Loading ...Chase Blackburn was one of several New York Giants who left yesterday's game with an injury, and while the severity of Antrel Rolle's head injury and Keith Rivers' calf injury is yet to be determined, it seems pretty clear that Blackburn will miss a few games at least. Enter Mark Herzlich, second-year middle linebacker.
Between Blackburn pounding the ground in frustration before even getting up and slow rolling it to the locker room without even trying to stretch it out, it seems like Herzlich is in line for at least a few starts.
If Herzlich is half as good as some around these parts believe, Blackburn might not get his job back. There may be some truth to the old adage that you don't lose your job to injury, but that's not always the case and recent history shows us as much: David Diehl got healthy but never got his job back. And while this writer thinks the hype on Herzlich might be a bit overblown, he's at the very least going to get the shot to prove that it's not.
The Herz will get some reps on defense…and that's something that lots of people around here have been waiting for.
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As much as I love Blackburn, I’m not going to lie: I’m excited about the prospect of Herzlich at MLB. Hopefully he can do a better job protecting the pass over the middle of the field than Chase.
Starks in Tampa says:
October 29, 2012 at 3:10 PM
Here are my two cents after watching the game and having a day to think about it. First and foremost all of you saying OMG, THE GIANTS will get killed playing like this vs a better team etc etc……when are you going to wake up? This is a week to week league, it is all about matchups!!!!!!
It just so happens our offense has been playing awful vs the cowboys two games in a row, is it a coincidence? HECK NO!!!! Last few years, we torched the cowboys D mainly because they did not have the personell in the secondary. What did the cowboys do these past two games? Play 7 up front, and with two safeties deep and match Cruz and Nicks 1v1 with Carr and Claiborne. Bottom line is this, our WR did not win their matchups two games in a row vs the Cowboys. Give credit to Rob Ryan and his defense. Lets not forget that Dallas as a pretty good defense, dont kid yourselves!!!
With that said, who ise to say we play like this vs the Falcons? or Packers? Or Niners???? I think our offense matches up much better vs those teams then the Cowboys so I am not sweating that part, I think the offense will be there as long as Gilbride and TC’s awful clock management doesnt get in the way.
I am so HAPPPY to have pulled out this game! Very happy to be 6-2 and looking forward to hopfully getting to 8-2 before the BYE. Make no mistake about it though. No matter if we can the 3rd seed or the 6th, it doesnt matter except a home playoff win which make no mistake, it will be nice but honestly with this Giants team, home or away it doesnt matter.
You will be playing a very good team in the NFC whether it is the Niners or Packers or Bears……still a long season but its a good sign, we usually lose these types of games, its good to be 6-2 enjoy it, and just know, week to week league. I expect a better performance vs the Steelers at home.
Well said, Starks. Agreed on all points.
FF55 lets hope your boy is ready…..now we will see what he is made off. Keep in mind he is still learning, most folks here had a real dislike for Blackburn for some reason but ever since he came back from his teaching job, he has done very well! This is not a HUGE big loss but Chase has been a good player for us.
He’s not really my boy. I like the kid and hope for the best but while I have deep admiration for his commitment and dedication it doesn’t mean anything if he cannot show it on the field. I’m actually the guy who was saying that, reluctantly, I’d stick with Chase because of his ability to make plays when most needed, but that I think Herzlich has more talent. I absolutely LOVED that we signed him and felt that he WOULD, eventually, prove a very, very capable player for us. And he looked very good in limited duty last season. But now he will have to show it consistently, a tough thing for a young player in a critical position.
Now Dan, he has been all over Herzlich since his rookie camp. He must be salivating at the Wally Pipp-Lou Gehrig parallels.
I hope Herz shows us all that he is here to stay starting Sunday.
I always thought Chase was a solid player for us but my knock on him was he’s not the prototypical MLB in the NFL that’s gonna make a play at the point of attack. It pains me to see him make a tackle after 5 yd gain, so if Herzlich can play downhill then I can live with his play. With that being said, what I can’t live with is Kevin Gilbride’s horrible game management and play calling. It makes no sense that Eli & co have to play hero ball every week for us to secure a win. What was so frustrating yesterday was how we went to sleep on offense in the 2nd & 3rd QTRs, only to march right down the field on our first possession after we gave them the lead. Another thing that killed me was how we settled for 3 which dates back to the San Fran game. Although I seriously don’t believe any other NFC team outside the division can beat us in a playoff game, I would like to see us be more aggressive inside the “Green zone!’
Good comments. Welcome.
Well listen in this era you can not have an impact player at every position. Its just so happens in this defense in this team MLB is not the most important thing. Of course we all would love to have a LBers that are a force and shed blocks and stay with the TE’s or RB’s in the flanks but reality is, there arent many impact LBers in this league.
The cream of the crop obviously are Willis/SF, Navarro Bowman/SF used to be Jon Beason/CAR (still a good player but golly he has fallen off, injury maybe?)….London Fletcher/WAS (althuogh he is very old he still is a very good player, maybe not impact anymore, injuries catching up)…Suggs (to me has always been a bit overrated but still a veyr good player…. who else? Lavonte David/TB has been great so far in his rookie year and has a chance to be special….anyone else? I am sure I am missing a couple more…the point is we value DL more then LBers….
I whole heartedly agree about Gilbride…and I am usually a Gilbride fan but he and TC are the absolutely worst in red zone offense and clock management. Now not sure how much of that is on ELi, if he is changing the plays or calling the plays himself but this def has to improve if we want to go far. Make no mistake about it….
