Big Blue Huddle

Daboll's seat just got a LOT hotter for next season. For right or wrong a substantial portion of the fanbase thinks Wink is the better coach of the two so he has to get this hire right.

Schoen and Daboll need to get any replacement right...and that does not mean rehabbing another Buffalo retread in Leslie Frazier!

Truthfully an incomplete.

There are positives from the drafts and free agency and there are busts (with OL the gaping wound). There were good business decisions (not overpaying Saquon long term) and bad ones (overpaying DJ). The jury is still out on the HC. We are a combined 15-18-1. That feels like a C/C- but with so much uncertainty on where we will shake out next year that is not a confident grade.

Doing this without Wink's buy in would be incendiary. Doing it with his buy in might be the start of the tweaks Wink needs to make as I noted in my boom/bust post on Wink's D.

I'm a slightly generous 5.

Our three biggest issues for me are OL bar AT, DE/DT post Leo and QB.

Edge 2, CB and a WR1 would all be nice to have but I don't think upgrading any of them would have quite the same impact as better trench and QB play would give us.

We have quite a few young players with upside who have flashed at times this year but still too few established playmakers. Our depth is improving though and back-ups have contributed.

We generally play hard and compete against 'mid' teams but the talent deficit to eg Dallas, SF has been gargantuan. Coaching has been up and down but they never lost the team. Effort remained strong. This matters moving forward.

It would be interesting to retain all our thoughts and then revisit in May post FA/draft and again next season. Right now I could see us as anything between 5 and 10 wins next year and would not want to be try to be more precise.

On talent I think we are better than that expected win projection suggests outside our OL. We played better late season than earlier in the year. We got more out of our QB position. We took more shots downfield. The D forced turnovers. We were in every game in December/January.

I do agree that we have far too few elite playmakers on both sides of the ball to contend but our 'average starter' and 'primary back-up' talent is generally not terrible, again parking the OL.

We are 15-18-1 in the Schoen/Daboll era. I think that is about who and what we are, a below average but somewhat competitive team who get manhandled by elite teams.

Obviously the blowouts by the Cowboys highlight how far beyond QB our problems go but this is true of at least half the NFL. Given our closeness to our team we tend to lose a bit of perspective. There are things to build on.

Quote from: killarich on January 08, 2024, 08:32:47 AMWhat else did he say about it ? That he wants them back but its up to them pretty much ?

He expects them back but has not met them so the local press guy's interpretation, at least in their immediate reporting, was that this did not guarantee it. Whether the uncertainty is because Wink/Kafka possibly will receive approaches or will actively seek alternatives is tbd.

Daboll says he expects Wink and Kafka back but they might have other ideas. We have fired the two guys who had to go so that is an encouraging start.

To be honest I want Lamar to get the ring so I find myself rooting for Ravens-Lions SB in the battle of the unglamorous!

They did and they will have a QB as a result...and a D that could not stop a HS team. It is easier to put together and adequate D than find a franchise QB so if either Williams/Maye hits they will be better in 2-3 years time but there is no guarantee.

Either way we took ourselves out of realistic contention for either of these guys by playing hard until the end so we will probably be in QB hell again next year which I know is a tough pill for many here to swallow but it is now better to focus on improving the overall roster than to panic and reach for a QB at 6...like Gettleman did with DJ!

I do not see us giving up future picks for a QB trade up with DJ under his current contract as frustrating as many of us will find that.

Given this assumption I see 6 as a BPA irrespective of position type slot, with a possibility to trade back slightly. Particularly as we have needs pretty much everywhere.

The odds are given current thoughts on the draft (which can and will shift) that QB1,2 (maybe 3) are gone as is WR1, OT1 and maybe Edge1 (depending on QB3).

So if BPA is TE1, DT1, CB1 not QB leftovers or WR2, OT2 take them. If BPA is an OT or Edge take them and treat past picks as sunk costs. If you think you can get the guy you want at a small trade back then do that.

Free agency (for coaches and players) should be where we try to shore up OL and the draft should be where we try to add playmakers on both sides of the ball. We still have a roster talent deficit far beyond QB.

Football is about winning games. Where have all the high draft picks for a decade got us? Losing!

Drafting 5 or 6 we are not getting the guy who might replace DJ. If that is the plan then we need to trade up to 1 or 2 and it is only a fraction more expensive from 6.

If that isn't the plan (and that is my best guess) 6 is a spot to either trade back or to take the best player on the board irrespective of position or positional value eg if TE1>Wr2/3 or DT1>Edge 2 take the better player.

We have holes literally everywhere so draft players not positions day one and two.

Must fill holes (eg RT, DE/DT post Leo, OG, CB) are for FA or trade IMO.

The only thing Giants were good at this was forcing/avoiding turnovers.

Joint 1st on total turnovers (31, 18 INT, 13 FR) & differential (+12).

Turnovers are the core of Wink's D philosophy but as a team we needed 10+ more sacks on a season and 20-30 yards fewer per game rush D to really make it work. We gave up too many cheap yards on the ground which combined with an inability to generate regular pressure sustained long drives for opponents that routinely led to 'easy' TDs.

This is possibly part of the tension (adding to personalities) between Daboll and Wink. I can imagine the HC values more highly a regular and predictable supply of the D forcing 3 and outs, seeing turnovers as a bonus with Wink seeing turnovers as THE key to winning D.

I am in favour of keeping Wink but I do think he needs (with help from Schoen) to find ways to shore up the recurring clear weaknesses in his D scheme.

To be fair to him he just answers the questions he gets asked. Of course given his close relationship with the press they may be lobbing him the pitches he wants but the team kicked the can down the road last off season so prolonged the soap opera.

The JJ McCarthy/Daniel Jones comparison made me shiver