Big Blue Huddle

Quote from: MightyGiants on May 05, 2024, 09:34:46 AMWhile bad decisions have certainly been made, I think the Giants have been arguably one of the unluckiest teams in the league.

Consider:

2010-  In the third round, the Giants draft a promising safety and special teamer, Chad Jones.  He has an off-season auto accident and never fully recovers.  Plays some snaps but as a shadow of his former self.

2015-  Giants star edge rusher JPP mangles hand in fireworks accident.  Eventually returns, but isn't quite the player he had been

2020-  Giants first-round cornerback Deandre Baker arrested for armed robbery.   He is eventually found innocent, but not before the Giants cut him.

2014-  Promising first-round running back David Wilson found to have stenosis in his neck and has to retire from football before his rookie contract is even finished

2016-  a last-minute video pushes Laramy Tunsil off many draft boards.  This left the Giants scrambling and they ended up drafting Eli Apple

2015- Legal questions kept La'el Collins (solid O-line prospect) from being drafted in round one.  This pushes the Giants to take Ereck Flowers instead.  Worse, Collins ends up signing as a free agent with Dallas essentially giving the Cowboys a free extra first-round pick.

Consider some of the drafted players with healthy college careers but became injury messes in the NFL

Saquon Barkley
Evan Neal
Daniel Jones
Joshua Ezeudu
Azeez Ojulari
Evan Engram
Weston Richburg
Justin Pugh
Shane Lemieux
Aaron Robinson

Guys whose careers were cut short by injury

Hakeem Nicks
Terrell Thomas
Jay Bromley
Owamagbe Odighizuwa (mental illness)
Sterling Shepard
Victor Cruz
Jake Ballard

Even OBJ suffered a major injury.

Have I missed any other bad luck issues the Giants have had the last decade or so?

EDIT TO ADD:  McKinney's fluke hand injury in 2022

definitely pretty bad, but i bad its not super far off from a lot of other teams

Strands #64
"Signed, Sealed, Delivered"
💡🔵🔵💡
🔵💡🔵💡
🔵🔵🟡

Connections
Puzzle #330
🟨🟨🟨🟨
🟪🟩🟩🟩
🟦🟦🟦🟦
🟩🟩🟩🟩
🟪🟪🟪🟪

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on May 03, 2024, 07:46:03 PMIt's not even entirely clear to me why he should start at RT in week one over Eleumenor. You have two players who have played RT in this league. One has always been terrible. The other played at a solid level last year. Why would you go with the first guy in that situation?

I'm with you. Let Neal start playing guard from day 1 of mini-camp. Give him as many reps as possible. Play him the majority of the snaps in the preseason games. If he can't figure it out there's a nice spot on the bench for him. I don't need to see him whiffing at RT anymore.

Quote from: 4 Aces on May 05, 2024, 07:57:18 PMI hope I'm wrong, but Bobbie Johnson feels like a bit of a scapegoat.

Now - I'm not saying he's a good OL Coach. All evidence points to the contrary. His guys had no idea what they were doing.

But just like any business, sh#t rolls uphill. Just like it probably does at most of our jobs. The OL struggled from the opening bell last year. Where was the Offensive Coordinator Mike Kafka when it became clear Johnson was getting poor results? If he couldn't fix it, where was the Head Coach Brian Daboll? This was a problem that derailed the entire season and got their million dollar QB hurt. None of them could fix it.

Now Bobbie J's gone, and we're just hoping Bricillo waves a magic wand and they start playing better. I'm skeptical.

The real killer with Johnson was his inability to identify his starting OL in the pre-season so they could play together and get some chemistry.  And Dabol/Kafka let that happen.  This led them to be unprepared to compete, as evidenced by being blown out in game after game at the start of the season.  The second killer with Johnson was his inability to get any thing out of Neal, and JMS.

Quote from: MightyGiants on May 05, 2024, 09:43:11 AMThanks, I added them to the list

McKinney and the ATV.

Quote from: miss86 on May 05, 2024, 05:08:43 PMPlaxico Burress. Shoots himself in the leg, and there went another shot at a superbowl.

I still have nightmares about that.
We were the best team about that season.
I really thought the repeat was on.

I think I'm right in saying we'd beaten all four teams who played in the Championship games during the regular season?

Quote from: Fletch on May 05, 2024, 08:45:54 PMThey had Ernie A. as GM. And he had to drag Wellington kicking and screaming to draft a QB with the top3 pick in the 2004 draft.

False.

Wellington had nothing to do with the 2004 draft. He wasn't involved in the draft. Ernie Accorsi wasn't a great GM but Eli was the highest rated QB that year on everybody's list. The Giants actually drafted Philip Rivers 3rd overall in order to trade him to San Diego who drafted Eli, who refused to play in San Diego. That was Accorsi's best move (also refusing to trade Osi Umenyora). The Giants were only in that position in the first place because they went 4-12 in 2003, Jim Fassel's final year as HC.

The 2007 and 2011 championships had a lot to do with Jerry Reese's early moves, including the outstanding draft class of 2007 (Bradshaw, Steve Smith, Kevin Boss, Aaron Ross), and then getting Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, JPP, and Antrel Rolle. Not to mention Tom Coughlin's outstanding leadership and the presence of Michael Strahan (drafted by George Young), Tuck (drafted by Accorsi), and Plaxico Burress in 2007 (signed by Accorsi).

John has nothing to do with the earlier Super Bowls. And they came because the Mara family was completely sidelined from the football decisions. That's when the Giants have always done best.

   

Due to his contract amount, play as a top 10 QB.

2022 stats aren't good enough (they're really not great, but that's beside the point). The Giants paid him after that season with the hope that he would be better going forward and evolve. That didn't happen. Instead, we saw a complete regression. I've stated in other threads that I think the only situation that makes them rethink Jones is an MVP-caliber season. And that doesn't guarantee they retain him, I think they just have a harder conversation about it.

To those who say another playoff win (or some variation short of Superbowl victory) would change the Giants mind on Jones: the 49ers went to a Superbowl (2019) and conference championship (2021) with Jimmy Garropollo. They still decided to move on from him (and paid an insane premium to miss on Trey Lance to do so). There's plenty of tape on Jones. Even if some miracle happens and the Giants go on a deep playoff run, it guarantees nothing in my mind.