Loading ...News broke earlier this week that Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten suffered a lacerated spleen after a hit from Oakland's Rolando McClain during the last preseason game, that will result in him missing the rest of the preseason and perhaps the season opener against the New York Giants. The injury caused internal bleeding, but for now, it is not believed that it will require surgery.
When New York Giants defensive end Justin Tuck heard the news from Ian Rapaport of NFL.com, his reaction was one of concern and also some harmless sarcasm.
“I’ll say it like this,” Tuck told me. “I wouldn’t mind if he misses our game, but you definitely don’t want to wish for anything but the best for your opponents in the NFL. Jason’s been a staple in that offense in the NFL. We do wish him a speedy recovery. (Pause) Hopefully it comes the week after we play them.”
Witten has certainly hurt the Giants in previous matchups, so it comes as no surprise that Tuck would respond the way he did. Witten has been Tony Romo's most reliable target throughout his career. His absence for the season opener would certainly help the Giants cause.
But Tuck was chuckling while he spoke, and surely he hopes Witten recovers quickly. Like last preseason for the Giants, the Cowboys are experiencing more injuries than other teams. Luckily, Giants General Manager Jerry Reese is one of the best in the NFL, and did/does a great job building depth throughout the Giants' roster. Tuck talked about how his team dealt with last season's injuries.
“You just gotta have guys that are willing to step up,” Tuck said. “Our GM and his staff do a great job stacking our roster, and not just our ones. We feel confident in our twos. We have starters in our twos. I think that was the biggest thing for, guys came in, stepped up and played great ball while the injured guys were out.“
We will see if the Cowboys can battle through their injuries the same way the Giants did last season.
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ff55,
I don’t think a single person here has tried to make the case that the depth along the O-line “isn’t a problem.” In fact, I acknowledged your verisame concerns at the close of my lengthy exegesis last night.
The whole intent of that long-winded post was not to proclaim everything hunky dory in that unit. Rather, it was simply an attempt to quell what I see as the mounting hysteria over the state of the OL, circa 2012. Given the wailing, gnashing of teeth, and rending of garments I’ve seen on the subject, I felt compelled to make the utterly obvious (to me, anyway) assertion that the overall performance of the O-line in 2012 will be better than it was in 2011. And not by a small margin, either.
As for the issue of depth, the outlook appears dim right now – but who knows how things will play out? This team has had a grand total of 15 practices and one preseason game thus far. Last year around this same juncture, many of us were sitting shiva for the slot receiver position; thoroughly convinced that with no apparent replacements on the horizon for Steve “Security Blanket” Smith, dark times surely lay ahead.
Now, I’m hardly suggesting that we are in store for another Cruz-like emergence along the O-line. I’m not that much of a moron. I’m simply saying that at this early stage of the preseason, many of the names in that unit are still more of a mystery to us fans than not. There is still ample time for a surprise or two to make itself known.
If there is any “tell” here, it is in the relative inaction of the front office and coaching staff in this area. Over the past few days, we all watched as Reese & Co. brought in 9,726 new defensive tackles. Clearly, there was a (legitimate) concern about the depth of that unit. So much so that the Giant braintrust saw the need to address it with immediate action. That there have been no moves to recruit new faces for the O-line suggests to me a certain level of contentment with the status quo. Are they being overly complacent? Perhaps. But for the time being, it’s safe to say that they are far less concerned about the state of that unit than the average fan seems to be. From the standpoint of an “In Reese We Trust” guy such as myself, that’s good enough for me. For now, at least.
re-post.
I’ll admit it. I’ve liked the O-line picks and signings over the past few years.
I loved the Baas acquisition. I hope he’s the “real Baas” this season.
I thought taking Beatty was brilliant and so did a lot of other GMs who were shocked he was still there when we picked.
I thought the gamble on Brewer sounded like a good one: huge guy, quick feet, big endorsement from his college coaches.
I really like the picks this past April. If Saban says that Mosley will be a very good NFL lineman I believe him, and I liked the fact that he has a reputation, much like Diehl and Seubert did when Accorsi signed them, as a mauler. McCants is clearly a project but he just looks like a very good athlete who should be molded into a very good player by Flaherty.
I still think Selvish Capers was a good pick-up and may have value.
I thought the Locklear signing was terrific.
And God help me, I liked the Petrus pick because the guy was an animal at Arkansas and I didn’t know he was so stupid that it may take him four years to learn the elements of picking up his pass protection reads and getting to the right guy (he may be our best guy on running plays, where he has dominated some pretty good defensive tackles since joining the Giants).
