March 2009 - New York Giants Wiretap

Bradshaw Chipping Away At Jacobs' Job

Nov 1, 2014 11:57 AM

Brandon Jacobs is still the starter, but through the first three games, Ahmad Bradshaw has been far more effective. He comes in earlier, gets the ball in more important situations and creates more of his own yardage. He's not just taking advantage of a tired defense sitting on its heels anymore. "You know what? You can't really tell they're on their heels," Bradshaw said after his 14-carry, 104-yard game against the Bucs. "When I'm in the game, they might even be more prepared for the run."

New York Daily News

Tags: New York Giants

Discuss
NFL Power Rankings After Week 3

Jul 19, 2014 5:44 AM

By Christopher Reina The scoreboard is where games are officially won and lost, but they are largely decided by the team that wins the battles of yards per pass, yards per carry, penalty yards lost, first downs, and turnovers. For this reason, I created the following formula called the ?Trench Counter? to look at which team truly controls the game: (2x Yards per pass) + (2x Yards per carry) + (.5 First downs) - (Penalty yards/10) - (2.5 Turnovers) - (Opposing Team's Trench Counter) Click here for more information on the Trench Counter For the 2009 season, our weekly team rankings will be based solely off this formula. 1. New Orleans Saints: 18.4 First round pick Malcom Jenkins has already made a huge impact on special teams with a forced fumble against the Eagles and again last week against Buffalo, which he also recovered. The kind of impact he's making on special teams will be what New Orleans can routinely expect purely on defense once he gains a little more experience. 2. Denver Broncos: 16.7 Eddie Royal has just 42 yards receiving, but with Brandon Stokley and Jabar Gafney averaging 26.2 and 14.6 yards per catch and Correll Buckhalter averaging 7.4 yards per rush, he hasn't been needed. Kyle Orton also has a 91.2 passer rating and has TD/INT ratio of 3/0. 3. Baltimore Ravens: 14.1 I've been more excited about the Ravens than any other team in the NFL, but two of their wins have come against the Chiefs and Browns, who are a combined 0-6. Regardless of who their opponents have been, however, Ray Rice and Willis McGahee have been excellent (5.1 and 5.9 yards per rush respectively) and Joe Flacco has begun to prove he truly is a franchise quarterback with a 65.4 completion percentage and a 101.4 rating. 4. Indianapolis Colts: 11.0 The Colts passing game hasn't missed anything without Marvin Harrison and Anthony Gonzalez, but the ground game remains legitimately concerning with an average rush of just 3.5 yards. 5. New York Giants: 10.8 Ahmad Bradshaw has done more with 35 carries (201 yards) than Brandon Jacobs has done with 58 (196). Steve Smith and Mario Manningham are each on pace for over 1,200 yards receiving as well. 6. Green Bay Packers: 8.1 Greg Jennings had just two catches on Sunday, but he racked up 103 yards with that action. He is always one of the NFL's best yards per catch receivers, but he is currently averaging 26.1 yards. 7. Minnesota Vikings: 7.5 Percy Harvin's instant impact has been every bit as big as Brett Favre; the rookie from Florida has two touchdowns receiving and Sunday's incredible 101-yard run against San Francisco. 8. Philadelphia Eagles: 7.2 Kevin Kolb has put up great fantasy numbers, but his 88.9 rating in light of the caliber of defense from New Orleans and Kansas City give reason to be cautious with optimism or to swiftly dismiss Donovan McNabb. 9. New York Jets: 5.9 The Jets will win a lot of games like the one on Sunday, where yards per pass were about a wash and yards per rush was in Tennessee's favor +1.5, but they were a +2 in giveaway/takeaways. 10. New England Patriots: 4.8 Tom Brady has sequentially decreased his pass attempts each week, throwing 53 against Buffalo, 47 against the Jets and 42 against Atlanta. The Patriots thankfully rushed the ball 39 times with an average of 4.3 yards. 11. Dallas Cowboys: 4.3 I absolutely love Felix Jones, but he may as well be wearing glass slippers out there given how fragile he is. Jones did have 11.8 yards per carry before he was forced out of the game, but Tashard Choice's workmanlike 82 yards for 18 carries is every bit as valuable. 