Loading ...In 2007, the pride and joy of the New York Giants was a fear-inspiring defensive line orchestrated by Defensive Coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo. A near-instantly embraced coach by players and fans, Spags took a group of highly talented individual players and turned them into a unified QB-blasting force of nature. This culminated into a Super Bowl victory, courtesy of (admittedly, amongst other Big Blue factors) the pressure of Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, and (then LB) Mathias Kiwanuka.
Fast forward two years and that pressure-dealing four-headed monster finds itself once again dormant and playing relatively uninspired (at least as a unit). Spagnuolo has left the Giants (2008) and Bill Sheridan is listed as “former” (2009) in the pages of New York Giants history.
Enter former Buffalo Bills Defensive Coordinator, Perry Fewell; the new Big Blue Defensive Coordinator. Fewell entered the Meadowlands with a history of strong defenses and has since shown that he will not be satisfied until Big Blue is once again the most feared in the league. After adding some depth and talent to the backfield, his sights are now set on the front four.
Ralph Vacchiano of the NY Daily News reported on the first look at Fewell’s new DE filled DL:
“He showed a tiny bit of that yesterday at the Giants’ ninth organized team activity (OTA) session of the spring, when the assembled media got a look at Kiwanuka at left defensive tackle, while Tuck and Umenyiora were on the end.”
Adding to the hope of the revival, Justin Tuck commented:
“We did a lot of other things that you all didn’t see. That’s the benefit of having this much talent, I guess. That’s a dangerous word, but we do have a lot of talent on the line, not just at the defensive end position. We’re able to put a lot of people in different situations and show different defenses to the offense. It’s hard to get a beat on what they want to do against us if they don’t know where we’re going to line up.”
Perhaps it’s just the natural skeptic in me (also noted by Vacchiano), but there are only so many spots on the defensive line for “this much talent.” And with the inherent urge from each player to be on the field as much as possible, Umenyiora’s (now defunct) ultimatum from last year, players who still have to prove their worth (Chris Canty, Jay Alford), and with two new rookies looking to make an impact as quickly as possible…Giants fans have to hope that Fewell has this under control…and hopefully is not just stoking a resentment-filled fire.
Defensive Line coach, Rob Nunn, stated:
“I can’t guarantee you that everybody’s going to be happy all the time.”
There’s no doubt that the Giants have the potential to resurrect that fearsome front four, but it will have to be done diplomatically and appropriately. The last thing this unit needs is more reason to be divided.
Domino’s Bounty Hunter Giveaway Winner!
Congratulations to GRATEFUL GIANTS for providing the best answer to our most recent giveaway! When asked what the New York Giants 2014 Super Bowl winning pizza would look like, the following answer was chosen as the winner:
The Dominos Defensvie End Pizza.
Not enough Pizza for so much talent?
OSIago cheese
JalaPeno Peppers
Kiwis
Tucked in between a DEep dish crust and few Benjamin Franklins.
Quite appropriate given the article above and one of the biggest situations facing the Giants this off-season.
Shoot me an email at scarroll (at) gmail (dot) com to arrange for your prize to be shipped.
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Did you guys see these comments about Dillard on the ESPN blog?
http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/giants/
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While Jonathan Goff started off with the first team at middle linebacker as he has been throughout the OTAs that have been open to the media, rookie Phillip Dillard rotated in with the first-teamers for a spell.
The fourth-round pick is beginning to become comfortable and is growing.
“I like where he is right now,” linebackers coach Jim Herrmann said. “He is comfortable and the guys are comfortable with him. You can watch him and he is with a different vet every day. His personality is starting to come out and I like that in a young guy. And when he is on the field, regardless of who he is with, as the MIKE linebacker he takes control and does a good job.”
I’d love to see an offense facing a 3rd and long with the DL looking like Osi-Tuck-Canty-JPP…blitz Sintim. Talk about pressure…
I like the moving of Kiwi to the inside. The issue for Fewell is managing egos. By moving Kiwi inside he can have the top paid and presumably top talents on the field at the same time (Osi, tuck, kiwi, canty) And then rotate the rookies in (jpp and linval) as well as anyone else (Alford, coefield) all the while keeping the locker room drama free.
