It’s funny how we can spend an entire offseason watching, commenting, and analyzing what the Giants are doing, and then 6% of the season is gone in 3 hours. On the opposite side of that, it’s still a 4 month season (hopefully longer!). Marathon. Not sprint.
NFL Coaches have learned that they are better off protecting their starters from injury by not playing them in preseason. Two resulting fallouts emerge, both of which have been mentioned in the past but each of which needs repeating as we commence the season:
1) The Steve Young Rule: September is the new preseason.
2) Continue to get better as the season plays on. In this league which is marked by constant turnover, FA turnstiles, playing rookies, etc, each team is in a perpetual state of “under construction.”
While this Dallas game tonight really is a great opportunity to come out playing well and grab a win inside a tough part of the schedule, if the Giants lose it’s not a death sentence either.
Jordan Raanan had some sobering reminders this morning: the Giants are “settling” on Bredeson and Glowinski at Guard, Eric Gray as punt returner is shaky, and we get to see Evan Neal for real tonight.
Admit it. You were ready to grab a gun on Friday when Waller was “questionable” with a hamstring. Beat reporters have pushed that back a bit, noting that it wasn’t a “spike” event on Friday. And that’s good, because he did practice on Friday. So come off the ledge, come back inside, it’s a long season. (Update also this morning that Garafolo/Rapoport tell us he’s playing.)
Thursday night the schadenfreude was in high gear when Toney singlehandedly tanked the Chiefs. If Toney had lit it up, it would mean the same thing- nothing. That ship sailed. We panned WR at 1.20 the evening of the draft, and if Toney went to the HOF (then or now) we wouldn’t care. It’s just not how you build a franchise. We will repeat this until we are blue in the face: WR Always available. It’s an endless parade. Endless. The latest installment is Mike Evans and Tee Higgins. It’s a freaking carousel. When talented Offensive Linemen are repeatedly being recirculated over and over and over again, then maybe I’ll stop wanting them in Round 1. (And once I’m done at Tackle, I’ll trade that down to Round 2 and take my stud Guards and Centers.) At least Schoen has been decent (haha) in 1Neal 2Schmitz 3Ezeudu resources. Not as heavy as I would have done it. I don’t like “settling.”
Things I’ll be watching tonight:
- Banks and Hawkins matriculation (less worried about Schmitz and Hyatt)
- Neal
- Waller/health