Big Blue Huddle

Oh wow! These criteria, all the different laundry lists, it's a wonder he hasn't already cleaned out his locker and said "who needs this?"

I like Trench's criteria the best. It doesn't get any easier than beat the Cowboys and Eagles. If he and the Giants could do that twice a year, and throw the team formerly known as the Redskins x two, for good measure, he can stay as long as he wants.

Oh, maybe one more thing.

Instead of 0-41, how about give us a 41-0 and we'll let all be forgiven.

Easy enough, right?

Peace!

Quote from: Rosehill Jimmy on May 05, 2024, 01:05:05 PMBack in the day I would drop notes to GY and he always answered. I still have a few 40+years later. Prior to the 81 draft I asked who he planned to select ( he was always frank and forthcoming in his responses ). He replied back .. I haven't even told my confessor who I'm taking. In a post draft note he thanked his lucky stars that the Saints were one of the 4 teams that had a higher grade on Rogers than LT. BTW, Rogers and LT won OROY andDROY respectively and this draft also produced 8 HOFers

Thank you for sharing, great stuff!

That 1981 draft was something else. It also did something special. It took two doormat teams and and not only changed their fortunes, but set their respective courses to climb out of the ashes of the 70s to the height of NFL powerhouses in the 80s. Of course, I'm talking about the Giants and the 49ers. Ronnie Lott and Lawrence Taylor did more for their teams to reach the pinnacle. The 49ers also added Eric Wright and Carlton Williamson to fortify their secondary, along with Lott, which dominated the '81 post-season. But the Giants didn't do too bad either in adding Byron Hunt to the LB corps, and nose tackle Bill Neill who started right away and showed promise until injuries slowed him down. Then, there was this free agent nose tackle, Jim Burt, who played with an attitude from day one and worked his way to All Pro status.

Great memories!

Quote from: files58 on May 05, 2024, 04:03:52 PMI'm ridiculously calm. I should be a little tied up in knots, and I'm not. Do I know something?

I thought about you throughout the first period; they had to have done you proud with their toughness.

The whole DeAngelo scenario, I was disappointed in all the announcers that nobody mentioned that he left his feet and launched himself. Why isn't that more than two minutes?

Special teams were indeed special. The Z-man looked possessed out there today, but the magical passing which set his goals up were just that.

I agree that today was Wennberg's best as a Ranger. He turned the Jets on and looked more confident with the puck and what he wanted to do with it.

Igor was steady as always, not to worry about our hero between the pipes.

One game in the books and our heroes - one, the paper champions - zero.

I like it! Hope the Vegas oddsmakers did too!

Peace!

Troy Archer (died in car accident)

Dan Lloyd (cancer, recovered)

Doug Kotar (cancer, later died)

The Irrelevant Giant, John Tuggle (cancer, later died)

Kevin Belcher (car accident, career-ending injuries)

Karl Nelson (cancer, survived)

Many "could have been" great players. Nelson won a Super Bowl. Archer would likely have made it to Pasadena as well as Tuggle and possibly Belcher.

Peace!

Quote from: EDjohnst1981 on May 05, 2024, 11:27:46 AMPer The Athletic:

Will Filip Chytil be the Rangers' X-factor?

The Rangers need Artemi Panarin playing at his regular season MVP-caliber level. New York will be in good shape offensively if that line featuring Panarin, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière can lead the way at five-on-five, in addition to Mika Zibanejad's line scoring at a steady clip.

Those are the obvious keys. Looking beyond that, Filip Chytil emerges as New York's wild card.

Chytil hasn't played since Nov. 2 because of concussion issues. He has, however, been a full-contact practice participant with the Rangers recently. The 24-year-old Czech center broke out as a bona fide top-six player last season with 22 goals and 45 points in 72 games. Those totals were especially impressive considering his limited power-play usage.

He looked electric at the start of this season centering Panarin and Lafrenière. Of course, expectations need to be tempered if he returns as he'll have missed so much time and would likely slot in a third-line role rather than playing with Panarin because of how well Trocheck is performing. But if Chytil is healthy and even 70 percent of the player he was last season, the Rangers will get a massive secondary scoring boost.

Chytil drives play with his smooth skating, above-average frame and highly competitive style. He can be a lethal attacker off the rush. Chytil scored four goals in seven games on the third line when the Rangers played the Hurricanes in 2022. Will he return and play another big part in this rematch?

>>>>

Interesting points. It would bump Rempe to the press box and slide Wennberg to centre the 4th line.

My biggest concern is that Chytil is one more concussion away from something very bad happening to him. I'm very concerned about that.

I don't know if now is the right time to inject him into the lineup with the risk of something bad possibly happening and throwing off the Rangers' momentum.

My vote would be to stay conservative and pack him in for the rest of this season and evaluate him for next.

Peace!

Round two starts tonight!

What kind of game are the Rangers going to throw at the Canes? Will rust from 12 days between games be a factor?

I'm ready to drop the puck now!

Peace!

Quote from: TDToomer on May 02, 2024, 10:53:33 AMThe Isles have about $6 million in cap space for next season with a few RFAs to extend. There will be no big splashes. We don't get a Panarin to fall into our laps like you guys. We need to develop talent but all the prospect rankings say we are near last in the league.

