Big Blue Huddle

I respect the positive outlook Rich. It is pretty unique, and it is refreshing to read.

My personal thoughts, item by item:

1. I agree here. Too many people I felt were looking to run Daboll out of town because of one bad year. I was not one of them. Daboll won 2022 NFL COY as a rookie head coach for a reason: he is good, and for the most part I think the players like him. Does he have things to work on? Absolutely, as do most professionals in any field. I am still optimistic he is the right man for this job.

2. I tend to also agree here, with some caution around the view given the multiple unanswered question marks on the unit. Ie, is JMS going to get better? Who is our RT going to be? Can Thomas stay healthy? Who are our two starting OGs? I do think we brought in some solid players like Runyan and Eluemenor though, and I like Bricillo, so, like you, I tend to believe this line will improve into something closer to average than bad.

3. Since we have seen Jones do what he did in 2022, we know that he has it in him to at least be that level of QB. I wouldn't call that high level QB play, but "solid" is a fair enough way of putting it. I would also add that it's hard to imagine Jones not playing better than what we saw from him last year before he got hurt. I have said repeatedly that he is a better QB than that. I have never been overly impressed with Lock, but I'm not closed to the idea of him improving into something better than what he has been so far in his still relatively young career.

4. I hope this is true. I hate hearing Schoen say things like "we have a great training/medical staff" when the results have been so incredibly poor. Really makes me think Mara has drawn a line in the sand that Barnes is untouchable, and Schoen is choosing to fight the battles he thinks he can actually win. I'll need to see improved results before I can get comfortable believing this one, but I certainly hope you're right.

5. Firmly agree here. Burns is a stud, and Thibodeaux is a young, improving player coming off a double digit sack year.

6. I'm cautiously optimistic on this one but am unsure as to the extent. I would agree that this one is likely to improve from last season, given you basically have only one way to go from last season in this category. How much it improves remains to be seen. With better O line play and Nabers in the mix I feel like it has to unless our QB play (from either of our two main QBs) is so limited that it just isn't possible.

I'm in the same boat as Lenn. A year ago I was diagnosed with bone on bone knees. Before that for a few years I was walking between 15 and 20 thousand steps a day. I'm taking collagen every day and over the last few months I feel that there may be some improvement. I currently get about 5k steps a day and hope I can work up to 10k.

Good luck with your walking program. I'm a believer that it's good for you.

Bill

I am going to take the optimistic view on the various Giants issues:


1)  Coaching-  Daboll has learned from his earlier mistakes, and his coaching staff adjustments will have this staff firing on all cylinders this season rather than fighting among themselves

2)  The offensive line-  Between the infusion of veteran talent (who knows what it takes to play O-line in the NFL) and a new O-line coach (who never coached a unit that wasn't in PFF's top 10), this unit will finally break free of its decade-plus stretch of futility and poor play

3)  Quarterback play-  Between Daniel Jones and Drew Lock, one of them will elevate their game to provide the team with solid QB play.

4)  Injuries-  While the Giants failed to remove Ronnie Barnes, the team did bring back Aaron Wellman, who has the Strength and Conditioning coach and has proven he can reduce injury.  We can look forward to a middle-of-the-pack injury season rather than leading the league.

5)  Pass Rush-  The addition of Burns to Thibs and Dex will make the Giants pass rush something that keeps OCs up at night.

6)  Explosive plays-   The Giants lost Barkley, but frankly, he was living on reputation.   He wasn't providing the explosive plays a star provides either on the ground or through the air.  Malik Nabers will change that, and his presence will allow others like Robinson and Hyatt to join in on the fun.

So by drinking the Kool-Aid, this team will be going to the playoffs again like they did in 2022.

Quote from: Ed Vette on May 18, 2024, 09:26:37 PMHave they ever done that?

I think they've practiced with 2 of 4 previously but never 3.

the answer above is b double play. runner cannot interfer with fielder.

Quote from: Philosophers on May 18, 2024, 08:14:02 PMA good policeman can make split decisions and manage his emotions and calm things down. A bad one gives an order and beats a person up for hesitating.

