativity era to begin. (Now playing: “The Heart Of The Matter” by Don Henley.)

“Andy Bernard. Pros: he’s classy. He gets me. He went to Cornell. I trust him. Cons: I don’t really trust him.”

I’m supposed to like Brian Cashman, but I don’t. It’s not because of this or that he told No. 2 to test the market if he didn’t like the Yankees’ offer, but they are just the icing on the cake of a mountain of problems in the last decade. I have no idea what Brian Cashman is going to do now. No one does. I don’t even know if Brian Cashman knows what he’s going to do.

Cashman’s biggest flaw has always been that he doesn’t know pitching and to think that he is now being asked to make a move regarding pitching to save the 2011 season before it even starts is as bad as it gets.

Now playing until the Yankees bring back Andy Pettitte and trade for a front-end starter: “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day. September 2011 that is.

Blogs • NFL

Dec 7, 2010

A Reality Check

I was born on September 19, 1986 — 29 days before the start of the Mets-Red Sox World Series. At this point in my life, a series of that magnitude would be the equivalent of

I was born on September 19, 1986 — 29 days before the start of the Mets-Red Sox World Series. At this point in my life, a series of that magnitude would be the equivalent of the apocalypse. Mets. Red Sox. One team has to win. One team has to become world champion. It’s as terrifying as a sporting event can be in which one of my teams isn’t playing. Thankfully I wasn’t even a month old the last time that nightmarish matchup took place.

Nothing in sports can touch what the aftermath of a Mets-Red Sox World Series would mean to me as a Yankees fan and someone who lived in Boston for five years and had to live through two Red Sox championships. The only thing that I could see being relatively similar would be a Jets-Patriots AFC Championship, and that’s why on Monday I made the trip to Foxboro to get a first-hand look at the second-worst possible sports formula to my life. Sounds crazy considering I’m a Giants fan, and neither team has a direct impact on the Giants’ path to the Super Bowl, but with all of the hype surrounding the Jets-Patriots Monday Night Football game, I figured if this is the potential AFC Championship, I might as well get a sneak peek as to what life will be like when two teams that I despise meet to decide a trip to Dallas.

For all the hype, it was as bad a football game as it could be. Actually it was a bad football game even without the hype. It was as bad as the time I went to see Tom Petty a few summers ago and he played all new songs, or the time I had seats behind home plate for Yankees-Red Sox and Roger Clemens put together the type of performance (5.1 IP, 6 H, 8 R, 7 ER, 2 BB, 3 K, 2 HR) that A.J. Burnett puts together every fifth day. I respect the Jets fans that I saw playing bags and crushing Coors Lights when I walked into the stadium at 5 p.m. knowing that they would be pregaming for another three-plus hours in freezing temperatures and would then have to sit through another three-plus hours of freezing temperatures being humiliated in a rival stadium. I respect them, but I don’t feel bad for them because at some point “the same old Jets” were going to become exactly that. It might not have happened against the Broncos, Lions, Browns or Texans, but it was going to happen again, and the Patriots were the perfect team to remind the Jets that they have a long way to go.

I went into the game with an open mind knowing that one of the fan bases I hate would come out victorious. I didn’t care who won because the result would be both good and bad either way it ended, I just wanted to see a good game. I was hoping for maybe a low-scoring defensive affair, or a game that would come down to a two-minute drill in the fourth quarter. Instead I got a 45-3 blowout in which Mark Sanchez looked every bit as bad as he was in his four-interception game in Foxboro last season. By the end of the third quarter, I was wishing it were an NHL game so that there would be a line brawl or scrap of some kind. Instead the Patriots tacked on another 14 points in the fourth quarter and the closest thing to a line brawl was the wild pack of reporters fighting over the free pizza after the game.

I believe that you find out what players and coaches are really like in big games. It’s like talking to someone when they are drunk and they open up to you and tell you their real opinions and feelings that they would never tell you sober. But with some alcohol, you are suddenly their best friend and someone they trust to talk to. Well big games are alcohol for players and coaches, and no game has been bigger this season than the Jets-Patriots Monday Night Football game. No one is as important as the head coach and quarterback in football, so let’s find out who the two head coaches and quarterbacks really are after the biggest game of the 2010 season to this point.

Rex Ryan
I didn’t like Rex Ryan at first, then he grew on me and I even wished Tom Coughlin was a little like him when I said, “I only wish Tom Coughlin could be half as likeable as Rex Ryan.” Actually I wish Tom Coughlin could be half as likable as anyone, but I was wrong to think that Coughlin should change his ways to be more like Ryan. After my 180 on Rex, I have done other 180, and now a complete 360 and I am back to my initial stance of not being a fan of Rex Ryan anymore.

There are few, if any, press conferences in sports as entertaining as Rex Ryan’s, but even those are getting old. In two seasons, Rex Ryan has become what The Office has become for me over seven seasons — a show that I was skeptical about at first, and then grew to love before becoming skeptical again.

One day Rex is saying that the Jets are the team to beat and the next he is saying that he knew the AFC East would run through New England. I understand that you have to take a grain of salt with whatever Rex says, but it’s become ridiculous. He wants to come off as this cocky, arrogant and pompous winner when the Jets are winning close games against barely competent teams. And after losses, he becomes an apologetic, sincere and humble the next. It’s an odd act that has made him a favorite of Jets fan, but an immature and unprepared clown to outsiders.

Tom Coughlin might not have a comedic personality or a limit to the amount of snacks he can eat in a day or a twin brother that looks like Sean Connery’s character John Mason at the beginning of The Rock, but he has beaten Bill Belichick in a big game (the biggest of games), and at least with Tom Coughlin you know what you’re getting, whether you like it or not. Oddly enough, I’m thankful that Tom Coughlin is the way he is.

