Big Blue Huddle

Quote from: EDjohnst1981 on Today at 02:19:32 PMYeah, I think it's almost certain he starts. Question is, who's dropped? Kakko?

I think it has to be, yes. And I'm ok with that. The guy has done nothing. I wouldn't mess around with the Wennberg/Cuylle/Roslovic line.

I'll be really surprised if they don't put the kid in tonight:

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/40210775/rangers-matt-rempe-awed-greats-calling-him

Quote from: AZGiantFan on Today at 01:41:34 PMI'm not as down on Neal as some.  He had injury issues, was adjusting to moving to the right side, and had a terrible position coach.  That's a lot for a young man to overcome.

There isn't a soul here who doesn't want Neal to succeed (and I understand that you weren't saying otherwise). I think where fans might differ from one another is on the subject of how much rope to give him if he is bad early in the upcoming season.

If it were your decision, how long would you be willing to tolerate more bad play from him before making a change, knowing you have Eleumenor right there and that Eleumenor has already played RT at a demonstrably solid level for an NFL team over a meaningful sample size?

Quote from: AZGiantFan on Today at 01:46:10 PMWould some of you rather that Jones was throwing without accuracy or velocity?  He's doing very well in the context he's in, which is the most you can hope for.  There will be plenty of time to be critical if he doesn't sustain it as the context gets more challenging.  No need to get a head start on criticizing him by dismissing what he's doing.

Simply making the observation that stuff like this (1) is churned out by every beat writer of every team in the league this time of year and (2) has been proven time and again to have no consistent correlation to anything that happens when the games actually matter is not "getting a head start on criticizing" anyone. It's just making a factually accurate observation.

Further, I didn't tell anyone else how to process this and other info like it. I was simply stating my own stance towards it. I don't see why that needs to be attacked or falsely framed as "getting a head start on criticizing" players. That was not my intention at all.

Quote from: MightyGiants on Today at 07:06:23 AMJeff,


This is a fair position.  No one is expected to be swept up due to an OTA performance.   This is just news on how our starting QB is recovering.   I think for most fans this report would be good news.   Although @BluesCruz booing the news, shows there are a handful of fans actively rooting against our starting QB.

I think it's good news that he seems to be recovering well from his injury and his surgery. As I said, on a purely human level that's always good news about any decent person, regardless of how he plays in real games.

Think that's the first time I've gotten the yellow one first.

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I would say starting him this year after how he played the last two years, which I am fine doing, qualifies as patience.

With that said the team needs to be responsible. He has had the whole offseason to get healthy, this is year three, and we now have a suitable alternative at the position. If Neal goes in in the first couple of weeks and is once again awful right from the jump, and it is clearly hurting the team, I would not continue to cling to him in that role much beyond that. I'd give Eleumenor a shot. My best guess is that that is the current plan.

Quote from: Jclayton92 on May 23, 2024, 08:51:23 PMI believe if the season started tomorrow and they didn't feel comfortable rolling with Neal, that Matt Nelson would get the nod at RT and Eluemunor would stay where he is.

It was confirmed last week and I posted it in another thread that Neal was significantly injured even while playing his rookie and sophomore campaign. They beat writer that was speaking on it said in practices and games he had personnel mention to him that Neal could barely move or couldn't move well bc of injury and everyone in the know could tell. That he still wanted to be out there even though he was badly injured.

With that now out and the combination of a new Oline coach, Stability at RG, him getting good reps before Injury last season, and him being completely healthy I think we get a substantially better Neal.

I sure hope you're right JC.

Quote from: MightyGiants on May 23, 2024, 11:42:55 AMhttps://x.com/art_stapleton/status/1793648013010776173

Neal should get one more opportunity to be a productive NFL RT. But that's it. This is year three, and the guy was a consensus top 10 pick. It's sink or swim time, and I frankly wouldn't give him much rope at all this year given we now have a competent RT in Eleumenor. If he starts at RT in week one, I would not keep him in for more than a couple games if he is bad again.

In fact, as I said in another thread about a month ago, it is not even clear to me why Neal should be some preordained lock to start at the position. The guy has been nothing short of awful at it for two years now. Eleumenor was solid last year at RT on the Raiders. Why is it a lock that Neal should start in even week one?

I thought we wanted to make things as favorable as possible for DJ, not try to cling to an agenda of making a hitherto draft bust work out.

So basically, if I understand this correctly, in about 15 years or so, one of the great sports debates in America is going to be who was the better NFL QB: Tommy DeVito or Tom Brady.

Is that indeed your position, BC?

I am rooting hard for Jones to recover well and to play well this year, because he is the QB of our team. And on a human level, knowing he's a good guy, I want to see him recover from him his injury and be well, if nothing else.

What I'm not going to do though is get swept up in these types of reports. And that includes what we read in late July and August, including preseason games. I heard all of this throughout last summer and bought into it a little bit, and then the guy and his offensive teammates were nothing short of an unmitigated disaster.

Needless to say I'd rather read reports from Giants beat writers that he "looks good" than that he "looks bad", but none of it really moves the needle for me. Also, these summer reports are generally always framed optimistically for all 32 teams. It's just the way this business works.

Quote from: uconnjack8 on May 23, 2024, 06:47:05 PM[/b]

I thought he did an amazing job in 2022 of creating an offense that was nothing like he wanted to coach and had some success.

Did Kafka really "create" the offense in 2022?

Daboll probably should call plays this year. Three reasons for that:

(1) He obviously had some problems with his DC last year. If he's more involved with the offense this year and gives the DC some breathing room to run his unit how he wants to, that will make it less likely that there is another issue.

(2) Daboll's job could be on the line this year. I think it would be a bit extreme to fire the 2022 NFL Head Coach Of the Year in 2024, but it's not impossible. If I'm Daboll, I'm focusing on my main strengths this year, which are designing and implementing an offense.

(3) Kafka has, in two seasons, displayed no clear evidence that he is particularly good in the OC role.

Quote from: MightyGiants on May 23, 2024, 12:33:31 PMhttps://x.com/patricia_traina/status/1793679576700219775?s=46&t=1vcQIN8GqF5J2oLdxEVEJQ

Flott was 175 at the combine. So it sounds like he's essentially not any bigger now than two years ago.