'Kudos & Wet Willies' ... finally

Ed Valentine — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 22:57:38 -0000

More photos » by John Smierciak - AP

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning is sacked by Chicago Bears defensive end Adewale Ogunleye during the first quarter of an NFL preseason football game, Saturday in Chicago.

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Now that I am back home, here is your 'Kudos & Wet Willies' review of Saturday night's debacle in Chicago. Head coach Tom Coughlin said after the game that his team was "embarrassed." I watched every snap, unfortunately, and I don't disagree. Thank goodness the game didn't count.

Anyway, there were a handful of bright spots. I will start with those.

Kudos to ...

The running backs: Brandon Jacobs 'Laron'd' Bears' middle linebacker Brian Urlacher, and that made my night. If I ever think about Saturday night again, that's what I want to remember. Danny Ware ran 8 times for 34 yards, caught 4 passes and had an impressive 34-yard kickoff return. Ahmad Bradshaw had 6 carries for 54 yards. Derrick who? There is nothing wrong with the stable of running backs the Giants still have.
Jonathan Goff: The young middle linebacker was all over the field in the second half. I had been wondering if Goff was on the roster bubble. After his impressive work Saturday, I don't think so.

That's about all the good stuff I can remember. And, no, I'm not going back and watching this bit of ugliness again. Let the coaches and players suffer through that.

Wet Willies ...

The hardest question here is .... where to begin. I think I will start with ...

The first defensive unit: All of it. Every last one of 'em. This is supposed to be a dominant, historically good Super Bowl caliber group. Even without Antonio Pierce or Kenny Phillips. Instead, the front seven got blown off the ball so often they looked like an expansion team taking the field for the first time. Pathetic. No linemen in position, no linebackers coming up to make plays, more missed tackles than they had pretty much all of last season. I don't know what they were trying to do, but Bill Sheridan's front seven played as bad as humanly possible in the first half. Now, to single out some players.
Chase Blackburn: Nice stats with six tackles, but Blackburn was terrible subbing for Pierce in the middle. On Ike Forte's 32-yard touchdown run, Blackburn got blown at least 15 yards off the line of scrimmage by a single blocker. I'm not sure I have ever seen a professional linebacker get pushed back like that.
C.C. Brown: Pray with me that this guy does not have to play many meaningful downs this season. He made 8 tackles, but he missed a whole bunch more. And Brown cannot cover anyone. On one play Devin Hester blew about 10-12 yards past the safeties (Brown was closest), and Jay Cutler managed to overthrow him. I don't even think Brown knew Hester was back there.
Guy Whimper, Andrew Carnahan, Orrin Thompson, Cliff Louis, Terrance Pennington: The sooner the Giants get all of these backup offensive linemen off the roster the better. Terrible is not nearly a strong enough word to describe the work of these guys in the first two exhibition games.
Carl Banks: Now, I loved Banks as a player. What Giants' fan doesn't? And I know Saturday night was awful to watch. But Banks' negativity and condescending 'we were better in the old days' tone didn't help. He was critical of anything and everything right from the beginning. He even went so far as to criticize, and circle a player on the monitor, for apparently missing a tackle -- when the runner was already three yards out of bounds. C'mon, Carl. The game was bad enough, and you made it worse. Sideline 'reporter' Howard Cross didn't help much, either.

New York Giants training camp: Monday morning practice report

Ed Valentine — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:39:50 -0000

I am back at New York Giants training camp, and here is your Monday morning practice report.

Coach Tom Coughlin was asked about the state of the Giants as the second week of camp cranks up.

"We're a long way from where we need to be, but there is a process here," he said. "We're throwing so much at 'em that everything is new almost every day. We're a week into it and we're not getting the execution that we're looking for, particularly on the offensive side of the ball.

Overall the defense has played pretty well ... caused the offense a lot of problems."

The secondary was particularly impressive, despite players being flagged on a couple of occasions for pass interference penalties (NFL officials are in camp).

"They're playing well and they'll get even better in the days to come," Coughlin said. "We've had a few of the deep balls, which is not what you're looking for. Hopefully, that'll come around as well."

Rough go this morning for David Tyree. A pair of drops, one on a sideline route the other on a go route when his defender had slipped and he was all alone. He bobbled, but hung on to a third ball. You have to root for Tyree, but he can't afford a lot of days like that.
Defensive tackle Fred Robbins took snaps with the first defensive unit during 11-on-11 drills, the first time he has done so since returning from microfracture surgery. Robbins even stayed in despite a light rainfall that made the field a bit slippery.
Among the players who did not work this morning were Corey Webster, Hakeem Nicks, Aaron Ross, Osi Umenyiora, Cliff Louis, Barry Cofield, Maurice Evans and Guy Whimper. No serious injuries in that group.
It's pretty obvious that Rhett Bomar is right now No. 4 on the Giants quarterback depth chart. Twice during practice, once in 7-on-7 drills and once in 11-on-11, Bomar got exactly one play. In 11-on-11, he took advantage of his only snap with a beautiful seam route to Mario Manningham, who made an even better catch.
Couple of other notes: Eli Manning completed a go route to Sinorice Moss this morning over Terrell Thomas. ... Defensive tackle Tommie Hill had a sack of David Carr. ... Chase Blackburn picked off an ill-advised pass by Carr. ... Kevin Dockery intercepted Andre Woodson when Derek Hagan fell down.

[NOTE: I won't be attending tonight's practice. Today is my wedding anniversary, and I haven't managed to stay married for 24 years by being stupid. So, I am taking my wife to dinner. By the way, check the 'Transcripts' page for a host of recent interviews.]

SB Nation - Cliff Louis

'Kudos & Wet Willies' ... finally

Kudos to ...

Wet Willies ...

New York Giants training camp: Monday morning practice report