Mark Sanchez
Last week, Mike Francesa said that if you polled the city, the majority of people would take Mark Sanchez to be their quarterback over Eli Manning. It’s true and it blows my mind.

I understand that Jets fans are protective of their quarterback the same way that I was of Eli in his first few seasons in the league before he beat what would have been the greatest team ever and then didn’t need me to protect or defend him anymore. But there comes a time when you have to look in the mirror and admit that while Mark Sanchez might be an elite quarterback one day, he is nowhere close to being one right now.

This season Sanchez has been a lot better than his disastrous 20-interception season in 2009, but with the team’s success, his second-year abilities have been disguised for most of the season before being unveiled on national TV on Monday night.

I had one friend tell me that Mark Sanchez is underrated — a claim that couldn’t be further from the truth. If Sanchez isn’t the most overrated player in the league, he is certainly near the top of the list. I think he will be an elite quarterback in the league at some point, but I don’t think he is ready to be the Super Bowl quarterback Rex Ryan thinks he is, and we saw that in his second career start in Foxboro.

Bill Belichick
Unless you’re a Patriots fan, it’s easy to hate Bill Belichick, and I think Patriots fans understand why non-Patriots fans hate him. He dresses like he came out of the Eric Prydz “Call on Me” video, usually wearing 1980s sweats, a shredded hoodie and a women’s headband. He is smug with the media, and his answers are more boring than Associated Press stories. He has very few redeeming qualities from a non-Patriots fan perspective, except for two things: He is a winner and he is a Yankees fan. And being a Yankees fan means a lot, at least to me it does. It made me go change my feelings about UNC’s Roy Williams, and it just might work with Belichick.

Bill Belichick is as much a symbol of winning as Tom Brady is in the NFL, and for all the criticism and abuse he takes about he conducts himself, the man puts a winning on the field every season. So many people were quick to predict the Jets to win the AFC East this season and write off the Patriots and their young and inexperienced defense. And when the Patriots traded Randy Moss, everyone thought Belichick was making a terrible mistake, the same way they did when he traded away Mike Vrabel and Richard Seymour. But at some point I think we need to stop questioning Belichick’s coaching and personnel decisions.

He will never say it outright, but Monday night’s win was as big a regular season win as there is. But Belichick didn’t compare it to the Super Bowl or make it sound any more important than a win over the Lions. And that’s probably because he knows the difference between winning a Super Bowl and winning a game in Week 13 against your division rival.

Tom Brady
I should hate Tom Brady. He is a legend and an icon in Boston and has brought immense happiness three times to the sports city I hate more than any other. But everything about Tom Brady says I should like him.

He’s the Derek Jeter of football. He’s a winner. He says the right things (minus that Plaxico Burress defense comment). He wears a Yankees hat away from the football field and is married to a smokeshow. I think I want to be a fan of Tom Brady. I just don’t know if I can.

For some reason, Tom Brady is constantly doubted. Whether it’s “experts” picking against him in big games or people siding with Peyton Manning in the “Who’s The Better Quarterback Debate?” it seems like Tom Brady doesn’t get enough credit. I’m sure there are plenty of people who watched the game on ESPN last night and had to listen to Mike Tirico and Ron Jaworski and John Gruden drool over him and who think that maybe Tom Brady gets too much attention, but doesn’t he deserve it? And if he doesn’t, who does?

Aside from making the Patriots the Yankees of the NFL and giving Boston three championships in a four-year span, Tom Brady is 0-1 against my team in big games, so I don’t have any real grudge against him, other than maybe his haircut. But I know one thing, and that is after his performance this season in what was supposed to be a down year for the Patriots, I will never doubt him again. He’s earned that.

Blogs • Giants

Nov 23, 2010

Looking Back on Black Sunday

After taking a full day to become emotionally stable following the second game in a row that looks like it will kick off the annual second-half collapse for the New York Football Giants, I am

After taking a full day to become emotionally stable following the second game in a row that looks like it will kick off the annual second-half collapse for the New York Football Giants, I am ready to look back at the Sunday night debacle. It was the darkest day of the 2010 season, and not just for the Giants and their chances at reaching the postseason, which now sit at 30 percent, but for me personally as a Giants fan, and as a football fan.

On Sunday I had to watch the Jets pull off a miracle win against the Texans. Then I watched the Patriots pick off Peyton Manning one less time than he had been picked off in the first nine games of the season, as the Colts teased me almost their second 31-14 comeback against the Patriots in as many years. The Cowboys? Not like they matter anymore this year, but they won too. The Redskins? Victorious. As the day went on, every NFL team I hate was watching their win total change, and the only two teams left to play that I despise were the Eagles against the Giants and the Chargers on Monday night. Give the Eagles a W, and the Chargers one too. And remember November 21, 2010 as Black Sunday.

The storm didn’t stop there. Nope. On Monday we found out that Hakeem Nicks would be out for three weeks, and that the Giants would be posting their latest wide receiver job opening on the team’s official site and Craigslist. The only actual wide receiver left on the roster that anyone thought would see playing time in 2010 is Mario Manningham, who becomes the No. 1 receiver against Jacksonville on Sunday after being the No. 2 receiver against Philadelphia and the No. 3 receiver before the bye week. When it rains, it pours around here. And it usually starts to pour in the second half of the season.

All week I heard about the Giants’ second-half collapses during the Tom Coughlin Era. And with each time it was mentioned, I said the same thing: “Sure it’s happened before, but those seasons are irrelevant to this season and this team.” Who was I kidding? How could I be so stupid?

Sure this year the Giants have a defensive coordinator that actually understands the concept of “defense,” but it’s virtually the same team. Justin Tuck can keep saying, “We don’t like to lose around here,” but just because you don’t like to lose and didn’t like it last year, doesn’t stop it from happening again. You actually have to do something about it.

