I know that this isn't a common point of view,  but I think that this year's Knicks will be better than conventional wisdom believes. No, I have no delusions that they are championship caliber, or even that they would go deep into the playoffs.

BUT,

I do believe that they will make the playoffs this year.  

There are several reasons I am cautiously optimistic about this year for the first time in a long time

1. I think stability is a good thing.  Players need time to learn to play together.  Frantic remaking of the team each year disrupts the chemistry.  I think Walsh wants to take this group and let it settle in a little

2. Chandler and Gallo -  I think they have two potential stars here.  

3. The end of last season.  Yeah, they didn't make the playoffs, but they didn't fold either.  The team hung together and kept playing.  Again, that was the first time in several years we could say that.  By the end of the season last year and the year before, the team was in total disarray.

I know that there are still problems with this team - but for the first time in years, I think that they are headed in the right direction

Apologies in advance. I am not sure if "meta" fan posts are allowed, but I have something I really need to say, that is related to the blog, but not to the Giants.

From what I can tell, SB Nation blogs have changed the way they link.  So if Ed's post is about Bradshaw, on his name, rather than linking to a source article, it links back to SBNation

I understand that this probably related to Search Engine Optimization - but it really isn't useful to your readers, doesn't add any information, and is radically different from how other blogs (including other blogs in the Kos Media group) handle links

I know we are not really supposed to talk about Plax anymore, but I have been giving this a lot of thought, so here goes..

3 things seem obvious to me at this point

1) Plax is not coming back to the Giants next year

2) The Giants are not going to pick up a Free Agent that can truly replace him.  Anyone who could will be too expensive.

3) The Giants have some talented young receivers,  but none of them are the dominating #1 guy that can take Plax's place

So this leaves us with a couple of options

A) The draft -  Most commentary has been on players that could be available at 29, but what if the Giants used some of their extra picks to trade up.  Is there an outstanding, possibly dominating reciever that they could go after?   - Note - most of the time I am against trading up ,  I would rather have more picks, but this may be an exception

B) Develop alternative offensive schemes.  I think the one that will be most effective will be making more use of backs catching passes out of the backfield.  In essence, this will give them another receiver on the field.  But for this to be effective, Bradshaw and Jacobs will need to improve their catching,

Thoughts?

According to the Saint's insider  at the NO Times Picayune, all is not well between the Shockman and his new team

As Drew Brees frantically and futilely tried to pass the Saints back into contention against the Falcons on Sunday, Jeremy Shockey, the club's high-profile offseason acquisition, found himself in a strange and decidedly low-profile place: on the sideline.

In the desperate fourth-quarter finish, Brees completed a remarkable 19 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns.

None of them was to Shockey.

Since joining the Saint's Shockey's performance has been less than spectacular

Since returning from surgery to repair a sports hernia last month, Shockey has caught eight passes for 72 yards in three games. That includes a two-catch, 16-yard effort against the Falcons.

In six games, Shockey has caught 24 passes for a quiet 223 yards. He has yet to catch a touchdown pass.

The other difference

Facing third-and-10 from the Saints' 37-yard line and still within two touchdowns, Shockey failed to pick up a rushing Falcons defender, forcing Brees to unload a quick dump-off pass to him in the left flat to avoid a sack.

Not only did Shockey miss the block, he missed the ball, dropping it with a half-hearted effort that spurred Brees to sprint toward him and emotionally voice his frustration. The animated discussion continued on the Saints' sideline.

emphasis mine

but wow - A qb getting in shockey's face whodda thunk?

A few years ago, I was watching Phil talked, and he said that the real difference between quarterbacks that win games and those that don't boils down to 2  or three plays per game. 

I'm paraphrasing here, but Phil's point was that there were two to three plays in every game where everything breaks down.  And on those plays, the quarterback has to make something positive happen, essentially it is all up to the QB.

As much as I liked Kerry Collens, I never felt he had that.  If everything was going well, he had good protection, and the running game was working, Collins could pick a team apart.   But, when things started falling apart around him, Kerry fell apart too.

What we are starting to see with Eli is those one or two plays per game that, potentially, could set him apart as an elite qb.

Mark Bowden is a writer working on a book about the 1957 championship game between the Giants and the Colts.  He sat down with Andy Reid to watch the game tape.  Reid had never before seen the tape

In an article in the Atlantic called Distant Replay, Bowden talks about Reid's analysis of the game and some of the key plays

The game as it was played in 1958 “is still an entertaining sport to watch, but it’s just not near as complicated,

The article is a pretty interesting read and offers a little insight on some of the players.  For example, at one point he sees

“‘Okay,’ the Colts are saying, ‘this guy, number 45 [Tunnell], is getting tight, and he was very aggressive on the last play, so we’ll sell a hard fake,’” Reid speculated. The Colts would set up as if they were going with another running play, he predicted, with the tight end, Jim Mutscheller, “coming up and out like he is going to crack” Tunnell with a block, but instead going past him up the field. “Then they should try and get [a pass] over the top to Mutscheller.”

On third down, Mutscheller moved just as Reid had suggested, faking a block on Tunnell and racing up the hash marks. Unitas faked the handoff and dropped back, looking downfield toward his tight end.

“But this guy [Tunnell] sniffs it out!” Reid said, impressed, watching as the safety turned and matched the tight end stride for stride. Unitas, harried suddenly by the Giants’ blitzing right cornerback, instead hurried a throw to Moore—“his safety valve,” said Reid—that was almost intercepted.

Reid sees similarities to today's game.  For example, the 4-3 defense. 

Reid recognized one Colts offensive formation as “the one we run the most—two receivers, two backs, and a tight end.” And he even noticed some of his own plays in the mix. “Look, this is a rattler route,” he said, watching Raymond Berry twist his way into the backfield, turning the Giants cornerback completely around and gaining a step.

The big differences?  The size and speed of the players, and the complexity of the game. 

The average player on the 1958 Colts starting team weighed 222 pounds. The average weight of a 2007 Indianapolis Colts starter was 243 pounds.

Towards the end of the game

At this point, Reid had become a rapt spectator.

“This is just simple football right now, man,” he said.

It's an interesting article if you have a chance

Well, looks like this wraps the issue up.  Pennington gets a 2 year $11M deal.

Pennington has more experience than any of the quarterbacks currently on the Miami roster, he is a "Parcells: guy.

His first regular season game will be against the Jets.

“If something happens with the Miami Dolphins, it will be because I feel good about the situation and good about the opportunity,” Pennington said before news of his signing. “It won’t have anything to do with the New York Jets or me trying to prove a point.”

Now we return to our regularly scheduled Giants discussions