The redzone struggles also have to do with the fact that the Giants refuse to make Brown the goal line back. Of course, the one time we did score in the redzone yesterday was the time he was given the football.
If Coughlin wants to be loyal to Bradshaw and keep him as the feature back, fine, but at least let Brown handle the short yardage/goal line situations.
And my 3rd point from yesterday’s game…David Wilson fumbles in week 1 doesn’t see a carry for 5 weeks; Bradshaw gives them a cheap one and he’s sent back out there on the next series! I understand that u have to teach the rookie but IMHO Brown should have been given more than 3 carries especially when he had 21yds and our only offensive TD!!! But i won’t harp on anymore about yesterday’s game b/c we got the W!!! And boy did it feel good to send those Cowboys Fans home with a gut-wrenching LOSS!!!
How ironic repost:
GOAT56 says:
October 29, 2012 at 3:11 PM
I’m surprised that no one has mentioned that Herzlich will final get his chance. I have seen many posters feel he should be the starter. I have never had a clear view but I want to see what the kid can do. I do wonder if he can help with our underneath coverage.
Thinking about the LB situation, one player we might see some of is Tracy. He played well vs SF but I don’t remember seeing him much if at all the past 2 weeks. If we are down to 4 LBs and Kiwi is being mixed in at DL then we really could need him for a decent amount of snaps at LB. Normally, we might see some more 3 safety looks but with both KP and Rolle possibly being out I doubt it.
I think Pitt will probably play us in a similar manner that dallas did. It’s up to our WRs and TE to beat coverage. It’s also on us to run the ball more effectively. I don’t Pitt is a defense you beat just doing one think, we need a balanced attack. We are still a passing team but we have to run effectively enough to keep their respect. Also, our passing game has to be balance with short, medium and deep and also target wise. Teams are going to try to take away Nicks and Cruz so Eli has to be patient and attack with other receivers and those other guys have to step up.
GOAT I agree I think PIT will have a very similar defensive gameplan against us this Sunday. I think every team in the league will try to copy what the Cowboys have been able to do. But Do they have the personell? I dont think so, again the Cowboys D is good because the two good corners in Carr and Claiborne (yes he is a rookie and has been burnt on a few plays but he is very athhletic and STRONG)….the Cowboys have D.Ware who is a beast, and a few other role players emerging, not to mention Sean Lee who is hurt currently but a very good player.
With that said….the thing that really kills our offense is DROPPED PASSESS. The key to me was the Marty B Drop inside the 5 which would have been a first down. If we continue to drop passes vs these teams that stuff the box and play 1v1 we are in troouble.
I agree their CBs aren’t as good but our WRs still have to play better. But I’m not concerned overall because our WRs really don’t have games like that as a group. I do give credit to Dallas because twice can’t be an accident but we still had plays we didn’t make.
Has anyone read an injury update on Keith “China Doll” Rivers?
After every away game he’s tightly bubble-wrapped for the flight home. It takes a day to get him all unraveled, so I suspect we won’t hear anything till late today at the earliest.
I think we all know that Herzlich is Nosh’s boy.
Webster …
It looks like he’s caught the Antonio Pierce virus … which prematurely ages you out of football. Unfortunately for Fatboy the virus accelerates if the victim eats and drinks to excess.
But we should realize that this is the NFL … top of the food chain … and that only being slightly off your mark is the difference between a quality starter and a JAG. Webster … or for that matter anyone out there … only has to be a few percentage points diminished and it will be noticed in his play.
And with a $7,000,000 cap-hit price tag on his head the gauntlet is laid firmly at his feet. He had better raise his game … or book a ticket on the Fatboy Express out of town.
Ugh, being without power sucks. But this is what I’m doing with my cell phone battery. :-P
The Steelers are wildly inconsistent on both sides of the ball. I suspect we will be able to take advantage of their secondary. I think we will hold their run game in check. If we can keep Ben in the pocket, I think we win.
But who knows? It depends on which teams show up in Sunday. Neither of these two teams looks the same week to week.
I personally think this is a Super Bowl preview.
I don’t wanna shock u Valid but I’m thinking it’s gonna be Giants-Patriots III. Or Manning v. Manning
I do NOT wanna see Giants/Pats again. Twice is enough. That being said, I just don’t think the Pats are all that good. I could see Denver, but I think Pittsburgh is the AFC’s most balanced team.
Yeah, I don’t think the Pats are any good either but I think they could survive the playoffs. Just a matter of home field, Pittsburgh they can’t win at Denver and Denver won’t win in NE.
Really? Steelers vs Giants? Hmmm…..that’s a possibility.
I actually see the Giants coming out and facing either the Texans, the Broncos, or the Ravens if/once their defensive depth players finally start playing well.
What would be the cap hit if we cut Corey Webster in the off-season?
It’s hard to tell since the team doesn’t hand it out readily … but the prevailing wisdom is that he’s due 7 big ones next year … the cap savings would be that.
Unless Webster agrees to restructure his contract, he’s not sticking around next year. The Prince is finally coming along and Jayron is going through the necessary growing pains right now.
If he were playing at the same level as the last couple years that $7 mil would be right on the market number you pay for a solid, starting CB. His problem is that he’s playing like garbage. Anyone can go out there and get toasted … for a lot less than $7,000,000 too.
He’s been playing like garbage. But in all fairness, our cornerbacks in general have been pretty lackluster outside of Prince. Hosley made several horrible plays against Miles Austin. Coe, even with help from Boley, struggled to keep Jason Witten contained. And Tryon cemented his position at the bottom of our CB depth chart thanks to his performance in the season opener against Dallas.