Two years ago when the Giants were 11-1 and making a mockery of their competition, I actually thought it was stupid that no one thought we would ever see another dynasty in the NFL under the current system with too much parity in the league. I was certain the Giants were a dynasty in the making, but since Plaxico Burress decided to go out for the night in the city with a gun, the Giants have gone 16-16 including their only playoff game. What hurts even more is knowing that the Giants beat the final four teams in the 2008 playoffs during the regular season (Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Arizona). After the first 12 games in 2008, I never would have believed that the Giants would be on the verge of missing the postseason for the second straight year with this team. Then again, I didn’t think that after the Mets lost Game 7 of the NLCS to the Cardinals that they still would not have played another postseason game. Though that doesn’t really bother me.

Here are how the Giants have started and finished each season during the Tom Coughlin Era (minus the 2007 season for obvious reasons):

2004: 5-3 in first eight games, 1-7 in last eight games.

2005: 6-2 in first eight games, 5-3 in last eight games and a first-round playoff loss.

2006: 6-2 in first eight games, 2-6 in last eight games and a first-round playoff loss.

2008: 11-1 in first 12 games, 1-3 in last four games and a first-round playoff loss.

2009: 5-0 in first five games, 3-8 in last 11 games.

2010: 6-2 start in first eight games, 0-2 in last two games.

You could probably take 2005 off the list since they didn’t really stumble down the stretch as badly as other years, but that 23-0 loss at home in the first round to the Panthers needs to be included somehow. The idea that in five of Coughlin’s first six seasons with the Giants (2004-06 and 08-09), the team has played consistently bad in the second half and has never made it past their first postseason game except for 2007 is remarkable.

I don’t know if this is my attempt at a reverse jinx or if it’s just me being down on the team and then if a reverse jinx happens I can take credit for it, but I just don’t know what to think of the 2010 Giants anymore. I am fully prepared for a second-half collapse. I have stocked up on canned foods and bottled water like it’s Y2K and I am ready to take this second-half meltdown head on. In the past the Giants were always able to sneak up on me with their horrific second-half play. I was always too high on them in the past to see the reality that they were just getting ready to rip my heart and stomp on it, but not this time. Not this year. A second-half collapse won’t come out of nowhere over these next six weeks. So bring on your five-game losing streak, Tom Coughlin! Finish the season 8-8! Miss the playoffs for the second year in a row! I’m ready!

But seriously, I am down on the G-Men because I have seen this story too many times to think it is might end otherwise. No matter how many times I watch Dumb and Dumber, I always hope that Lloyd and Harry will get on the bikini tour bus at the end of the movie, even though I know they don’t because I have seen the movie probably close to 100 times. The same goes for the Giants. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that they will torture me and test me as a fan over the next six weeks, and they will undoubtedly lure me back in to believing in them only to pull the rug out from underneath me right when I let my guard down. I’m used to it by now, and it’s my own fault for getting drawn back in time and time again, but I let them pull me back in because I experienced in 2007 what it’s like to keep believing, and I know how rewarding it can be when they play to their potential.

What makes the Giants losing even harder is having to watch the other team that plays at New Meadowlands Stadium come back in the most improbable ways like they’re the 2009 Yankees, and then having to listen to their head coach ramble on about apologizing for wins or not apologizing for wins or whatever he is rambling on about, pretending like winning in overtime or on pass interference calls or in the final seconds of a game was in the game plan all along. It’s hard to watch my Jets friends enjoy winning even if it’s only regular season winning, while the Giants give away games by giving away the football.

The only game the Giants have left against a team out of playoff contention is in Minnesota in Week 14, and even though the Vikings are 3-7, that is anything but an automatic win. The other five games left for the G-Men are against Jacksonville (6-4), Washington (5-5) twice, Philadelphia (7-3) and Green Bay (7-3). The last easy win the Giants had on their schedule (in a league where no win is easy unless you’re playing against Charlie Whitehurst) was against the Cowboys in Week 10, and the Giants blew that game.

There were four main problems for the Giants on Sunday night, and four seems to be the magic number at this juncture in the season. Four turnovers in the loss to the Eagles (technically, there were five turnovers, but the last one came on an Eli Manning interception when the game was over and didn’t have an impact on the outcome). Four losses on the season for the Giants. Four wins away from basically guaranteeing themselves a postseason berth. Four division games left. Here are the four problems from Sunday in order of importance:

1. Ahmad Bradshaw’s Best “Tiki Barber”
It’s hard to win any game when you lose in the turnover column. It’s hard to ever win when those turnovers are from your running back consistently putting the ball on the ground. Tom Coughlin called it “a callous disregard for the football.” I called it something else that I can’t write here.

I’m not sure what Ahmad Bradshaw doesn’t understand about holding onto the ball or protecting the ball, but there is never a moment when he is rushing with the ball that I don’t envision him putting the ball on the ground. That shouldn’t be the case. A fumble from your running back should be a shock and unexpected. It shouldn’t be a normal occurrence.

Bradshaw’s biggest strength also happens to be his biggest weakness in his second efforts on runs. It’s his second efforts that make him dangerous to defenses and unpredictable on runs, but it’s those same second efforts that prevent him from initially going down and those attempts to gain that extra yard or two while being tackled is when the fumbles happen. It’s up to Coughlin now to get Bradshaw righted for the remainder of the season the same way he helped Tiki Barber overcome his fumble problems.

There was talk on Monday that Bradshaw might be in jeopardy of losing his starting job to Brandon Jacobs, and if that happens, the Giants can pack up and go home for the year now because the last thing this team needs is Brandon Jacobs getting more carries. I would take Ahmad Bradshaw, who is capable of breaking off game-changing runs, fumbling left and right as my starting running back over rumblin’, bumblin’, stumblin’ Brandon Jacobs who hasn’t been the same since 2008 any day of the week.

