Giant Football Blog

RIP Steve McNair

He was a warrior on the field. I am curious to see what he was doing with a 20 yo in a condo that lead to 2 deaths. (Maybe he was doing nothing)

Coughlin visits Iraq over July 4th weekend

The soldiers expressed their gratitude over and over to the NFL coaches who made the trip to Iraq.

"They kept thanking us," said the Tennessee Titans' Jeff Fisher. "We kept thanking them."

Fisher, the Giants' Tom Coughlin, the Baltimore Ravens' John Harbaugh, former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher and former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden are taking part in the first NFL-USO coaches tour over the Fourth of July weekend.

A world they knew only through the distant glimpses of news reports turned very real for the coaches as they met with hundreds of soldiers in three cities in a long first day Thursday. In a phone interview from Baghdad, Cowher recalled talking to military members on their second or third deployment who described how much the bombs and casualties have decreased from several years ago. Continue

Manning must continue to grow as leader

It was more a challenge than a reminder when general manager Jerry Reese said this offseason that Eli Manning is "not a veteran any more, he's a Pro Bowler -- we'll put some of this on his back."

With so much talk about the tall and talented receivers the Giants lost, Reese wanted everyone to consider the great asset he believes Manning can and must be.

"We're going to put more of the onus on him," Reese said.

And how did Manning respond?

"I think you got a quarterback going into his sixth year and . . . some young receivers," Manning told The Post yesterday. "It's my job to make sure those guys are on the same page and my job to be a leader and take control of the offense and the passing game. Continue

Giants signed TE Beckum

The Giants announced Monday they signed tight end Travis Beckum, one of their two third-round picks. Terms of the deal were not immediately available.

The team waived defensive end Alex Field to make space on the roster. Beckum, who ranks third in Wisconsin history with 159 career catches, is the fifth draft pick to sign, joining WR Ramses Barden, QB Rhett Bomar and CBs DeAndre Wright and Stoney Woodson.

LB Boley out with hip surgery

The Giants announced this afternoon linebacker Michael Boley, a free-agent acquisition who is slated as the starter on the weak side, has undergone arthroscopic hip surgery to repair a torn labrum and will be out for 8-10 weeks. The surgery was performed today by team physician Dr. Bryan Kelly at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan.

With training camp set to begin on Aug. 1, it appears Boley will be sidelined for most, if not all, of the time in Albany. The regular season is slightly less than 12 weeks away, so the Giants are hopeful Boley will be back by then.

Boley missed a week of organized team activities (OTAs) earlier this month with what appeared to be a minor hip issue. Boley returned to the field and participated in the team's mandatory minicamp last week. Obviously, the injury continued to nag him. Continue

Giants look forward to Osi return

With the absence of Plaxico Burress often given as a reason why the Giants didn't return to the Super Bowl last season, it is easy to forget that the team was without another All-Pro: Osi Umenyiora. Unlike Burress, the team will have Umenyiora back in uniform this year, and after not having played a game since his knee injury in the 2008 preseason, Umenyiora is happy to get back on the field.

"It feels good to be out there with the rest of the guys," Umenyiora said. "I have been out there for a couple of weeks, so everything feels good. It feels like I am ready to go."

The Giants lost Umenyiora last year when he suffered a torn lateral meniscus Aug. 23 in a preseason game against the Jets. The defensive end was coming off a season in which he had 13 sacks and made the Pro Bowl. Continue

Manning looking to be highest paid QB

Eli Manning is still in line to get one of the most lucrative contracts in NFL history. He is just going to have to wait a little longer than expected.

Manning and the Giants remain far apart in their negotiations on a new deal, according to two NFL sources with knowledge of the talks. Nobody is panicking, even though 2009 is the last year of Manning's rookie contract, and both sides expect a deal will eventually get done.

But they had originally hoped to do it this spring, with the Giants prepared to make Manning one of the NFL's richest players. According to one source, Manning's agents "want to make him the highest-paid player." Another source suggested the Super Bowl XLII MVP's initial asking price was up near an average of $20 million per year. Continue

Rookies getting injured at minicamp

There were 14 players in the rehab area of the Giants practice field Wednesday on the second day of mandatory minicamp. That's roughly 15 percent of the total roster.

Some of those players were veterans, like cornerback Corey Webster and defensive tackles Fred Robbins and Barry Cofield, who aren't missing much at this time of the year. But two rookies who were high draft picks and expected to contribute immediately (linebacker Clint Sintim and tight end Travis Beckum), as well as offensive tackle William Beatty, a second-round pick, are missing valuable time right now. Continue

Sinorice Moss seeks breakout year

It happened just the way it was supposed to. Too frequently has not. The ball fell from the air into the waiting hands of Sinorice Moss yesterday, ushering in the first day of the Giants' mandatory mini-camp and perhaps finally sparking a dull career.

Moss, after three nondescript seasons, is hoping for a fourth and surely will get it if he performs like this. Twice in the morning he sprinted past the coverage for long completions and all of a sudden he was back in school at Miami, making plays, no longer a bystander saddled with the burden of unfulfilled expectations. Continue

LB Boley will be more than situational

The prevalent thinking when he signed with the Giants was that free agent Michael Boley was brought in to cover people. Tom Coughlin said that's not entirely true.

"That's not the only reason he is here," Coughlin said. "He is here to be a linebacker and a physical linebacker, who does have the asset of great speed. We are looking forward to seeing him get further involved."

That's quite a change for Boley, who seemed fast-tracked for stardom in Atlanta before a new coaching staff decided to rein in his athleticism. Eventually, after starting for most of his career, he became a third-down linebacker, a role player. Continue