Big Blue Huddle

Belichick is the GOAT. It goes beyond his genius with x's and o's. He's a true CEO of a football operation who has a true vision and is able to execute on that vision in a coherent and effective way.

The truly great head coaches are primarily focused on being great leaders. Most head coaches today seem more like coordinators doing the HC job. They are primarily focused on game plans and play calling, rather than more comprehensive leadership. So they fall short of the CEO role.

There aren't that many head coaches who are real CEOs in the league today. Parcells was one. Bill Walsh was one. Walsh never won without Montana but that doesn't diminish how great he was.

What separates Belichick is he has the longest run of winning Super Bowls. I'm not sure if he's gotten long in the tooth now but I think a lot of the problems in New England have to do with the QB position. I don't know what went wrong with Mac Jones. I think if they had a better QB, New England is not that far away from being a serious contender.

For me the best QBs for the Giants are in this order.
Caleb Williams
Drake Maye
Jayden Daniels

Anyone else will be at least mildly disappointing.

I agree. I also think Shepard in some ways represents a lot of what's gone wrong with this organization over the last decade. The prioritization of personality and public relations over production. Shepard is a good guy and a good teammate. But he's been extremely unreliable and was given a big contract he didn't deserve. He shouldn't have made the roster this season but they kept him for sentimental reasons.

I wish him well in retirement. Nice guy. Unreliable. Overpaid for a time and overrated. Time to turn the page and move past the era of scholarships.

Quote from: kingm56 on January 05, 2024, 06:56:24 AMWhy do you want to retain a DC responsible for producing the NFL's 28th ranked Defense?  For goodness sake, the Giants have allowed 47 TDs, 24.8 PPG and 366 YPG.  Every single defensive metric points to the Giants being a bottom 5 defensive team.  While the Giants Offense hasn't produced any better results with a 30th overall ranking, it shouldn't be lost on anyone that side of the ball was hit with far more injuries, having lost 2x QBs, AP RB, TE, and AP LT for significant portions of the season.  In short, it seems many are holding Kafka to a different standard than Wink.  The latter is getting a pass for producing similar results, while the former is viewed as the impetus of our offensive foibles.  Kafka is far from a primary reason for the Giants offensive struggles, just like the 4 OCs who proceeded him over the last 6 years.  The Giants don't have a single dynamic player on offense, a QB who's never been a prolific pass, at any level, and one of the worst Olines in the league.  There's not a single OC in the league that would produce tangible improvement with the same talent.  I am far more critical of Wink, who produced the same results with better talent.

Good post. This defense has inexplicably been so overrated. 29th in run defense, 28th last year. They give up nearly 5 yards a carry on the road. This is pitiful.

Quote from: LennG on January 04, 2024, 04:48:02 PMSomeone, please tell me why a coordinator, or anyone for that matter, would leave not knowing if they will be working the next year. Come on, last year both were in huge demand and both would probably get jobs somewhere right now, but in the real world, you just don't leave when you have nothing else on the table. Moey still talks and bills need to be paid, so why leave a cushy paying job because ??????????????

Thanks for posting this bit of common sense. I'm not sure why it's so hard for folks to imagine coaches who love being in the NFL but don't love their current situation. The "choice" Raanan is talking about is a coordinator job with another organization. How often do we hear about players wanting to be traded to a team of their choosing. They aren't dumb enough to walk away from the contract, they just want to be in a better situation.

I don't know if Jordan's reporting is true but I believe a source he trusts fed him this info. He didn't just make it up.

Well deserved by Dex.

I agree Okereke was also deserving. Bobby Wagner is going to the Hall of Fame, so I guess that gives him the edge. I'm still irritated we drafted David Wilson over Bobby Wagner smh.

Nabers or OL.

I'm still hoping the Giants end up picking 3rd or 4th so Daniels is in play.

Kayvon's there as well.

Quote from: MightyGiants on January 02, 2024, 12:37:01 PMSometimes the gamble is continuing to pass on players. Fields doesn't get over the hump, you don't want to be the guys that passed on both Stroud and Caleb Williams."

Yeah, I don't see how sticking with Fields would be less of a gamble than drafting Caleb. They're making a choice either way. Doing nothing at the QB position is a choice with consequences.

I'm not opposed to going OL if it works out this way. I understand the arguments for and against it, legitimate points have been made on both sides.

I still think Nabers might be the BPA at #5. Will be tough to pass on him if it works out this way.

Still the QB issue is a problem if they draft Nabers or Harrison.

Quote from: Philosophers on January 02, 2024, 11:19:18 AMYes.  How do you judge the 3 who have not played a snap against NFL players to a player who has not looked bad?

This is literally what scouts and decision makers get paid to do. No player going into the draft has played against NFL players.

Quote from: zephirus on January 01, 2024, 04:44:35 PMHe's a nice piece as a reservist and offers deep speed.  As long as he stays affordable I don't see why any good GM wouldn't keep him around. 

This is a fair take. However, if they draft a #1 WR (Harrison or Nabers?) and believe Hyatt and Robinson will continue to develop, then carrying the extra $6 million cap hit for Slayton becomes a luxury they shouldn't continue paying with bigger needs on the OL, DL and elsewhere. On the other hand, if they don't land their #1 receiver in the draft, then paying for Slayton might make more sense. Slayton is currently the Giants 7th highest cap hit for 2024 (8th highest if you count Leonard Williams dead money).

Quote from: uconnjack8 on December 28, 2023, 09:26:18 AMIt can get worse.  My point is that fans can easily say "let him walk".  The people whose jobs are on the line have to think about things a little deeper than that. 

Like the the question I asked about how you would replace him and improve the overall offense.  Barkley leaving doesn't fill a hole in the roster it creates another hole.  If you think it will be easy to fill the RB hole that's fine, but it's another position in addition to the any offensive positions that need upgrading.

It will be interesting to see how this goes in the offseason.  Maybe Barkley will be more realistic in his salary demands, maybe not. If I were his agent I would probably advise to sign somewhere with a better team around him.

How much worse can it actually get? You have to go back to the '70s to find a Giants team with a lower points per game than this season. If Daboll and company feel as though they need Barkley to protect their jobs, then they deserve whatever is coming their way.

I don't think the offense gets much better until the QB position is improved. They may see marginal improvement with Taylor but in my opinion he has a low ceiling and is injury prone. I think the real solution is drafting Daniels or Maye.

If they can get one of those guys and put some free agent money into the interior offensive line and maybe they make a run at one of the better WRs in free agency, then I think we see real and sustainable improvement in the offense with or without Barkley.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on December 27, 2023, 08:48:47 PMIf it's all about the coaching and not about the players, why were some of our lines amazing under Flaherty and why were some bad? Why was the Cowboys line awesome under Colombo, and then when he came here our line still sucked? Neither of those indisputable facts line up with what you're saying.

Yup. On the one hand, we're seeing Will Hernandez and Jon Feliciano playing better on other teams. On the other hand, the Giants hired Colombo to coach the OL right after Dallas finished #1 in total offense and their OL was ranked #4. Colombo lasted half the season before he was fired.

Whatever the formula of talent, coaching and culture is needed to produce a winner, the Giants haven't found the right mix in over a decade.

Quote from: DaveBrown74 on December 27, 2023, 07:20:54 PMThe line sucked royally in 2018 too, and he was elite that year. Same with 2019. Our line has been awful for ages.

We can pretend he hasn't declined materially as a player and blame everyone else if we want to, but we'll be in denial if we do.

Barkley is visibly slower than he was as a rookie. We all see it.