Big Blue Huddle

Malik Nabers and his former LSU teammate Jayden Daniels (selected 2nd overall) have confirmed across a couple podcasts that they have a 10k wager on Offensive Rookie of the Year. 

https://sports.yahoo.com/malik-nabers-jayden-daniels-10-144629179.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAK31MPpUflp7eX36ri48jUqOR9s9pWz2_JO_PuyF7xDWW3s-gVptfcQdhCHi0AsC4kqcOPPMgeY3Z4aBt7SOpIUHNAe6h05b6ZCcA9yxzLjm1BPmcw5rI1Ta2TnQf3VKsE26okeJb42L_3bkHk-CpBd6hFNd2Noq-Qt6ysTfncfc

Well written article and candidly points out how desensitized young players are now with regards to gambling.  They've grown up in an environment where it was a laughable offense to now where it's totally legal.  The NFL does NOTHING to discourage gambling, they saw free money and they took it and yet try to hold players to a standard that belies how complicit they are.  They slapped a few players with suspensions a few years ago and have since moved the goal-posts and changed the rules.  I don't know that anything will become of this, but shame on Malik Nabers for not knowing the rules.  Shame on him for unabashedly and publicly admitting to gambling.  Shame on Nabers and Daniels for making 5 figure bets in a profession they ultimately have not proven themselves in and their lifetime earnings may not reflect what they think they're going to make.  And shame on the NFL for not better educating players on the policy.

Maybe it's just me because I'm looking at the stat sheet and feel that Belton had way more of an impact than it suggests.  A sack yesterday and another tackle for loss, two picks last week.  Really seems to have made the most out of the extended playing time he got in the last few weeks where before that he wasn't on the field more than 15-30% of the time.  Don't want to make a big deal out of very limited sample size but he just LOOKED the part to me the last few games.

With a Patriots win, Commanders win and Cardinals win (and a Giants loss).

Jets @ Patriots - Belichick almost never loses to the Jets in what should be a miserable game.
Cowboys @ Commanders - fingers crossed, both teams will have plenty of motivation with Dallas looking to clinch the East and the Commanders looking to play spoiler.  Also, the Cowboys on the road are a vastly different team.
Seahawks @ Cardinals - division game.  Seattle looks good but the Cardinals have been competitive of late. 

With all that said, I'd love nothing more than to spoil the Eagles' chance at the division depending on the outcome of the Cowboys/Commanders game.

Wonder why offense and scoring are down?  This is over a third of the league, and we're only at the half-way point of the season..

Bears - Justin Fields, Tyson Bagent
Browns - Deshaun Watson, PJ Walker
Cardinals - Joshua Dobbs, Clayton Tune, Kyler Murray (soon)
Colts - Anthony Richardson, Gardner Minshew
Falcons - Desmond Ridder, Taylor Heinecke
Giants - Daniel Jones, Tyrod Taylor, Tommy DeVito (soon)
Jets - Aaron Rodgers, Zach Wilson
Raiders - Jimmy Garapolo, Aiden O'Connell
Rams - Matt Stafford, Brett Rypien
Titans - Ryan Tannehill, Will Levis
Vikings - Kirk Cousins, Joshua Dobbs

We are rapidly approaching the 10th anniversary of the Giants victory in Superbowl 42 over the Patriots.  The 2007 Giants meant so much to me personally.  I was 24 years old, living at home, and football was my total passion.  The 10 subsequent years, coupled with marriage, a career, a home, and starting a family have eroded the amount of time I can invest in football.  I still remember feeling the similarities, if one could be so naive, between myself and that team.  We were young, we were inconsistent, and we had a level of arrogance only the young can possess because they don't know any better.  But we worked hard, and if we were directionless, we were still going 100 MPH in that direction.

Over the coming weeks I'm going to post a player retrospective - 1 player per day and discuss who they were, what they meant to the 2007 team, and what became of them after - I've always been a sucker for those still images at the ends of movies with a small blurb telling you what that person did later in life.  I encourage all to weigh in on the player of the day, their memories, and memories of the 2007 Giants in general.