NY football season ended today. Jets and Giants appear to be as bad as last year. Can’t wait for season to start.
On to College Basketball
- Thread starter lr591902
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Lots to clean up with the Giants, but certainly a new culture with this coach and GM. I'll take the win. Don't see building around Saquon and DJ they will just be in salary cap all over again. Lots of injuries and they gutted it out. Happy for Saquon.
Giants stun Titans after Brian Daboll’s bold two-point decision
They had come within one point, improbably, and now Saquon Barkley looked over to the sideline and he made eye contact with Brian Daboll.
nypost.com
Giants stun Titans after Brian Daboll’s bold two-point decision
By Paul SchwartzNASHVILLE, Tenn. — They had come within one point, improbably, and now Saquon Barkley looked over to the sideline and he made eye contact with Brian Daboll.
The first-year head coach held up two fingers, and that meant the Giants, trailing 20-19 with 1:06 remaining Sunday against the rugged Titans, would not go for the extra point to tie the game but would instead go for the kill, and the win, by attempting a two-point conversion.
This was some gamble.
Barkley kept his eyes fixed on Daboll, making his head-coaching debut.
“He gave me a look,’’ Barkley said. “I knew what the play was gonna be. I looked at him and said, ‘F-yeah.’ ’’
A franchise that has had so many of these moments turn into “F-no’’ downers turned the tide. Daniel Jones got the snap, flipped a shove-pass to Barkley, who took a step to his right, muscled past cornerback Roger McCreary and plowed into the end zone for the two-point conversion and the winning points in a pulsating and improbable 21-20 upset victory at Nissan Stadium.
Given that this is the Giants, the 66 seconds remaining were enough time to get their hearts broken. Sure enough, they committed two defensive holding penalties and Ryan Tannehill found rookie Kyle Phillips for 21 yards, with trailing cornerback Darnay Holmes forcing Phillips out of bounds on the Giants’ 27-yard line. The Titans will regret losing 2 yards on the next two plays before sending out Randy Bullock to try a 47-yard field goal at the buzzer.
These sort of last-second daggers have pierced the hearts of the Giants for the better part of the past decade.
“I’ve been in that situation too many times,’’ safety Julian Love, in his fourth year with the Giants, said. “It keeps me up sometimes, like man, why can’t things go our way? Our mindset was different this time. I knew we were going to win the game.’’
Daboll called a timeout to try to freeze Bullock and his thoughts were crystal clear.
“How was I feeling? I was hoping the son of a bitch would miss it,’’ Daboll said.
Bullock sent the kick sailing wide left and the Giants pounced onto the field, 1-0 for the first time since 2016 and for only the second time in 12 years.
It was fitting that Barkley afterward presented Daboll and first-year general manager Joe Schoen a game ball in the visitors locker room. The powerhouse running back after two injury-filled seasons looked like the difference-making player the Giants envisioned him to be when they made him the No. 2 pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. He gouged the Titans for 164 yards on only 18 rushing attempts, breaking off a 65-yarder and showing up as the best back on the field on a day when Derrick Henry (21 attempts, 82 yards) was contained by a Giants defense that kept the team in the game during a first-half offensive siesta — and pitched a shutout in the fourth quarter.
“I kind of started to get into the zone,’’ Barkley said. “Started locking in. I kind of love being in that place. I’ve got to try to find a way to get in that place a little bit more and a little quicker.’’
The Giants trailed 13-0 at halftime and Barkley scored on a 4-yard run early in the third quarter to pull within 13-6. Slightly more than two minutes later, receiver Sterling Shepard — playing in his first game since rupturing his Achilles tendon back in December — broke free downfield, hauled in Jones’ pass and made sure cornerback Kristian Fulton would not bring him down as he completed a 65-yard touchdown eruption that pulled the Giants even at 12.
Tannehill’s easy throw to running back Dontrell Hilliard on the left sideline for a 23-yard touchdown gave the Titans a 20-13 lead late in the third quarter.
Jones stared down Barkley in the left side of the end zone and then threw in that direction, the ball sailing directly into the hands of safety Malik Hooker. Barkley never had a chance to make a play and a chance to pull even was dashed with 8:50 remaining.
The Giants got the ball back with 5:27 to go and Barkley’s 33-yard run breathed life into a comeback bid.
“We got the best back in the league,’’ Shepard, the longest-tenured Giants player, said. “I’ve seen the man do amazing things.’’
The drive ended when Jones on a play-action pass found tight end Chris Myarick alone in the end zone to pull the Giants within one point. That is when Daboll showed what kind of leader and coach he will be, waving off a tie game to go for the win.