12. San Francisco 49ers: 3.0 The absence of Frank Gore was particularly felt in the 4th quarter when they needed to get 1st downs and keep the ball out of Favre's hands; Glen Coffee rushed the ball 25 times for just 54 yards (2.2 average). 13. Tennessee Titans: 2.1 The Titans are one of the better 0-3 teams we have seen in recent memory, but they could conceivably go into their bye with a 1-5 record and still make the playoffs given how soft their final 10 are with four games against the NFC West. 14. Seattle Seahawks: 1.0 The Seahawks were in the red zone just two times on Sunday against Chicago and they don't have a strong enough defense or running game to offset a quarterback firmly in the 70s as far as passer rating. 15. Buffalo Bills: 0.2 Fred Jackson's three-game audition while Marshawn Lynch served his suspension was relatively successful, with 291 yards on 61 carries (4.8 average) and 134 yards receiving, making him Buffalo's leading receiver in receptions and yards. 16. San Diego Chargers: -0.2 Vincent Jackson has emerged as a legitimate star receiver, trailing only Reggie Wayne in yards with 317. 17. Washington Redskins: -0.5 Jason Campbell is ninth in quarterback rating with a mark of 92.5 and you can't blame him for the fact that Kevin Smith couldn't be stopped by the defense or the zero yards rushing Washington had in the first half. 18. Pittsburgh Steelers: -0.9 The Steelers averaged four more yards per pass than the Bengals, but the discrepancy running the ball and the interception return by Johnathan Joseph was enough to give the Bengals the upset. 19. Jacksonville Jaguars: -1.7 This was the Maurice Jones-Drew we expected to see this season, with 23 carries for 119 yards and three touchdowns against Houston. 20. Chicago Bears: -1.9 The Bears are an Aaron Rodgers to Greg Jennings touchdown away from being a fundamentally flawed 3-0; instead they're a surprising 2-1 without a dependable running game. 21. Cincinnati Bengals: -2.7 Roy Williams leads the Bengals in tackles with 23, followed by second-year linebacker Keith Rivers. 22. Atlanta Falcons: -3.3 The Falcons weren't quite ready for New England, as they held Matt Ryan to 200 yards and completely neutralized Tony Gonzalez. 23. Arizona Cardinals: -4.3 The difference between Kurt Warner and Peyton Manning on Sunday night was the Colts pass rush was able to get to the former while Arizona didn't sniff the latter whatsoever. 24. Houston Texans: -6.4 Steve Slaton finally had an effective game this season, as he lit up Jacksonville for 76 yards on 12 carries (6.3 average), plus three receptions for 37 yards, but the lack of a pass rush against David Garrard and of course the performance by Jones-Drew made winning an important home game difficult. 25. Kansas City Chiefs: -7.6 The Chiefs are just 7-for-36 in their 3rd down attempts, while their opponents have been successful 44.2% of the time. 26. Miami Dolphins: -9.6 Speaking of the 3rd down battle, Miami has converted on an amazing 24-for-44 of their attempts thanks to that ground game, but their defense has not been nearly stingy enough with opponents moving the chains in 44.4% of their chances. 27. Oakland Raiders: -9.8 Even though Buckhalter did a lot of the work, Kyle Orton unsurprisingly had a passer rating of 92.1 after spending the entire afternoon upright. 28. Carolina Panthers: -9.9 At this stage of Jake Delhomme's career, they need to run the ball more than just 16 times in a game that was just 10-7 going into the 4th quarter. 29. Detroit Lions: -11.1 Matthew Stafford's passer rating has jumped from 27.4 in Week 1 to 56.5 and 87.8 in the two weeks since. 30. St. Louis Rams: -12.3 Steven Jackson had 163 total yards from scrimmage, as he continues to prove he might be the NFL's best player in a hopeless situation. 31. Tampa Bay Buccaneers: -14.5 The Kellen Winslow trade looks increasingly moronic with each passing week. 32. Cleveland Browns: -18.8 The Browns rank last in points allowed and second to last in points scored, which isn't something Derek Anderson will be able to do much to fix.