2. Offsides, Defense, Number 90, Five-Yard Penalty, Replay Third Down
If the offense doesn’t turn the ball over four times in the game (and another time with the game over), then the defense probably doesn’t need to stop the Eagles on third-and-1 to hold their 17-16 lead with 4:38 left in the game. And if Jason Pierre-Paul doesn’t go offsides on what was initially a third-and-5 that the Giants did stop the Eagles on, then we are probably sitting here talking about how the Giants rebounded from an awful loss to the Cowboys and have sole possession of first place in the NFC East. But the offense did turn the ball over times, and Jason Pierre-Paul did go offsides and the Giants didn’t stop the Eagles on third-and-1 and they didn’t win the game, and they aren’t in first place.

Jason Pierre-Paul went offsides and it was a big play in the game and a devastating turn of events, but what are you going to do? The offense could have bailed him out on the next drive if not for No. 3…

3. Whatever Eli Manning Calls The Way He Went To The Ground
At what point during his 16-yard run, did Eli Manning think, “I’m going to stop, drop and roll for a first down!” And when did he think it was a good idea?

I could understand if someone was diving at the back of his legs and his only play was to dive head first to go down, but there wasn’t a green jersey anywhere near him. Yes, the defense was closing in him, but he could have slid to the ground and stood up and gone into the grand roll that Gene Wilder performed as Willy Wonka (1:20 mark), and the defense still wouldn’t have gotten to him yet. That’s how much time he had to go to the ground properly. Instead, Eli went with the “Should I slide? Should I dive? Should I slide? Ahhhhh! I can’t make up my mind! I’m going to do both at the same time for an awkward fall!” routine. And it ultimately cost the Giants the game.

On Friday, I said this about Eli:

“No, 13 interceptions in nine games isn’t good, but if you have watched every minute of Giants football this season and you have seen how those 13 picks have been compiled, then you would understand Eli a little better. The majority of his picks have been tipped by his receivers on balls that should have been caught. He isn’t throwing picks directly to the opposition the way that Brett Favre and Donovan McNabb do, but the box scores don’t provide the video necessary for those who can’t watch Eli to see exactly why he has thrown as many picks as he has this season. Eli is better than the numbers suggest. Much better.”

If you read that, and decided to watch the Giants-Eagles game on Sunday because of what I wrote, well I apologize for wasting three-plus hours of your life.

4. Matt Dodge
You could make the case that a lot of things could be in the No. 4 spot, but I saved this spot for the man, the myth, the legend himself … Matt Dodge. After the Giants went three-and-out to start the game because they thought running on the first two plays of the game for no yards was a good idea, Matt Dodge punted the ball 25 yards and out of bounds. On another punt, Cris Collinsworth talked about how shaky Dodge has been, only to be rewarded with a perfect setup when Dodge dropped the ball before getting his punt off.

No Matt Dodge wasn’t really a problem or a factor in the Giants’ loss, but I wanted to include him in this because over the next six weeks the Giants will need him to come up in a big spot, and he has done nothing to prove that he will come through in that spot. We keep hearing about how Dodge kicks bombs in practice, and that the Giants are just waiting for it to consistently happen in games. The problem is the Giants’ season is taking on water and when you are asking Dodge to pin the opposition deep in an effort to help save the season, well don’t be surprised when he assists in causing the season to come crashing down.

In his Monday Morning Quarterback column, Peter King said, “Matt Dodge is a disaster waiting to happen.” I’m pretty confident the disaster has already arrived, and if it hasn’t yet, I’m not sure I will be able to physically, mentally or emotionally handle anything worse than we have already seen from him through 10 games.

The same way I can’t understand why the Yankees are deciding to be tough with Derek Jeter and Mariano Rivera, the two faces of the team for the last 15 seasons when they were basically handing out money to anyone in need of a contract the last three years, I can’t understand how the Giants didn’t just tell Jeff Feagles they would give him whatever he wanted to come back this year. Why not tell Feagles he could go home during the week and only show up to games? Maybe the Giants did offer him some lucrative deal to try to entice him to punt for one more season, but if they did, I didn’t hear about it. There are still six games left. Please come back, Feagles. Please come back.

As the game ended on Sunday, Cris Collinsworth said in reference to the Giants, “They had their chances in this one, they just gave it away.”

That’s a nice way to sum up what the Giants have been in the second half during the Tom Coughlin Era minus 2007, though I would probably sum it up a little differently. But once again, I can’t write it here.

For now, I am forced to sit and wonder if I will be without playoff football for the second year in a row. If that’s the case, I’m ready.

Blogs • Giants

Nov 19, 2010

Giants Just-Past-Midseason Awards

For a team tied for first place in their division, the Giants are in trouble. They are in trouble because they couldn’t win at home against the Cowboys, a team that had nothing left to

For a team tied for first place in their division, the Giants are in trouble. They are in trouble because they couldn’t win at home against the Cowboys, a team that had nothing left to play for. They are in trouble because now they head to Philadelphia to face the hottest team in the league – in a tie for first place with the Eagles rather than a game up. They are in trouble because their final seven games are all against quality opponents.

I wouldn’t be thinking like that if the Giants didn’t go out and lay the equivalent of an A.J. Burnett egg last Sunday, but they did. And they did in typical New York Football Giants fashion, by making sure they were always within reach of turning the game around only to come up short. It was the type of Giants tease that I have grown accustomed to over the years. The type of tease they displayed last year when they beat the Cowboys and then trailed the Eagles 14-0 early the following week – only to take the lead and then blow the game and their season. They did it the year before that when they lost Plaxico Burress, went on a losing streak only to come back against the Panthers and win in overtime in the best game of the season before losing in the divisional round of the playoffs.

Aside from those four magical games in a row in the 2007-2008 playoffs, I am used to the Giants getting my hopes up and then crushing them and then getting them up again and then crushing them even harder. I can’t even imagine what Jets fans have had to deal with over the years.

