Big Blue Huddle

Andru hands-of-stone Phillips

At least he can tackle. if you cant give me picks, at least make a sure tackle. lot of cb's get 2-3 lucky int's a year and miss dozens of tackles. break up plays, and keep your guy from getting YAC. im ok with this from a 3rd round pick.

Quote from: madbadger on Today at 11:40:01 AMJackson was a ballhawk at USC and fairly good his first couple years in the league. The other concern is that Phillips only had five passes defended last year. His last year at USC Jackson had 11. I hope I am pleasantly surprised but I think his career might be close to Darnay Holmes than to Jackson's.

MB,

In Adoree's three years with the Giants he had all of two INTs.  That isn't exactly "ball-hawk" material.  Hell, in his entire 7 year career he has only 4 INTs.

That offensive foul call at the end was pretty terrible. You have aggressive playoff basketball being played for 47 minutes+, all for the refs to decide the game at the end.

It was such a great back and forth battle and great game. Just wish the players could have determined the outcome.

Quote from: MightyGiants on Today at 11:20:59 AMThe funny thing is that he did have 1 INT, but it was called back due to a penalty (the penalty was not on Phillips).

While I prefer ball-hawks, I have seen DBs who are skilled at preventing completions from doing well.  I think former Giant Adoree Jackson could be an example.

Jackson was a ballhawk at USC and fairly good his first couple years in the league. The other concern is that Phillips only had five passes defended last year. His last year at USC Jackson had 11. I hope I am pleasantly surprised but I think his career might be close to Darnay Holmes than to Jackson's.

Quote from: madbadger on Today at 11:04:14 AMHe is an intriguing prospect but for him to have 0 ints in college is a huge red flag for me. Cedrick Dort, Wisconsin's worst starting cornerback the past 20 years managed to pick off one despite having hands of stone and no ball skills. I don't know how much room there is in the NFL for non ball hawk cover guys there are in the NFL.

The funny thing is that he did have 1 INT, but it was called back due to a penalty (the penalty was not on Phillips).

While I prefer ball-hawks, I have seen DBs who are skilled at preventing completions from doing well.  I think former Giant Adoree Jackson could be an example.

Quote from: H-Town G-Fan on Today at 11:00:57 AMIt's a popular topic to get clicks and attention. I think the financial aspect of the injury guarantee in Jones's contract is going to (quietly) be a very important factor in how this shakes out.

If the Giants have an earlier exit from playoff contention, no doubt.

With a quieter time, I have been digging into Shane Bowen.  I am trying to better understand what the Giants got when they drafted Bowen.  I haven't found enough to form a conclusion, so I will share my findings.

Prior Job Performance-  I say this is a mixed bag.  On the one hand, Shane moved up the ranks pretty quickly, which usually indicates that he has impressed people with his knowledge and ability.  In terms of how his unit has performed, it has been mixed.  Overall, it's been the middle of the pack (to the slightly low part of the middle of the pack).  His defenses did well against the run and in the red zone, but his pass defenses were not all that strong.

Education-  While I don't think education is that important to the job, degrees do speak a bit to a coach's general intelligence and work ethic.  On that front, Bowen was named to the Dean's List three times while at Georgia Tech (as a player and a student assistant), earned a Bachelor of Science degree in business management in 2009, and a master's degree in workforce development and education from Ohio State in 2014.

Coaching Mentors-   While Bowen has been heavily supported (and likely influenced by Vrabel, who brought him along with him), Bowen did learn from some solid defensive coaches Jim Schwartz and Dean Pees.  He even spent a little time with Urban Meyer.

Misc-  Bowen was a former LB and Safety and Georgia Tech who had his playing career cut short by a neck issue.


My biggest negative:  He wasn't the team's first choice.   Bowen interviewed for the job he had with the Titans under the new HC and with the Jaguars.  Both teams went in other directions.  He may not have even been the Giants' first choice as he was hired after a couple of the hot candidates the Giants interviewed were hired elsewhere, or the Giants were denied an opportunity to interview.  I will admit that sometimes a quality candidate doesn't interview well, but I think that is a somewhat rare situation.    Another negative, at least in my mind, is that I don't think the DC job was an attractive position.  Between Daboll potentially being on the hot seat, most of the coaching staff being in place, and the issues that caused the prior DC to leave, I can't imagine this was a DC's dream job.


Misc positive-  Shane will have the advantage of having two top-position coaches on his staff, with DB coach Jerome Henderson (who also has the title of passing game coordinator) and D-line coach Andre Patterson.    Having two top-position coaches should help Bowen achieve success.