Another rough day for the Giants
August, 6, 2011
By Dan Graziano

If there's a team that's had a worse couple of post-lockout weeks than the New York Giants have had, I can't find one. The latest round of lousy news hit Saturday night with the announcement that first-round draft pick Prince Amukamara had broken a bone in his left foot and would need surgery. The team says he's out indefinitely, but you have to think this is going to cost the rookie (who just signed his contract two days ago) at least two months, after which he'll have to play on a surgically repaired foot with a screw in it.

Amukamara, like all 2011 rookies who missed out on minicamps and OTAs because of the lockout, was already going to have a tough time getting up to speed, and this sets him back further.

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Aaron M. Sprecher/Getty Images
Prince Amukamara, who was the 19th pick in April's draft, has a broken bone in his left foot.Now, sure, the Giants can absorb a hit at cornerback. They still have Terrell Thomas, Corey Webster and Aaron Ross at the position. But with reserve Bruce Johnson having already blown out his Achilles earlier in the week, they're much thinner there than they planned to be. Amukamara was the 19th overall pick in the draft, and surely a big part of the Giants' plans for this season.

The Giants also announced that Ben Patrick, the tight end they signed earlier this week, has decided he no longer wants to play football and would be placed on the reserve/retired list. You'll remember Patrick as the tight end the Giants signed shortly before their own starter, Kevin Boss, left to sign with the Raiders. Patrick apparently was looking forward to playing with Boss and didn't want to be on the team if he wasn't.

So that's two cornerbacks and two tight ends the Giants have lost in a span of about three days, and that'd be rough for any team. But the Giants were already having a pretty rough go of things, as salary-cap concerns have impaired their ability to add outside free agents of significance and hurt them in their efforts to sign their own. They managed to bring back running back Ahmad Bradshaw on their terms when he ran out of options, and they got Mathias Kiwanuka to return on a team-favorable deal in part because of the injury from which he's recovering. But they lost Boss and still haven't re-signed Steve Smith (who's also recovering from injury and likely won't be ready for the start of the season even if he does re-sign). Boss and Smith have been two of Eli Manning's most reliable targets in the passing game over the past two seasons, and to this point it's tough to imagine Domenik Hixon, Ramses Barden or Travis Beckum as capable replacements.

Oh, and there's still the Osi Umenyiora contract dispute. The disgruntled defensive end still isn't practicing as he continues to demand either a trade or a new contract and the team continues to insist he play for the contract he currently has.

If you want to be optimistic, you can say that maybe the Giants are getting all of their rotten luck out of the way early and maybe not much else will go wrong the rest of the way. But considering how few names of potential consequence remain on the free-agent market for a team that's missed the playoffs each of the past two seasons, it's hard to see how the Giants recover from all of the losses they've sustained since free agency started.

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/29304/another-rough-day-for-the-giants

jusnice wrote:The Ship Be Sinking!

All of this is related to our position over the cap. Eli really needed to man up and restructure his contract. I don't even know if they asked him to or not, but we are in a crappy position w/ the new CBA. We must really think our young, unproven guys can step up or the front office is feeling very hamstrung by Eli's contract.

Who else on the team has big money decked to them?

he may once the season starts and realize that the offensive line cant protect his ass any more and no reliable targets.

Allanfan20 wrote:Don't worry, I'm thinking they are most likely bringing Amani Toomer out of retirement. They'll be good to go afterwards.

Don't forget about Tiki! Wait, he didn't sign with the Jets or Eagles yet, did he?

So we stand sort of pat with a team that hasn't made the playoffs in two years. Management genius.
Welcome to the beginning of the 1970's, Jint fans! I love mediocrity!

jrodmc wrote:http://network.yardbarker.com/nfl/article_external/giants_quarterback_eli_manning_says_hes_a_top_quarterback_belongs_in_same_class_as_tom_brady/6187120

Eli's obviously been eating one too many Oreos. Somebody needs to remind him that Tom Brady makes the playoffs.

No matter how much people clown Eli for making that statement technically he's correct becaue he outplayed Brady for the championship and he had less talent. I give him props for saying that. I'm not backing down to someone I beat. Especially if I beat them for a Superbowl ring.

Allanfan20 wrote:I agree. I honestly can't get on Elis back for this, and what he said wasn't bad at all. If anything, he was more so praising Brady than himself.

If Buster Douglas says he's better than Mike Tyson no one can knock him because on one night that mattered most he actually was.

cshoops wrote:

jrodmc wrote:http://network.yardbarker.com/nfl/article_external/giants_quarterback_eli_manning_says_hes_a_top_quarterback_belongs_in_same_class_as_tom_brady/6187120

Eli's obviously been eating one too many Oreos. Somebody needs to remind him that Tom Brady makes the playoffs.

No matter how much people clown Eli for making that statement technically he's correct becaue he outplayed Brady for the championship and he had less talent. I give him props for saying that. I'm not backing down to someone I beat. Especially if I beat them for a Superbowl ring.

He's still a clown. Clowns have to draw attention to themselves. Winners have attention given to them by what they do. Like not making the playoffs for two years running.