The Giants suckered me in again on Sunday. They had me telling my friends that they were the best team in football for an entire week only to lose to the 1-7 Cowboys who were just looking to close up shop if they got behind. And when the Cowboys got a commanding lead, the Giants began to creep back to make sure you stuck around to see what would happen. And when the Cowboys failed to put the Giants away with interceptions and missed field goals, you thought “Hey, maybe they will win this game after all.” It never happened.

The Giants’ embarrassing performance on Sunday can be directly correlated to the fact that the media started to believe in the Giants. They took over in Vegas as favorites to represent the NFC in the Super Bowl and many of the sports outlets had them sitting at or near the top of their power rankings.

In the second episode of Friday Night Lights this season, the East Dillon Lions are coming off a 2-8 season and no one believes in them. Then in their first game, they knock off the No. 8 team in the state and they open eyes around Texas. But the following week, the Lions are nowhere to be seen on the state rankings, and it has the whole team flustered and annoyed that even though they beat a top team, they aren’t being recognized. So Coach Taylor (played by Kyle Chandler, who I still believe is really a high school football coach and would like to make him an offer to coach the Giants once Coughlin retires) flips out on his team for caring so much about what a stupid poll says rather than the results on the field. His team finally understands him and they go out and win again.

So that’s what I believe frequently happens with the Giants. They are always so concerned with how they are viewed by the public, and it can be traced back to 2007 when Antonio Pierce used to make a point to mention to the media that no one believes in the Giants.

Last season the Giants started 5-0, and were a unanimous choice as the top team in the league. Then they went down to New Orleans and the Saints embarrassed them and the G-Men never recovered. In 2008, Trent Dilfer said on ESPN before the start of the season, “The Giants would be the biggest disappointment in the NFL,” after winning the Super Bowl the year before. The Giants started out 10-1 and everyone was riding high on them, then Plaxico brought a gun out with him one night, the season fell apart and they lost to the Eagles in the playoffs once again. In 2007, no one believed in the Giants. After they lost to the Packers in Week 2, I told my friend Red that the Giants might not win a game all year. Then they had the goal-line stand against the Redskins in Week 3 and things began to come together. But once they made the playoffs, no one gave them a chance to win on the road in Tampa Bay or Dallas or Green Bay or in Arizona against New England, and they went out and ran the table. The moral of the story is that the Giants just aren’t good when everyone is so high on them, but when no one pays them any attention, they go out and shock the world

Following the loss on Sunday, Justin Tuck made some comments that at first I was upset about since the Giants were just embarrassed, and I had to watch this loser in a Jason Witten jersey dance around at the bar where I was watching the game. But the more I thought about what Tuck said, the more it made sense.

“I’m not mad, and I’m not sad about this game,” Tuck said. “Actually, I’m kind of glad. Maybe this is a wake-up call that we needed. This is a chance to look at ourselves and say that maybe we aren’t as good as we thought we were.”

Tuck is right. It’s a good thing this loss happened because it reminded the Giants that people telling you you’re good doesn’t make you good. And people predicting you will win, doesn’t mean you will win. Not in this league of parody where the consensus top team seems to get knocked off every single week and an unusual amount of teams are currently in playoff contention.

I’m not sure what will happen this Sunday night in Philadelphia. When I get too down on the Giants they prove me wrong and when I get too high on them they do the same, but there is no in between and there is no balance for me as a Giants fan.

I did midseason awards for the Yankees, so I thought it would be a good idea to do them for the Giants as well. (Yes, I know we are a game past the midseason point). These aren’t your standard awards and not every member of the Giants received one, but for those who didn’t receive one, there’s still seven games left to prove yourself.

The Rudy Award for “No One Believes In Him Because They Can’t See It Every Week”

“My father loves Notre Dame football more than anything else in the world. He doesn’t believe I’m on the team … because he can’t see me during the games.”

That quote is from Rudy, and when I think of Eli Manning, I think of that quote.

I am always defending Eli Manning against the haters (and there are a lot of them), who see the numbers at the end of the day, but don’t realize how good he is. No, he is never going to put up the numbers that his brother puts up or the numbers that Philip Rivers puts up because the Chargers lack a running game, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t an elite quarterback in the NFL.

No, 13 interceptions in nine games isn’t good, but if you have watched every minute of Giants football this season and you have seen how those 13 picks have been compiled, then you would understand Eli a little better. The majority of his picks have been tipped by his receivers on balls that should have been caught. He isn’t throwing picks directly to the opposition the way that Brett Favre and Donovan McNabb do, but the box scores don’t provide the video necessary for those who can’t watch Eli to see exactly why he has thrown as many picks as he has this season.

Eli is better than the numbers suggest. Much better.

The Robbie Cano, Don’t Ya Know Award for “Being The Smoothest Player There Is And Having All The Talent In The World But Making Mental Mistakes”

Robinson Cano might very well be the AL MVP for 2010, but it took him long enough to finally put it all together and limit the amount of times he would make fans scratch their heads and wonder what is going through his mind. These instances still happen, but at a much lesser degree than they were happening two and three years ago.

Like Cano, Hakeem Nicks has all the talent in the world, and has the potential to be the best wide receiver in the league. The only problem is that he has these brain farts where he stops his route short, tips or drops a pass or just flat out misses a wide open catch for a huge gain. All three of these things happened to happen in the same game on Sunday and it’s no wonder that the Giants suffered their most embarrassing loss of the season.

I am a huge Hakeem Nicks fan and I think anyone that likes the Giants would say the same. But for all the talent the abilities he has, he needs to minimize the mistakes. If he does that, it’s scary how good he will be.

