Loading ...As fans, we often tend to look at our favorite team(s) through particularly thick rose-colored glasses. Whether just or not, we’re always quick to believe in any and all hype thrown our way; we believe that they stand as good a chance as anyone else, if not more.
The problem with this theory is that not all teams are on the same plain.
Sure, mathematically the St. Louis Rams are on par with the New Orleans Saints right now, but we all know once the season begins that coin-flip isn’t going to land heads-up for the Gateway City. Reality is that some teams are just better structured than others. Each team has their respective positives and negatives, but fans frequently ignore the latter until faced with them once the season begins.
In no means do I intend to sound overly pessimistic, but you undoubtedly know where I’m headed with this. As talented as the New York Giants appear to be on paper, there are a plethora of concerns and potential problems that have ultimately led to me removing my rose-colored glasses…at least for now.
Health at Running Back
Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw, Andre Brown and D.J. Ware are all coming off of injury-riddled seasons and potential health issues shouldn’t be overlooked. A Giants’ assistant has already been quoted as saying Jacobs hasn’t shown his initial burst yet this offseason, and what the team can expect from Bradshaw –especially if he gets thrown in the mix as a kick returner- remains to be seen. The bottom line is that there’s no sure thing at running back going into this season. The entire group could come out firing on all cylinders, proving that no concern was necessary, of they could come out as slow as molasses.
Age/Change on the Offensive Line
Will Rich Seubert keep his job? If not, does David Diehl get moved back into the inside? And what should the team and its fans expect from second-year player William Beatty?
Again, there are a lot of question marks…and that’s not even including the gradually slowing Kareem McKenzie.
The line was nothing to write home about last year, with several of the players showing their age and/or having their weaknesses exposed (see: Diehl against speed rushers). Why are we so quick to assume they’ll bounce back and perform at a Super Bowl-like level when we really have nothing, at the moment, to base it on?
Development of Ramses Barden
The Giants’ struggles in the green zone have been well documented since the departure of Plaxico Burress, and without Ramses Barden stepping up and doing what everyone hopes he’ll do, that likely won’t change.
The kid didn’t see much of the field last year and there was a reason why: it took him a long time to get acclimated to the NFL.
With heaping praise coming out of the OTA’s and mini-camp, fans have quickly forgotten just how much he struggled to even find playing time last year. And if history has taught us anything, it’s that a superstar cannot be made in the offeseason; look no further than William Joseph and Jonas Seawright.
Inexperience at Linebacker
With all the hype surrounding the defense and its potential, I can’t help but think back to only one year ago. All the talk around the NFL was about the New York Giants and a defense that was undoubtedly going to dominate. There were comparisons to the 1985 Chicago Bears, the 1976 Pittsburgh Steeelers and even the 2000 Baltimore Ravens.
In the end, they ended up performing about as well as the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
OK…maybe not that bad, but you get the picture.
Fact is, the Giants now have very little experience at linebacker, are unsure of who’s going to end up where and just how good they’re going to be.
Yes, there is potential, but Ryan Leaf had potential and we all saw how far that took him.
With such a young group, it would be foolish to expect perfection…or anything near it. These guys are going to hit some bumps in the road; probably quite a few of them.
Transitioning with Perry Fewell
Going into the 2009 season, many fans were ecstatic with the promotion of Bill Sheridan to defensive coordinator. They believed anyone who understood the philosophy of Steve Spagnuolo was good enough to adapt it and make it work again.
Wrong.
Sheridan was clearly out of his league and his mixed reviews at the linebackers coach should have been a telling sign of that. Unfortunately, it was just another example of expectations being entirely too high and clouding the judgment of the onlookers.
Does this mean Fewell will follow the same path? Absolutely not. He’s got a good track record and much more experience than Sheridan had, but transition in the NFL is part of the game. And for a defense now working on its third defensive coordinator in three years, a rocky road should be expected.
Seamless transitions are rare and it would be foolish to think this is going to be one of them.
The conclusion?
Just as I can’t say the Giants will be dominant in 2010, I can’t say they’ll be horrible either. What I see is a bit of a mixed bag with a lot of potential for both excitement and heartache.
For all I know, the Giants could go 12-4 and win another Super Bowl. At the same time, they could follow up an 8-8 season with an even worse campaign. We just won’t know until the season rolls around. But I am not at all ready to join the assembling crowd that is putting this team up on a pedestal.
This will be very good, I have no doubts about that…but will it be this season or next?
If you were to pin me down and force me to make a prediction, I would honestly tell you I see a 7-9 or 8-8 season upcoming. However, I would also tell you they are only a year or two (maximum) removed from making another run at the Super Bowl.
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Since when did Jacobs have ‘an initial burst’?
BTW, this is the conversation I was referring to regarding Jacobs (it’s with Killdrive):
Q: Brandon Jacobs’ initial burst?
A: We haven’t seen it. He hasn’t practiced a lot out there. He looks okay running. I don’t see anything extraordinary yet. So I think the acid test will come as we get into the exhibition season. We will see if that acceleration and the ability to get to the hole in the time frame that is necessary for the play to be successful shows itself. But we are counting on it.
Q: Any concern about that?
A: No, not really. No, I’m thinking it is going to happen. But until it actually does you never know.
just to weigh on the yankees supposed “buying” of a championship team…
for the better part of a decade, they obviously didnt manage to “buy” anything except first round playoff exits…Tampa has had a tiny payroll, drafted well and now they are contenders. Its not our fault KC doesnt draft or develop talent well. Would Yankee dollars change that? I doubt it
also, i dunno about TV revenue sharing, but i know the Yankees pay a ton of money to other clubs in luxury tax. So its pretty stupid to say that the Yankees should have to share revenue from their TV network. You shouldnt be punished for having the most recognizable, most followed brand in sports. The Yankees can afford the payroll they have because they are far and away the most successful business in baseball, and again, its not like it works every time! Weren’t the Rockies just in it a couple years ago?
