Looking through the "Giants by the numbers posts" and I don't see one for Number 4 - Tuffy Leemans

http://history.giants.com/page/Alphonse+(Tuffy)+Leemans

Leemans played for the Giants from 1936-43. He was a second-round draft choice in the first-ever NFL draft in 1936 out of George Washington. Leemans was personally scouted by Giants co-owner Wellington Mara. Mara sent a telegram setting up a meeting with Leemans to convince him to accept a career in the NFL with the Giants. 

Leemans was the 1936 College Football All-Star game MVP. He led NFL rushers as a rookie in 1936 with 830 yards on 206 attempts. Leemans was named All-NFL in 1936 and 1939. An aggressive, dedicated do-everything team leader, he totaled 3,142 yards rushing, 2,324 yards passing, 442 yards receiving and threw 16 touchdown passes during his career.

Leeman's number 4 was retired

Wikipedia entry 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuffy_Leemans

According to the NY Times,  the Rockets have put McGrady on leave, and  are trying to trade him, and the Knicks might be interested.

McGrady has played small forward and shooting guard, but with the Knicks lineup, I think he would come in at guard.  He is an experienced and talented player, but there are some serious questions.

• Is he healthy? Last year he only played in 35 games because of knee problems.  He had microfracture surgery in February, and has played sparingly since,  less than 8 minutes a game.  Would he be able to play 20 to 30 minutes a game, or would that reinjure him?
• What would his arrival do to the development of the youngsters? Particularly Gallo and Douglas?
• What would the Knicks have to give up? The Rockets don't want any of the long contracts like Curry or Jefries, and the article mentions that the Knicks might have to package Hill.  I think that would be a mistake.  But what about Nate?  If he isn't going to play for the Knicks anyway, why not?  I would almost say that the Knicks should only do it if they get him close to free.  A 2nd or 3rd round pick, maybe Darko..

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

Hi all

When I am not hanging around BBV, trying to get my business rolling, blogging about the environment, or chasing my 2 kids around, I teach marketing online at Upper Iowa University. (yes, I live in the SF Bay Area)

Anyway, just got an email.  It seems UIU advertised in the Super Bowl program, and one of the perks was a Eli Manning signed program.

They put it on Ebay, with all proceeds going to student scholarships.  FWIW, here it is

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270256309311#ebayphotohosting

While looking up more info on Tucker Fredrickson, I came across this article in Football Outsiders , and I thought it was fascinating

The article is mostly about Bob Timberlake, arguably "the worst field goal kicker in NFL history.

Timberlake was the third round pick in 1965, and was told that he would compete with Gary Wood for the starting job.  Problem was, the Giants brought in Earl Morrall and Timberlake became 3rd string.  At the same time,  the other players with kicking experience were traded, left, or got injured, leaving Timberlake as the primary fieldgoal and kickoff man.  The Giants did not have kicking specialists in those days.  Ernie Koy, who was the halfback,  also punted.

The article goes on to describe how Timberlake's lack of success at kicking almost scuttled the NFA-AFL merger, and almost sparked a bidding war

It is, in all a fascinating read

from espn

Mario Manningham    WR    MICHIGAN
Concerns about his character caused Manningham's stock to drop. He also lacks ideal size. However, Manningham simply knows how to get open; he's a smooth route-runner and does a good job reading defenses. He also has the ability to make spectacular catches.

Not sure what the character issues were - always a red flag to me.  He is 5'11"   and doesn't sound like a burner.

I get the impression he is a possession receiver.

With Plax, Toomer, Smith pretty set as 1, 2, and 3 - chance Smith may challenge Toomer for number 2 this year  -  looks like at best he'll be competing with Moss and Tyree for number 4

My son just turned 10 years. I have had a real hard time getting him interested in watching football with me.  Since we live in San Francisco, and both the Niners and Raiders have pretty much sucked for a bunch of years, and I don't get that many Giants games, I haven't pressed it too much.  

Last year, he played baseball in Little league, and never got past "throwing like a girl" - But, at the end of the season, the team had a picnic, he picked up a football, and threw a perfect spiral.  

After I scraped my jaw off the floor, I started throwing the ball with him and had a blast.

But even so, usually when a football game is on, he has gone off to play on the computer, or generally do something else.  But today, for the first time, he sat down next to me and started asking me about the rules, and why I cheared at certain things and moaned or grumbled over others.

It was a lot of fun, and I am really looking forward to having a football watching buddy, even if he ultimately becomes a 9er or raider fan

OK - So, we are facing NE, the last barrier to a perfect season.

Meanwhile, we have nothing to gain in the game.  

Now, no one in the Giants organization would admit that they might put anything less than full effort into the game, but..

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This was a disappointing loss, and it revealed a lot of vulnerabilities about this team, and NOTHING is worse than losing to the Cowpies.

But let's put it into perspective.

Looking back at the beginning of the season, I didn't think the Giants would be 6-3 at this point.  I wouldn't have been surprised by a 6-10 season, so most of this season has been a pleasant surprise

More

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Just a note on the poll question "Can this team go to the playoffs?" Based on the question, I answered, yes, as in "yes, it is *possible they could* go to the playoffs" But you could say that about almost ANY team in the league at this point. The real question is will they?

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One crystallized everything, and left me thinking that the Giants are going 3-13 this year.

He other left me with a Scooby Doo moment.  Huuh? (in Scooby voice)

More after the jump

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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/01/sports/football/01giants.html?ref=sports

NY Times reports  that Strahan "will rejoin the Giants today and expects to play in the team's regular-season opener Sunday, Sept. 9, against the Cowboys in Dallas."

Is he in shape?  Did he recover from his injury?  There is a lot of unknown still. My feel is that he is not 100% - lingering issues.

I remember the year that LT held out, in the first game back he got a hamstring.

I don't know. He was a great player, and he can still have an impact in games, but I am concerned about the effect his "holdout" or whatever it was will have on team chemistry.

I also wonder if he really still has the fire in the belly

In addition to Wright, the Giants brought in Tui Alailefaleula, (pronounced Ah-la-EE-lay-fa-lay-OO-la.)

Story in NY Times http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/17/sports/football/17giants.html?ref=sports

More over the jump

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