The Dennis Green Award for “He Is Who We Thought He Was”

Before the season began, I talked with Ralph Vacchiano, Giants beat writer for the New York Daily News, about Jacobs taking the backup role, and we both assumed there would be trouble on the horizon for Jacobs and his bad attitude. So far, there hasn’t been much complaining from the man who once made Giants fans forget about Tiki Barber, but he has been as ineffective as we thought he would be. Sure, he has a handful of TDs from the goal line that make his numbers look somewhat decent, but he has rarely made the necessary play to extend a drive or get the first down, and there was never a better example than in Sunday’s loss.

Jacobs was given the ball on fourth-and-1 and instead of moving his legs and plowing to get just three feet, the big back sort of just fell forward and the Giants turned the ball over at a crucial point in the game. It’s not all Jacobs’ fault though. You can’t put Jacobs into the game on a fourth-and-1 and not expect the defense to just clog the middle knowing that he isn’t going anywhere. With Jacobs in the backfield on fourth-and-1, there is one option and that is to drive his way straight forward. If Bradshaw had been in that situation, he could have gone to the outside if the middle was clogged or stayed up the middle if the defense was worried about him going to the outside. With Jacobs in the backfield, the Giants are one-dimensional when he gets the ball, and three years ago that wasn’t a problem, but he is nowhere near the same player he was three years ago.

The Late Night With Jimmy Fallon Award for “It’s A Mystery As To How You Still Have A Job”

This award could have easily been called the Sergio Mitre award because like Jimmy Fallon, no one is sure how Mitre is able to keep his job with the Yankees. I always figured that Mitre had dirt on Joe Girardi and Brian Cashman or compromising photos, and maybe the same goes for Jimmy Fallon and the NBC executives. The man ruined every Saturday Night Live skit by uncontrollably laughing to the point where Will Ferrell would give him the look like, “Hey stop ruining my show,” and then NBC gave him his own show to take over for Conan O’Brien. Fallon’s version of Late Night is so bad that my roommate and I will do my Jimmy Fallon Test a few times a week in which we put his show on at a random time and watch for five minutes to see if either of us laugh. We have never laughed.

I never understood why NBC didn’t just give Conan the same money he was making on the Tonight Show to go back to Late Night in New York, and then everyone would have had a show that had one before the Tonight Show debacle began, except for Jimmy Fallon. But no one would have cared.

Anyways, back to Reynaud. Now that he is hurt, the Giants actually have a chance to gain somewhat decent field position without him returning kicks and punts since I think the most yards I ever saw him get off either was maybe three yards. It’s pretty amazing that the Giants were winning the way they were when Reynaud was healthy given the terrible field position they would start with whenever he actually attempted to a run a kick or punt back.

The Chad Gaudin Award for “It’s Never Good To See You In The Game”

Another case of possibly blackmailing the front office, Matt Dodge is still a Giant after nine games. I had the under on three, so I lost a long time ago, but if this man keeps his job throughout the season, a lot of people will be surprised, including me.

I couldn’t believe that after how bad he was to start the year that the Giants didn’t just call up Jeff Feagles and say, “Hey, a blank check is going to be arriving in your mailbox today. Fill in the amount you want and cash it, and we’ll see you at practice tomorrow.”

I am scared that what we are seeing with Dodge after having Feagles for so long will be like life without Mariano Rivera (still hoping that never happens). Because when you have someone as good as Feagles who was just automatic and now you have a kid who basically rolls the dice every time the ball is snapped to him, well it’s just hard to watch. Nothing is automatic anymore. Nothing.

The South Park Award for “Being Wildly Popular And Then Falling Off The Face Of The Earth Only To Become Wildly Popular Once Again”

When I was in sixth grade, South Park took the world by storm. It was as big as Jersey Shore, Four Loko and Lady Gaga combined. Then over the next few years, the show began to fade and was ultimately forgotten about even though it was still on the air. Once it became an afterthought and pretty much a non-factor in pop culture, it slowly climbed back into the spotlight with its comedic take on current events and then grew so popular again that it made everyone wonder why there was ever a gap in success for the show since the talent and abilities were always there.

The same goes for Osi Umenyiora. Following Super Bowl XLII, Osi became a household name with sack after sack; he was dating Victoria’s Secret supermodel Selita Ebanks and was basically just living the dream as a Super Bowl champion. Then he was forced to miss all of 2008 when he tore his ACL in preseason and never became the same player in 2009 after fighting with defensive coordinator (not sure if putting that title in front of his name even makes sense) Bill Sheridan and eventually became a bench player for the Giants. Umenyiora made it public that he wanted out of New York and no one knew if he would be the a Giant in 2010, and if he was, which Osi would we see?

Well so far this season, Osi has been every bit as good as he was before the season-ending knee injury in 2008. He has nine sacks in nine games, which is already more than his 2009 total, and he is on pace to have a better season statistically than he did in 2007. It’s good to see the old Osi back along with his old attitude.

The Tom Coughlin Award for Undergoing The Scrutiny That Only Tom Coughlin Could Undergo

Only Tom Coughlin could have an award named after him in the midseason, and only he could win the award named after him. Mike Francesa likes to talk about the terrible treatment and injustices Coughlin has had to deal with since becoming head coach of the Giants, and I would have to say I agree. No other coach in the city that has had the type of success Coughlin has had and has had to deal with as much as Coughlin has. It seems like his job is in question multiple times a year, and he always seems to deflect the questions with wins (except for the 2009 meltdown).

This season Coughlin’s job security became the topic of discussion after the Giants started the season with a 1-2 record and Bill Cowher’s name began to come up in Google searches for New York Giants. But Coughlin got the Giants back on track with the help of Perry Fewell (aka the anti-Bill Sheridan), and now the Giants are tied for first place in the division after nine games.