I see many who support the authoritarian view that police must be obeyed without question and that's the end of the story. However, I tend to favor Joe's view. The police represent us as the enforcers of our laws.  They need to be in control of their emotions, and their goal should always be to de-escalate rather than make things worse. 

A minor situation like this should never result in a good man without any criminal inclination being arrested and thrown in jail.   That is not how I (as a member of society) want or believe how our laws should be enforced.


https://golf.com/news/eyewitness-reveals-new-scottie-scheffler-arrest-details/



As Scheffler pulled up to the left of ESPN's vehicle, Wischusen said he and his ESPN colleagues could not see who was at the wheel. Moments later, a police officer "kind of jumped in front" of what the ESPN crew would later learn was a Lexus driven by Scheffler. "He was pretty, you know, enthusiastic, let's say," Wischusen said of Officer Gillis. Wischusen said Gillis beamed his flashlight up and down Scheffler's car and yelled at him with words to the effect of: "Whoa, whoa, whoa, who are you? Where are you going? Get back in line. You're not allowed to come through here."

Wischusen said he couldn't hear any of what Scheffler said to Gillis but that Gillis was "scolding" Scheffler for passing the ESPN vehicle on the left. Wischusen said because the officer and his colleagues were in yellow reflective jackets, it was unclear to him and his colleagues whether they were police or tournament security.   

After Scheffler and the officer's interaction, Wischusen said Scheffler began to pull away. As Darlington described it, at this point Gillis "attached himself" to the car. As Gillis, whose body camera was not activated during the incident, described it, he was "dragged" to the ground by Scheffler's car, which led to "pain, swelling and abrasions to left wrist and knee" and damaging his pants "beyond repair."   

Here's how Wischusen recalls that moment: "When [Scheffler] drove past him, the cop got very angry pursuing the car. ... My impression was he was kind of running alongside chasing the car, and maybe he tripped and fell. I mean, there was kind of an outcropping or medium, you know, by the front gate. And keep in mind, it was raining. It was 6 o'clock in the morning. It was dark."

Asked about Darlington's characterization of the officer "attaching" himself to the car, Wischusen said, "I could see him stumble, but I did not have a very clear view of exactly how you want to categorize his contact with the car."

Wischusen said Scheffler was moving at a relatively slow speed — "the speed that you would drive a car if you were pulling up to the front gate of a place," he said — and before pulling over had driven approximately the 10 or so yards that Darlington had estimated.

When Scheffler stopped the car, Wischusen said Gillis was visibly upset. "He runs up to the driver's side, and with the butt end of his flashlight starts screaming, you know, 'Get out of the car, get out of the car' — banging on the window — 'shut the engine off, get out of the car. I'm a police officer.'"

The driver "peacefully" exited the car, Wischusen said, at which point the officer "put him up against the car and put him in handcuffs." Said Wischusen: "That was when we realized — you know, all the way up until then we're like, oh my God, whoever is in this car, there's about to be an arrest of some sort. And then it was, 'Oh my God, it's Scottie Scheffler."

https://golf.com/news/eyewitness-reveals-new-scottie-scheffler-arrest-details/

That's really peculiar.

I would prefer that every single NFL game played every week always be on Sunday. I am sure plenty disagree with me on that including the league and its ratings experts, but it would make things better for the players and coaches, and in many respects for the fans too. I appreciate that it means fans are going to watch fewer games in real time, but serious fans can still watch their team play plus two other games on Sunday if they choose to. I also like having the anticipation build up all week and then getting flooded with information/stimuli on Sundays.

With all of the above said I understand why the league does what it does with spreading these games out more. I'm not going to condemn them for it, but I wish it were just Sundays personally.

Quote from: LennG on May 18, 2024, 07:40:34 PMDave

Unless we are traveling somewhere and we do lots of walking/hiking I really don't believe I do that total in a week. I'm not proud of it but that's the way it is. I have two bad knees and whenever I tend to overdo things, they hurt for a while, so if I can get somewhere riding, that's the way I go. My wife always encourages me to get out and walk. Maybe if I lived in a different environment I would but I hate to ride to a place to walk and I really don't like walking on my town's streets all the time.

I hope you achieve your goal.

Lenn,

I am sorry about your knees. That's a drag. And it's understandable why you do not walk more.

Strands #77
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