You finally have the right coach to develop your talent. You have the heart to play with the Rangers. You have something brewing.

Lest you forget the tides were turned over 40 years ago.

Peace!

Quote from: TONKA56 on May 03, 2024, 06:52:07 PMI've shared this before. Pretty great read. 

https://www.bigblueinteractive.com/2016/08/07/wilderness-years-new-york-giants-1964-1978/

When you scroll to the bottom, try to find these books and read them. I bought many of them years ago and they are insightful and give you a greater appreciation for those folks who made up the Giants in the past: even when it was going bad.

It's easy to cast the absolute whole as bad. But to do so is to throw the baby out with the bath water. So many good players and support staff who were stand-up soldiers during those times. That's why the Super Bowl XXI glory carried over onto them, for their efforts were not in vain.

Peace!

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on May 04, 2024, 11:11:51 AMI do, and thank you for the recommendation. I will check them out this weekend.

Please follow up with your thoughts and any highlights worth mentioning in addition to what Rich @MightyGiants has shared with us thus far. I have always enjoyed reading your analyses and this is a subject of great personal and professional interest to me.

Thank you, as always!

Peace!

Quote from: MightyGiants on May 04, 2024, 07:32:23 AMWhy do I feel like they are operating light-years ahead of the oft-injured Giants?



https://x.com/clt_ny/status/1786571195623538845

Thank again for posting this, Rich @MightyGiants . THIS is what I refer to when I cite the Rams' method for evaluating players' risk for injury, and the development (injury risk mitigation) plan they put in place for each player. It has merit, although a couple of years ago the injury bug hit the Rams above and beyond what this program could mitigate. But, last season, their metrics fell back in line with the norm.

This is a good example of a player management plan for safety AND injury avoidance.

Peace!

To all.

Go back and get a copy of Dave Klein's paperback, "Giants Again" which tells the most complete story of how the Giants worked through "The Wilderness Years" all the way to the other side with George Young, AND Ray Perkins getting the Giants into the 1981 playoffs. A gutsy call in the 1979 draft to pick Phil Simms, and luck on their side, in the 1981 draft, when the Saints took George Rogers with the first pick, which opened the door for the Giants to select Lawrence Taylor, and the rest is history.

Peace!

Quote from: Uncle Mickey on May 03, 2024, 01:38:00 PMI keep saying this but Brillo might have been the most important acquisition of the off-season. And I'm not a jokin' 

We know you're not a jokin' 'cause neither are we! 

Peace!

Quote from: y_so_blu on April 30, 2024, 04:01:03 AMThe least excited I've been since I started following the team in 2020. No more Saquon (the real face of our franchise), no more Xavier, still no real quarterback or apparent plans to get one. Hello to another year of ranking 30-something on offense and the defense having to do most of the work. That's definitely a "meh."

I think the "meh" season for the ages was 1996 with a lame duck head coach, an even more broken quarterback and a former super-star running back run down to the steel walls of his tires, and hardly a WR to throw to.

Peace!

Quote from: katkavage on April 29, 2024, 04:39:25 PMThe schedule folks. Don't forget the schedule. In 2022 the schedule was easy. They played the AFC South. Last year they had to play the NFC West. Lost 3 out of four. This year they play the AFC North and NFC South. NFC South can go either way. Carolina is the only team as of now they would be favored against. In their division, they need to prove finally that they can beat Dallas, until they do, they are underdogs. Philly...we shall see which team shows up. Washington will be better. Don't count on the two easy wins. So go through the schedule. Of course there are injuries to other teams that change the dynamic. But right now, on paper, I don't see more than 7 wins. That's being generous.

+1

I continue to ask the age-old question:

What have the Giants done to close the gap between them and their division rivals (i.e. Dallas and Philly)? The rest of the schedule is a crapshoot after that.

0-41 and 17-49 are the two tangible results from last year which stick out like a sore thumb. What have the Giants done so far that makes them better than that?

In case you forgot, check last year's season's results. Better yet, burn last season's record book! But there MUST be tangible results demonstrating improvement. Until then, my vote is ...

I'll believe it when I see it!

Peace!

Quote from: PSUBeirut on April 29, 2024, 10:13:24 AMHe absolutely needs to show more fire and passion.  I definitely question whether Daboll and Schoen really need to send that message through the media, though.  If they feel they need to do it that way they're pretty shitty leaders and have been way too soft on DJ.  It's time to suck it up and perform or go home, simple as that.

I'm afraid I have to agree with this. It's kind of hard to show fire and passion after getting the daylights beaten out of you, game after game, and then have your knee shredded like southern BBQ.

But, maybe some QBs get fired up over that stuff; heck, I don't know! But, if they do, I can promise them, when they reach my age, they'll be popping and clinking around with their replacement knees and their hips on borrowed time ... take it to the bank!

Hoorah ... hips replaced tomorrow, my brain the following week ... I feel just as great as just before that first ACL tear ... I'm a rarin' to go!!!

Let's have a reality check on the fire lighting, unless you've brought the marshmallows!!

Peace!