My relationship with Tom Coughlin is an odd one. It’s a love/hate relationship I guess, but I think the hate end of the relationship is a lot more extreme than the love. If I were to write about Coughlin on Sunday night or Monday morning after the Dallas loss, it wouldn’t have been pretty. But when you’re a fan and you watch a man decide to go for some 4th-and-1’s and not others, despite being exactly the same situation, well it will make you a little angry.

Coughlin was the head coach of one of the best days of my life, so he will forever get a pass in my book. But that doesn’t mean I can’t get angry with him from time to time.

Giants

Nov 5, 2010

Big Expectations for Big Blue

After what happened with the Giants in 2009, not many people were giving them a chance before the season and after Week 3 when they were 1-2. But since their loss to the Titans on

After what happened with the Giants in 2009, not many people were giving them a chance before the season and after Week 3 when they were 1-2. But since their loss to the Titans on September 26, the Giants have won four straight and are sitting atop the division and tied for the best record in the NFC. It hasn’t been the cleanest way to get to a 5-2 record for the Giants with an inordinate amount of turnovers through seven games. The Giants have tried to give away every one of their five wins with interceptions and fumbles, but have so far managed to not let untimely turnovers damage their season. Coming off of four straight wins and a bye, the G-Men begin the second portion of their season against the Seahawks. With a one-game lead over the Eagles in the division and nine games remaining (five against division opponents), the Giants have a challenging schedule ahead of them. Ralph Vacchiano, Giants beat writer for the New York Daily News, joined me to talk Giants football with the G-Men set to begin the second part of their schedule.

Keefe: In our preseason talk about the Giants, you predicted the team would go 8-8 and after their slow start to the season, I was scared that your prediction was on the money. But then the defense started playing like it did two years ago, and after four wins in a row, the Giants look like they might be back. I have watched at lot of Giants football to know that you should never feel safe with this team or the way they are going, but right now they are gaining a lot of hype and many people believe they are the best team in the NFC and one of the top teams in the league. After their beating against the Colts earlier in the season, I don’t think anyone would have predicted the Giants to be where they are at now, but the league seems to be wide open and is up for the taking by any team. Your prediction of 8-8 is still in play, though the Giants would need to go 3-6 at this point to fulfill it, and while it’s not out of the question after last season, I hope it’s unlikely. Are you sticking with your prediction in thinking that the Giants have already been as good as they will be all season, or have you become a believer in the G-Men?

Vacchiano: It would probably be unfair of me to change my prediction now. I think it would be pretty naive, too. I’ve just seen too many sudden changes from them over the years. They’ve been 5-2 or 6-1 in every one of Coughlin’s seven seasons now, but how many times have they ended as good as they started? Last year 5-0 became 8-8. In 2006, 6-2 became 8-8. In 2008, 11-1 became 12-4 and no playoff wins. I’m not guaranteeing another second-half collapse, but given that track record I’d be crazy to say, “I’m in. I buy the hype. They’re going 11-5!” How many other years would I have done that and been proven wrong? Plus, we need to go back and look at my wishy-washy prediction of 8-8. I had some pretty good reasons for it and a few caveats. I said from the outset that I believed this team had the talent to be a Super Bowl contender if – a big if – they stayed healthy and everything worked out right. I thought they had some issues, though, and were likely to end up more inconsistent than anything. So far they’re pretty healthy, and that’s great. That’s why they’re playing above my prediction. But I tell you what, the inconsistency is still there. The turnovers have them playing a very, very dangerous game. I didn’t foresee that as a major problem, but it’s become one. And even they know that if they keep that up they’re going to end up losing a lot more games than they should. Knowing that, if they stay healthy and fix the turnover issues, I don’t see any reason why they can’t be 12-4 or 11-5 and win their weak conference. But with nine games left, I still think the injuries and inconsistencies can rear their ugly heads. This remains, though, what I thought it was: A good team that, if things break right, can go a long, long way.

Keefe: Turnovers have been a problem for the Giants this season. Turnovers cost them the game against the Titans and almost cost them the game against the Cowboys – a game they dominated. Aside from the Colts’ loss, you could say the Giants should be 6-1 after the debacle with the Titans. I’m a firm believer that if the Giants can’t find a way to drastically reduce their amount of turnovers, it will come back to cost them in a big spot and eventually cost them their season. Is this the Giants’ biggest problem, and what is being done to rectify the situation?

Vacchiano: Yeah, it’s absolutely their biggest problem. They could’ve easily lost that Dallas game. They came close to losing control of the Chicago and Detroit games, too. And remember, turnovers put them in a position where they needed three end zone interceptions, if I recall, to beat Carolina on opening day. So, if we’re playing the “What if” game, you could say that the Giants only have one real quality win where they didn’t come close to shooting themselves in the foot. That’s not a fair game to play either way, of course, because turnovers are what most of these NFL games turn on today. So yeah, the amount they have right now is disturbing and they know it. Unfortunately there’s not a lot they can do to rectify it. Seven of Eli Manning’s 11 interceptions are off tipped passes. That’s a little flukey. He is throwing a little high and behind his receivers on some of those, but it’s not like he’s going to have some sort of drastic overhaul in his mechanics. He just needs to make better throws and his receivers need to hold onto the ball. On the fumbles, they’re working with Ahmad Bradshaw and, to a lesser extent, Brandon Jacobs on the “high and tight” carry position. But they are fighting instinct. Both players, when they fight for extra yards, the ball tends to drop to their sides. That’s how they’ve run for years and it’s hard to change now. So all they can do is focus on the problem, concentrate, and hope the ball bounces their way a little more than it has. The good news is that historically this hasn’t been a turnover-prone group under Coughlin. Things usually have a way of evening themselves out, so I expect that eventually this will do that, too.

Keefe: The special teams are clearly the biggest weakness on the team. You tweeted that Darius Reynaud will likely not be the returner for long, but it’s amazing he has lasted this long despite such poor results. Matt Dodge has had his ups and downs as well and the coverage on kickoffs could use some help. Do you think we will see a different look from the special teams coming out of the bye and in the second half of the season? And by different I mean a better look.

