Friends and loyal blog readers are coming back with reactions to the over-the-top bullishness of yesterday’s post: optimism combined with nervous caution. Yes, everyone recognizes that things are assembling positively for the Giants. But where’s the qualifying asterisk, they ask? Don’t you know that the moment we have unbridled optimism, we get kicked in the nuts? We already gave the two critical pieces needed which qualify the bull case. Let’s list them all… the elements for the bear case:
1) Evan Neal doesn’t improve. We all watched in horror last year as the rookie 1.07 pick was a turnstile. He must improve. Concussion protocol + a taped ankle aren’t giving us increased confidence.
2) Darren Waller gets hurt. Waller is the biggest threat in the offense. Yes, he’s more important than Barkley. Sorry, not sorry. It’s a passing league and Waller is a receiving TE. We need Waller for 2023 magic.
3) Depth. The Giants are thin at many positions. This includes the big enchilada, Offensive Line.
4) Young Defensive Backs. Banks, Hawkins and Pinnock are all being celebrated right now in camp, but this is fluff piece stuff. We have to get pulled back to planet Earth. Banks is not Sauce Gardner. Tre Hawkins and Jason Pinnock are stories which articulate why Joe Schoen and his staff are making this team competitive faster than we would normally expect. Yet they will give up big plays and make mistakes along the way as part of their NFL maturation process. This will cost the Giants some losses.
5) Special Teams. Outside of our kicker, I don’t trust them. NFL rules have marginalized Special Teams but it’s still a liability.
6) One more Linebacker.
There. I said it. Can I go back to being bullish now?