Christopher Reina

Tags: Baltimore Ravens, Denver Broncos, New York Giants

Discuss
Giants Don't Think Phillips' Injury Is Career-Threatening

May 17, 2014 3:12 AM

Giants coach Tom Coughlin doesn't believe that safety Kenny Phillips' knee injury is career-threatening. Phillips "will come back and play football again," Coughlin told the Star-Ledger, " ... First of all, what we've done is in the best interest of the player and the New York Giants because we feel like this young man has an outstanding future." The injury is believed to have occurred during training camp, but the safety played in both of New York's first two games, tallying 13 tackles and two interceptions.

Star-Ledger

Tags: New York Giants, Injury

Discuss
Bucs' Ward To Start Against Old Team

Nov 10, 2014 9:34 PM

Buccaneers running back Derrick Ward will start on Sunday against the Giants, his old team. Tampa Bay's Cadillac Williams (knee) and Earnest Graham (hamstring) are both on the team's injury report. Ward, who is averaging 4.5 yards per carry this season, signed in March after five years with the Giants. "Ward might get a full dose of his former teammates," Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris told the Tampa Tribune. "Caddy's knee was sore from the turf. He participated in practice today, but we'll have to wait and see about Sunday."

Tampa Tribune

Tags: New York Giants, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Misc Rumor

Discuss
Kenny Phillips Done For 2009 With Knee Injury

Jul 11, 2014 4:26 PM

Kenny Phillips played one of the best games of his career on Sunday at Dallas, but the Giants had to place him on IR for the remainder of the 2009 season on Thursday. Phillips has a knee condition that first surfaced in training camp. Phillips has seldom practiced in recent weeks and received constant treatment. But an examination Wednesday by team doctors and an MRI revealed that the condition (patella femoral arthritis) in Phillips' left knee has worsened. A final determination has not yet been made on how to treat Phillips' condition. "I really feel for Kenny because he had worked so hard during the offseason to prepare himself for the '09 season," general manager Jerry Reese said. "He had a great camp and was just beginning to come into his own and showed flashes of being one of the premier safeties in the NFL. We expect him to recover from this setback and come back stronger than ever. This league is about making adjustments and we will do that."

Giants.com

Tags: New York Giants

Discuss
Giants' Tuck Could Miss A Few Weeks

Aug 25, 2014 7:08 AM

Giants defensive end Justin Tuck could miss a week or two after injuring his shoulder against the Cowboys. Tuck was tripped by Cowboys offensive lineman Flozell Adams on Sunday night. "I still think he'll miss a game or 2. But again, the important part I know for sure is he appears to have dodged a serious injury," Mike Garafolo of the Star-Ledger wrote on his Twitter page.

Twitter (Mike Garafolo)

Tags: New York Giants, Injury

Discuss
Burress Set To Begin Prison Term

Jul 13, 2014 7:02 AM

Plaxico Burress is scheduled to begin his two-year prison term on Tuesday morning. The former Giants wide receiver pleaded guilty last month to attempted gun possession to avoid serving a mandatory three years if found guilty of possession. His time behind bars could drop to 20 months with good behavior.

New York Post

Tags: New York Giants, Legal

Discuss
Giants Upset With Cowboys' Flozell Adams

Feb 16, 2014 7:09 AM

Giants defensive end Justin Tuck isn't the only one upset with Cowboys tackle Flozell Adams. Some of Tuck's teammates came to his defense after Adams tripped him in the first half of Sunday night's game between the Giants and Cowboys. Tuck left the game with an injured shoulder as a result of the play. "From being out there and seeing the quick replays, it looked like a pretty bad play," Giants end Mathias Kiwanuka said. "Guys get beat and they have to do anything to save their quarterback, but that is not an excuse. "This is the NFL. People put their careers on the line everyday, in every practice, in every game. You don't want to risk somebody getting hurt off something cheap like that. You understand that they have a job to protect their quarterback, but there are rules in a game for a reason."

ESPN

Tags: Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Misc Rumor

Discuss
Tuck Upset Over Trip By Adams

Sep 22, 2014 4:09 AM

Giants defender Justin Tuck hurt his left shoulder in the team's victory over the Cowboys on Sunday night. Cowboys left tackle Flozell Adams tripped Tuck in the first half of the game, causing Tuck to fall and land awkwardly on his shoulder. "I think it was bush league," Tuck told the New York Daily News. "He did it a few times in that game. Unfortunately he didn't get called the other times." Tuck added that he wishes he had been able to get some retribution for the move. "I would've liked to have the rest of the game to punish him for that, but it didn't happen."

New York Daily News

Tags: Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Misc Rumor

Discuss
Cowboys Break NFL Single-Game Attendance Record

Sep 22, 2014 8:50 PM

The first game at Cowboys Stadium set an NFL regular-season attendance record with a crowd of 105,121 on Sunday night. The game between the Giants and Cowboys broke the previous mark of 103,467 between Arizona-San Francisco in Mexico City in 2005. The stadium has 75,000 seats, but the crowd on Sunday included up to 30,000 fans in standing-room party plazas.

ESPN

Tags: Dallas Cowboys, New York Giants, Misc Rumor

Discuss
Jones: Cowboys Stadium Will Be 'Loud'
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has warned the Giants that the team's new stadium will be very loud on Sunday night.

NFL.com

Risdon's Picks For Week 2
A crazy Week 1 is in the books and Jeff Risdon is back to sort out all 16 games of Week 2, including the

Jeff Risdon/RealGM

Source: Giants Lose Nicks For 2-3 Weeks
Giants rookie receiver Hakeem Nicks will have an MRI on Monday.

New York Daily News

Giants Auditioning Pair Of Tight Ends
The Giants are looking to add another tight end to complement starter Kevin Boss.

Pro Football Talk

Giants Accuse Redskins Of Hiring Mole
Andre Woodson is being used by the Redskins to gain familiarity into the Giants' system.

Washington Post

Giants Cut Super Bowl Hero Tyree
The Giants have cut wide receiver David Tyree.

Star Ledger

Strahan: Ware Can Have My Sack Record
Michael Strahan of FOX Sports, and formerly the Giants, wouldn't mind if DeMarcus Ware broke his single-season sack record.

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

Giants Weren't In Denver For Marshall
Rumors swirled on Wednesday morning that the Giants were in Denver to make a play for Brandon Marshall.

Star Ledger

Umenyiora Regrets Skipping Practice
Osi Umenyiora declined to disclose the nature of his disagreement with defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan,

NFL.com