“It means a lot as players to know he has confidence in us to make that play at a critical point in the game,’’ Jones said. “Luckily when you have Saquon Barkley it works out.’’
Daboll grew emotional after the game, recounting that the last time he was in this building the Bills lost last season to the Titans and on the flight to Nashville he had learned his grandfather — who raised him along with his grandmother — had passed away.
“We’re trying to build something, we’re a long way away,’’ Daboll said. “But it was nice to get the first ‘W.’ ”
Just moving on from the Gettleman/McAdoo/Judge clown show was a move in the right direction. Those were two of the most obviously terrible-on-day-one coaching hires I've ever seen. Them, backed by a putz of a GM, was bound to terrible. They can tun the page now.
I know it’s only one game but there is optimism that the Giants may have found their head coach who can lead them back to the playoffs after having three busts preceding Daboll. He looked in control on the sideline and made a very gutsy call on the two point conversion . The O-L looked improved , Barkley ran the ball extremely well and I liked their offensive game plan but still not sold on Jones as being the answer at QB.
Couldn't disagree more. Top running back contract isn't like a franchise QB. He's already a top 4 RB salary so they can handle that. They'll get a lot of the dead money back next year which will help greatly with the cap. Daniel Jones if he shows promise will be some to build around. You could get him on a relatively affordable prove it contract. He's not going to get Franchise money somewhere else off 1 year. To draft a rookie, which is a crap shoot to learn this offense or have to again build the offense around that person's talent would be a step back. What the need to do is continue to build the foundation...the O-Line and Middle linebacker. That was a glaring weakness yesterday. There isn't a QB in next year's draft that is any better than DJ in my opinion. If there was a Trevor Lawrence maybe but there isn't.
As far as Barkley, this is by far the best line he's run behind in the NFL. His rookie season was tremendous individual efforts cutting back on broken plays across the field to make big plays out of nothing.
On DJ, This is the 3rd offense in four years and fourth OC in as many years. You have to look at this as if he's a New QB on the team. Overall the INT was a bad decision but overall he was accurate and made some big plays both throwing and with his legs. The O-Line blocked well in the Run game. In passing game they were ok on strait 4 man rush but had trouble with blitzes and extra men coming. He was sacked 5 times, that's not good. I do think the play will improve up front and we'll see DJ grow as the season progresses. If they can run the ball the way they did yesterday that is going to open up a lot of plays in the passing game. From a skill perspective there aren't many QB's you're going to draft that offer more than what DJ brings. The only question is can he pick up the offense and see the field. If by the end of the season he doesn't show that he is improving then ok, move on but he's a smart kid with all the physical gifts...with this coaching staff I don't see that happening.
You are crazy. Barkley is going to want Zeke Elliot money 6 years 90M minimum. The new Giants brass would not even commit 20M to Jones. After a good year he is not going to take a discount either. Herbert and Borrow are going to get north of 50M a year. Jones would be probably around 30M as a home town discount. They also have Andrew Thomas who will want max LT $$ and guys like Dexter Lawrence up for a contract and guys like Ojulari, McKinney and Toney none of whom have 5th year options available for the Giants to pick up on a rookie bargain deal.
Committing large amounts of $$ to Jones and Barkley is a Gettlemen type mistake. And in today's sports world starters don't take pay cuts even if it is for more guaranteed $$ which is the key with player contracts in the NFL.
I can’t imagine Jones does enough to warrant a second contract. To me he’s mediocre at the very best but we’ll see what Daboll does with him. You could tell he wasn’t happy with him yesterday and rightly so.
I agree. Even if he has a great rest of the season he is not taking 4 years 90 million with say 70 million guaranteed as a home town discount. And I don't think the Giants would even be interested in something like that. I can easily see Taylor or Trubisky as a stop gap QB here while they draft somebody. They probably won't be in the top 5-7 of the draft next year and they can't give up a lot of draft capital to move up for a Bryce young type.
The Giants likely will not have one of the top 6 picks in the draft as TomD82 points out which means they could draft a QB lower in the draft and one not ready to start in his rookie year which means the Giants would be essentially starting another rebuild . If they wish to pursue moving up it would cost them significant draft capital which would hamper their ability to add talent to fill key positions such as the interior offensive line, outside linebacker, a shut down corner back, another interior d-lineman and an edge rusher.
The only way Jones gets 30 million is if they use the franchise tag where they average the top 5 players at that position or their current salary plus 20%. If they don't, tell me the team that offers Jones north of $30million. They could do the same with saquan next year. His current salary is top 9 among RB's. My guess is that if they both have great years, they negotiate a long term deal with Jones ( He's not getting 30million) and franchise Saquan which pays him about $9.3 million. Giants with getting rid of the dead money are currently expected to have $54.4 million in cap space next year. This doesn't account for any increase that is sure to happen. They will have money to get many of the key guys signed. Galloway will likely be jettisoned after this year if he continues to be a bust.
with your logic teams would regardless of talent get rid of players after their rookie contracts. If you have the best running back in the game you don't just let him walk. Same if you determine Jones is your franchise QB.