I agree GB. That seems like the best lineup right now, but who knows how these guys will end up playing, esp considering last year. Would love to see Canty play the way we were hoping to see from him last year.
Hey Sean…great piece by the way. But I have to ask what are the expectations of Canty? Honestly, with all the pass rushing options I believe his role is simplified; eat space/blockers and bat down passes at the line of scrimmage. It may not be as sexy as a sack, but his production may benefit other giant players stats. Which I think is very similar to his role in Dallas; paving the way for ware. But I am interested to know your take and anyone elses with regards to the expectations of a healthy canty.
jfunk’s post above is pretty exciting. If Dillard can come on quickly it gives the Giants an almost certain “solution” at MLB among he, Goff and perhaps Wilkinson. Any two of those three would be sufficient to play the position at least decently. That’s a LOT better than what we’ve had over the past three years.
I’ve said it so many times I got sick of it. Pierce at MLB was a huge hole in the middle of the defense that put excessive pressure on the DTs, the other linebackers, and the safeties to perform extremely well in order to cover up for him. When any of them could not do that the defense fell apart.
But the times, they are a changin’.
Ima lil giddy bout ready all this stuff bout dillard. I’m on the waggon. It took me sum time. As u no I was a huge spikes mclain spoon supporter n when we didn’t get n e of them I was on suicide watch.lol.hope dillard turns heads n opens eyes.ff55 has been so consistant with sayin that mlb was a hole 4 us even before the 07 season.always said pierce was the liability.I disagreed but the last couple of yrs u could see he really was.I think we r gonna have a new additude this year and its because of fewell.he will not let this team go soft!he’s full of emotion n the players will respond to him as they did spags.
As for the ota’s,I wanna know how sintim is progressing,how barden looks now as compared to last season because if memory serves me right he looked like he was tearin ish up last season at this time,I also wanna know how andre brown looks
Wait. So when Bill Sheridan put Kiwi at DT he got lambasted for it (rightfully so, he was awful there) but when Perry Fewell does it its, wow.. Good idea.
Im not getting this. The reason Tuck played as well at DT is because hes stocky and extremely strong, so he can actually utilize his quickness. Kiwi is taller, not as strong and got pushed around like a rag doll at DT last year. This is an awful idea imo…
Agree. I’d much rather see Osi, Canty, Linval and Tuck with Kiwi and Sintim rushing from the “linebacker” spot. Then you have Phillips, Rolle, Thomas, Ross and C-Web as your secondary covering the rest of the field.
Agreed..Kiwi is not big enough to play DT unless it is soley on passing downs..Guy will get wiped out in running game..
TT,
I was on the “Oh My God! Draft a Linebacker in the First or I Will Be Hanging from my Closet with a Belt Wrapped Around my Neck” bandwagon, to some degree. And when we picked JPP over Weatherspoon…well, let’s just say my Facebook status went from elation to a string of anger and alcohol-fueled profanities. And when we came out of Day 2 without one, I might have punched a baby or two.
Then we drafted Dillard, a move I scoffed at when it occured, but have steadily grown to love. Watch his interviews on Giants.com. He’s got “it,” that workman-type, blue-collar sort of attitude you know our FO loves. And by all reports, he’s showin’ up on the field, when given opportunities. It’s early, but this kid could win this competition. A victory for him would most certainly result in Boley being the defensive signal caller for the time being, allowing Dillard to further evolve and develop into his role as a starter. And, from what we’ve read of his scouting reports, that is just what he should be.
That being said, I still think Goff starts at MLB for us this season. There’s no need to rush Dillard particularly since we might have his equal, for someone close to it, on the team who might be more “game-ready” come Week 1. But it’s still something to get excited about, and all the more so because we haven’t been able to be excited about a Giants linebacker in a whole heck of a long time!
Finally, Barden is tearin’ s*** up again, and evidently Brown is doin’ pretty damn well too. FF55 was talkin’ about it in the previous thread. No word on Sintim, though.
What if we line up 5 guys on the line in some passing downs? Tuck or Osi will always have 1 blocker unless they chip with a rb or bring in another te. We can always counter that by blitzing Boley or a safety.
I just like the fact that (kiwi/tuck/canty/osi) are the ones on the field. Who is to say that formation is not built to stunt tuck in behind Kiwi. Formation is not everything, personnel however is IMO.