Vacchiano: I don’t really know what they can do differently. Dodge has been a lot more consistent lately and clearly he’s got the faith of Coughlin and his staff. He’s a rookie, though, so there’ll probably be another couple of ups and downs along the way. The coverage teams just need to tackle better. They can tweak the scheme a little, but if guys flail on the return men or leave their lanes, that won’t help. And you can’t really overhaul the entire special teams unit at this point in time. The only change they can really make is at returner, and now that they’ve signed Will Blackmon I expect they will do that soon. I don’t know how much that will help, though. Blackmon was a good returner in Green Bay, but he’s coming off a knee injury and who knows if he still has his old explosiveness? Plus, a lot of people thought Reynaud was a pretty talented return man, but he obviously didn’t get the job done here. Is it the returner or the scheme or the blockers? It’s hard to say. Probably a little bit of all three. But right now they don’t have a returner as skilled as Domenik Hixon was – a player who can rise above what’s going on around him.

Keefe: Nearly every one of Eli Manning’s interceptions has been the result of a receiver tipping the ball to a defender and missing what should have been a catch. I asked you via Twitter if Randy Moss made sense for the Giants since Eli’s problem has always been missing high and Plaxico Burress took care of that. You basically said there wasn’t a chance, and while I know the Giants aren’t the type of team to take in problem players, I thought Moss could have been the type of tall receiver that would limit Eli’s mistakes.

Vacchiano: Moss only would’ve been a help because he’s tall. And I get that. But as you know, he comes with so many other issues that bringing him in would’ve been disruptive and … well, terrible. Plus, he’s going to want the ball. So who would you want to sit? Hakeem Nicks? Steve Smith? The two of them are very possibly on their way to the Pro Bowl this year. Is Moss really much better, other than being taller? Anyway, I’ve said before I think the problem has more to do with Eli than with his receivers, that a majority of those tipped passes have simply not been good throws. I’ve seen him make better throws than he’s been making. Yes, traditionally he’s a high thrower. In fact, if you read my book (shameless plug alert) – Eli Manning: The Making of a Quarterback – you know that his penchant for throwing high was in Ernie Accorsi’s original scouting report on Eli and it was a big reason why they signed Burress. But I’m confident he can do better. And, to be fair, so can the receivers. The Giants’ coaching staff – I forget which assistant said it – feels that some of the problem has to do with receivers running imprecise routes. So they’ve just got to get crisper on both ends of the passes. And by the way, don’t discount the flukiness of this, too. I can’t remember the last time a tipped pass didn’t land in the hands of a defender. At some point a ball is going to tip off a receiver’s hands and go down or away from the crowd. The number off deflected interceptions in the first seven games has been unusually high. I really do think that the law of averages will even that out. I think.

Keefe: The reversal of Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs roles has worked out well, but how has it worked in the locker room? A major storyline before the season was how Jacobs would react and perform under his new role as a backup, so what is the mood you are getting from No. 27 now that he has been the backup back for seven games, despite his ability to find the end zone on goal line plays? Do you think as long as the team wins Jacobs will be content, or is there always going to another problem just waiting to erupt for Jacobs?

Vacchiano: I’d say it’s probably an uneasy peace right about now. I know that Jacobs is saying all the right things, and that’s admirable – you know, if you ignore his antics through the first few weeks, then I guess you could admire his new stance. But I find it hard to believe that one conversation with Coughlin and Reese suddenly turned him from one of the unhappiest people I’ve seen around that locker room in years into Mr. Everything’s OK. You don’t have to be a genius to realize he’s probably got some simmering, lingering animosity towards the situation. In fact, that’s what I’ve been hearing privately – that he’s counting the days until the end of the season, anticipating that the Giants will cut him loose. He absolutely, positively, does not want to be here next year as a backup, from what I’m told. Now, having said all that, it doesn’t mean he’ll be a problem. He may really be intent on being the good soldier the rest of the way. He seems to genuinely like and respect Ahmad Bradshaw and admire his abilities, so that may be enough to keep him in check. I’m sure his huge salary helps, too. And giving him the goal-line role has been a boost to his ego. So it’s not like I’m waiting for another eruption. But the potential is definitely there. And don’t mistake his change of heart for genuine contentment.

Keefe: Since the embarrassment against the Colts, Perry Fewell has the defense looking like it did two and three years ago. The defense looks completely different than it did a year ago under Bill Sheridan with almost the same exact names. How have the players adapted to Fewell’s system, and do you think the defense is consistent and strong enough to carry the team through the regular season and deep into the postseason?

Vacchiano: I think the players love Perry Fewell’s system, they love the way Perry Fewell calls a defense, they love the way Perry Fewell listens to his players, and they just flat-out love Perry Fewell. Honestly, the last time all the reports on an assistant were this glowing, it was for Steve Spagnuolo the year after the Super Bowl. It’s an aggressive scheme, which the players love. He’s playing to their strengths at almost every position. He’s using his veterans, which is also always important. And it’s working, which is a big thing because in the end it’s the only thing that ever gets players to believe. Can it continue? Yes, absolutely. If – here’s that if again – they can stay healthy. Losing Mathias Kiwanuka was a blow, but they survived it. In fact, they even thrived. They don’t have any other defensive injuries, though. If it stays that way, this is a very good defense. I’m not so sure it’s incredibly deep, though. It might be, but I don’t know that anybody wants to find that out. I still think they’ll probably have a few ups and downs – much like the entire team – even if they stay healthy. But they’re getting terrific pressure. They’re getting a fantastic push up the middle from their DTs. Michael Boley and Jonathan Goff have been excellent at LB. And the secondary has been very solid, if not spectacular. All the ingredients are most definitely there.

Author: Neil Keefe

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