They didn't commit 22M to him for next year. If he plays well he is not signing a long term deal for 25M and the Giants are not giving him Lamar $$$ even if not fully guaranteed. Why pay him 30M if they could have had him for 22. But he is going to take less than 22 for more than 1 year security. They will extend Taylor or sign Trubisky when Pitt cuts him when Picket takes over. He is going to need a break out year and that INT on the end zone isn't going to cut it for any long term contract even at a discount.
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We’ll agree to disagree. I like him and think from a talent perspective you aren’t getting much better in the draft. If he has a good year I think they would be smart to sign him. Even if you get a QB In the draft you’ll take 2 steps back dealing with the growing pains where Jones will hopefully be past that. The INT was bad decision more because he had to know the receiver. He’s throwing too a RB. Maybe if that’s Galloway or a bigger receiver the receiver reads what he’s trying to do. I watched that play about 20 times and the back shoulder may have been there but Barkley ran through it. What Jones really did make a mistake on is that he locked on Barkley the whole play. I want to see what DJ looks like By the end of the season. This coach is the first that will put him in position to succeed as long as the line holds up. You can’t tell me that if there go 8-9 or 9-8 and he throws say 25 TD and 10 INT for 4k plus yard that Mara is going to want to see them start over. Trubitsky and Taylor aren’t the answer. If he stinks this year they draft but if he shows promise he’s going to get a couple more years on a short term contract.
If Jones has even a solid season, not even a spectacular one, he'll likely be back and it will be on an affordable deal.
Unless he plays out of his mind, he's not getting $20 million or more per. Jones' bar is Jameis Winston money ($14 million) and probably closer to Marcus Mariota ($9.3 million). Both are signed for two years. Those are Jones' comps.
If Jones plays poorly or not well enough, Schoen and Daboll will look to move on.
Unless he plays out of his mind, he's not getting $20 million or more per. Jones' bar is Jameis Winston money ($14 million) and probably closer to Marcus Mariota ($9.3 million). Both are signed for two years. Those are Jones' comps.
If Jones plays poorly or not well enough, Schoen and Daboll will look to move on.
If Jones and Saquon have strong enough seasons where there is clamor from the fan base to resign them, and where the Giants are actually considering doing so, I'll sign up for that in a heartbeat. Because it means we probably have a much better year than in recent seasons. Call it a good problem to have.
Objectively, in most cases, it makes no sense to sign a RB in the second half of his 20s (with injury history) to any type of significant deal. The health for that position is too volatile, and the production is to replaceable. What Pittsburgh did with Bell was the right move. And you can point to countless other examples. I love Saquon, hope he has a great year, and does well enough to earn some significant dollars in that next contract, wherever that ends up being.
Objectively, in most cases, it makes no sense to sign a RB in the second half of his 20s (with injury history) to any type of significant deal. The health for that position is too volatile, and the production is to replaceable. What Pittsburgh did with Bell was the right move. And you can point to countless other examples. I love Saquon, hope he has a great year, and does well enough to earn some significant dollars in that next contract, wherever that ends up being.
And if that is the case with Jones next contract it will prove that the QB when the Giants are ready to win and build around is not yet on the roster. Why throw good money after bad? If you can't get it done when a guy is on a rookie contract why resign him even if it's on the cheap?
The thing with Saquan is that he has so little mileage of his treads for a RB his age. He’s played the equivalent of little more than 2 seasons. I think his tank OSS still on full. Read the Skip comments and in the rebuttal they point out this is the first time he’d been Able to run down hill without having to insure the handoff wasn’t stolen in the backfield. He’s the type of back that can go for 2000 yard carrying 15 times a game. We’ve only seen a glimmer of hood talent due to lack of talent around him. This also bodes well for DJ. If teams have to focus on stopping Barkley that is going to open up the pass. Their defense is the big question. Teams are going to exploit their weakness at MLB.
True. I don’t know the health situation. He’s obviously had some serious injuries. Maybe there is something to the less tread theory. I’m going by the law of averages and recent history with the position. Like I said, if we are having this debate in January we will be really happen as Giant fans because it means SB had a really good year
That is a good point about the hand off. This OL is way better at run blocking then anything Reese or Gettlemen ever put together. Ernie put the OL in place for his and Reese's super bowls. Signed McKenzie as a FA also I think.
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