So I cannot in good faith criticize Reese, Ross or the coaches. It just seems things haven’t worked out well, at least as of today. Things could change by the time the Bears game is finished. Guys could flash. Beatty’s back could clear up.
And we should all remember one critical thing: selecting an offensive lineman in the first or second round of the draft by no means assures you that he will be a high-quality NFL player. Your odds improve dramatically when you’re selecting interior linemen, but those tackles are tougher to project. And very few NFL GMs will take an interior lineman early, and the Giants’ problems are not really in the interior, where we could be better but we do not appear to be in real trouble. It’s on the outside that we have issues. Could we have done better? Yes. But Beatty could have stayed healthy and Brewer could have come on strong so having them, Diehl, and Locklear would look like a terrific group. Sometimes things just don’t break your way.
And btw, I fully agree with Justin. Get well Jason, just in time for Week 2 of the season. Witten is actually one of the very few Cowboys I don’t despise, and I wish him well. But if he doesn’t play against us I think winning that game should prove easier than I already think it should be. Yeah, divisional game against the Cowboys and all that. But we’re simply a better team and they have way too many weaknesses. It’s a game we both very much should, and really HAVE to, win. We will.
We do better against starters than we do the subs. Who’s the second string TE for Dallas? He’s going to have a big week-1.
I also like Witten a bit (as much as a Giants fan can like a player for that team). I don’t want him to do well against us, but I also never wish injuries on a player either so I hope he recovers.
norm, appears we were posting at the exact same time. I agree with you as long as we can also agree that depth looks RIGHT NOW (based, admittedly, on one preseason game) like a problem, given the turnstile that was our offensive line once our depth guys were in against the Jaguars’ (not by a long shot among the league’s elite teams) depth guys on defense.
Do I think we will be better on the O-line than last season if our starting group stays largely intact? Yes, yes, yes. Do I expect all of our starters to go through the season uninjured? No, that would be asking for too much. Do I currently have confidence in our depth? Nope, not based on what we’ve seen. Do I think the coaches and Reese know more than I do? Sure. Do I think their hands may be tied now because there aren’t any solid offensive tackles on the market and therefore the lack of moves may well be because none of them make any sense? Yup. Do I think they will be looking closely at other teams’ likely moves to either protect their 4th/5th best OT on their practice squad or cut him hoping he’ll remain available? Yes. Do I think the season is over if we don’t shore up this position? No, we still have Eli, a lot of offensive weapons and a defense that still could be great despite the shuffle at DT and uncertainty in regard to TT. But if we can fix our situation at OT (Beatty gets healthy, Brewer is a lot better than he looks so far, Mosley can step up and play well as a rookie in limited duty, etc.) then I think we’re the best team in the NFL. If that spot proves to be a season-long weakness it really hurts our chances of repeating because as I have long said, the difference between a ring and nothing frequently comes down to one play made and one play not made (Eli hits Mario; Brady slightly misses on his throw to Welker and the latter doesn’t make an outstanding catch). One sack made, one avoided. Could be all the difference.
“I don’t do as well speculating in the offseason anymore,” Coughlin said. “Now I can tell you the next seven months.”
But the Giants coach concedes nothing else. He badly wants to win a third Super Bowl title, something his mentor, Bill Parcells, failed to do. He badly wants to recapture what was lost in 2008, when Plaxico Burress shot up his leg and blew up the Giants’ chance to repeat as champs.
“What I said to our team, and why it’s so important that they believe in team, is that all it took was one selfish act,” Coughlin said. “We overcame it that Sunday and won a big game in Washington, but eventually it caught up to us, losing a player of that magnitude.
“We were 11-1, and I thought we were the best team in football, and then all of a sudden we’re out in one playoff game. … So I think this group gets it and understands it when we talk about team and the sacrifices that have to be made.”
http://espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/story/_/id/8276563/new-york-giants-coach-tom-coughlin-primed-outlast-jets-rex-ryan
In translation: “Just in case anyone ever thought that bum Burress would ever be signed again by this team, what the hell were you thinking?”
Well, if nothing else the ongoing concerns at tackle all but ensures that Bennett will catch fewer than 50 passes this year and that I will win my bet with jfunk.
Given Bennett’s skill as a blocker, expect to see him stay at home in a lot of max protect packages this year. In the article I posted last night, a Cowboy beat writer noted that Bennett was used as a blocker on 63% of all his snaps in Dallas. The percentage may not be quite that high here with the Giants (on account of the line here being better than the mess in Dallas) but it should still be northwards of 50% if Beatty misses significant time. Neither Diehl nor Locklear will be trusted to fend for themselves that much, out on the proverbial island.
Bennett may not like it. jfunk definitely won’t like it. But Eli will love it – and that’s all that matters.