The “yankees buy their championships” argument is older than Joe Pa and you sound like a functional retard if you really assert its veracity
Of course the Yankees don’t “buy ” championships. They just have the highest paid 3B, SS, 1B, C, SP and RP in the game. They are winning despite all of that.
It sucks when you have to pay your best players money.
or when you have to pay other teams best players money..Like Tex, CC, Burnett :-)
Or when you can pay Kevin Brown and Jason Giambi and Carl Pavano to sit on the bench.
See, I guess I remember Jason Giambi being with us for quite some time, being a 1st baseman for most of it before becoming a DH at the tail end of it.
Can’t argue about the other 2. Pavano was gar-bage.
LOL. Love the passion.
Again, we have to recognize that there is a pathologic hatred for the Yankees by virtually every fan of every other MLB team. I pointed out in the previous thread that we currently boast 14 homegrown players on our 25 man active roster. Of the remaining 11, we’ve only “bought” 5–Texiera, Burnett, Sabathia and Park. Large contributors, for sure. The other 6 were acquired via trades of our own homegrown prospects.
At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter because we pay our big names to play big in big situations. When they do, they earn their paycheck. When they don’t, they’re shown the door. The knock on A-Rod was that he didn’t put up squat in the playoffs, and I wanted him gone because of it. They brought him back and he basically won the World Series last year. He earns his paycheck, just like everyone else in MLB. The fact that his is gargantuan (but not as large as Pujols’ is about to be) owes to his skill and production. They can hate all they want but, at the end of the day, we’re the best team in all of sports. We make money to spend it. Suggesting we should apologize for that is the sports world’s equivalent of socialism.
LOL! I dont hate the Yankees at all..I actually root for them to win 156 games out of the year..They just become public enemy #1 for the 6 games they play the Mets..I was just responding to your F*ck the Mets post from a few days ago..Actually most Mets fans I know dont hate the Yankees at all, but nearly all Yankee fans despise the Mets..Ive pointed that out on this site several times over the last 4-5 years..
Yeah but you’re not an ****…
…in THAT way. In others…
LOL!
I don’t hate the Yankees. I hate the system in which they are allowed to Uhummm “compete” cough cough.
Let’s level the playing field and see how everyone does.
Funny there wasn’t much complaint about the equality of the competition in our system in the almost decade between our 26th and 27th World Series championships.
Socialist.
Motown is Detroit…
Damn it.. I had Detroit in their initially. Haha. Good catch
Dan- I am taking this piece as you being your normal Pessimistic Giant fan self..Kind of like on the game day threads..What I see a team that should have been 11-5 or 12-4 last year but was decimated by injuries and sunk by a completely incompetent DCord.. They went out and addressed their biggest need by grabbing the best FS available. They should, even in an improved NFC east win no less than 11 games this year.
I think we could be as low as 8-8 and as high as 11-5.
The only way we go 8-8 is if we get completely devastaded y injuries again or if something God for id happens to Eli..
I think we’re good enough to go 8-8 if our hopes in Fewell and the linebackers don’t pan out. But if they do…
Fewell is actually one of the reasons I am so optimistic about our chances in 2010..Unlike the unproven, un deserving, soft spoken, non leader Sheriden..Fewell is a proven DC who has gotten more out of far less talented teams then what he inherited in NY and by all reports is a Coach players love playing for..
Word.
Hey Dan, the Giants are gonna lose. I know where you’re coming from.
This time I really do expect an 8-8 with a serious run next season.
I really think, more than anything else, all the defensive changes are gonna hurt the team. Not because they’re untalented, but because it’s going to take a little while for the players to get used to the new system, for the youngsters to get game experience and for the chemistry to build.
And it’ll take the deadskins a while too and it’ll take the iggles a while with Corn on the Kolb. I think we get a wild card into the playoffs and the ‘turds win the NFC East. Maybe 9 – 7 of 10 – 6.
Dan- you’ve got some **** on the G101 page telling you to go kill yourself for the 8-8 remarks..Obviously not everyone gets your pessimistic POV:-)
As for the 10 years the Yank’s didn’t win championships. Isn’t it funny how the egomaniacal owner is either suspended or incapacitated when they do win? Those 10 years they failed to win a WS was when Gerorge was paying Roid heads too much to come to NY and fail.
If George had his say, the Yanks would have traded Jeter, Bernie, Jorge, Pettite and Mariano before 1996. Once George got back it was get me Giambi for $120 mil wasted money. Then when the guy is stroking out in Florida, they win again…Coincidence?
So, we didn’t win because we had a better team. We won because George Steinbrenner abdicated control to his sons.
Man, you’re reaching, dude.
I’m not reaching. It is a fact that Jeter, Bernie and Mo were all on the block before Stick Michael took over. You think George had anything to do with swapping Kelly for O’Neil?
I dislike Steinbrenner because he is Jerry Jones x Dan Snyder.
All I am saying is make the rules the same for everyone.
Yankees are playing slow pitch softball with aluminum bats, while every other team is playing regular baseball.
what does that even mean? man youre dramatic
Problem is KD that you are debating a couple of early- mid 20 somethings that dont remember how bad things were before Big Stein gave the power to Stick Michael
Injuries will be the determining factor this season, just like last season. Fewer injuries last season and we would have won at least 2 more games and made the playoffs. We wouldn’t have gone very far but we’d have been there.
I can see us having a similar season to 2007 where we get a wildcard berth and renew our “road warriors” status by having to beat Dallas, New Orleans and Minnesota on the road.
I hope you’re right but it would be tough to beat those 3 teams in a row.
We’d sure as s*** have to earn it!