The Giants finished out their summer slate by beating the Patriots 16-13 and finishing the month of August with a perfect 5-0 record. What does it all mean? Not a whole heck of a lot, really.
Giants Gameday Aftermath: Filling out the Spots
Big Problems For Big Blue: The Giants still look very much like a work in progress heading into the season. This is highly distressing, considering how you’d like to see a sense of rhythm from the offense. Even worse, is that it has been sorely lacking from the presumed starters. If you’re a Giants fan, you’re probably at the point now where you hope that the offense is deliberately sandbagging it in the season simply to unleash football fury in eight days. That’s not the case at all, obviously, but it’s a nice thought for times like this when you’re staring at what could be a complete horror show of a season.
The Strength of the Team are the DBs: This is a copycat league, so everybody would like to be able to emulate perfectly what the Seahawks did last season. But with the emphasis on illegal contact penalties, your guess is as good as mine as to whether actual defense is something that can be played at some point down the line. Zack Bowman was flagged for hand-checking that didn’t even knock the Patriot receiver off his route. Of course, he made an interception that was negated because of the penalty. If the players can’t actually play, then the Giants appear to really have no position group that they can hang their hat on. Bowman, by the way, made up for his questionable penalty by getting a pick a few minutes later. No harm, no foul?
And More Bad News: Top pick Odell Beckham Jr. has been a total ghost as he’s been missing valuable playing time due to a hamstring issue and is now unlikely to play in Detroit. This comes as no surprise, but still…
And Good News: Jon Beason is on track to play in the opener. Hey, you take what you can get.
Up Next: It starts for real as the Giants open up their season on Monday Night, September 8, against the Air-Raid Lions. That quality defensive backfield is tested early and often. Buckle up.
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Official 53-Man Roster (numerical order; *Presumed Opening Day Starter):
QBs: 9-Ryan Nassib; 10-Eli Manning*
RBs: 23-Rashad Jennings*; 33-Peyton Hillis; 44-Andre Williams
FB: 45-Henry Hynoski*
WRs: 12-Jerrel Jernigan; 13-Odell Beckham, Jr.; 80-Victor Cruz*; 82-Rueben Randle*; 83-Preston Parker; 88-Corey Washington
TEs: 81-Adrien Robinson; 84-Larry Donnell*; 85-Daniel Fells
LTs: 65-Will Beatty*; 71-Charles Brown; 73-James Brewer
LGs: 61-Dallas Reynolds; 70-Weston Richburg*; 74-Geoff Schwartz (potentially headed to short-term IR with a dislocated toe)
Cs: 55-JD Walton*; 70-Weston Richburg
RGs: 75-Brandon Moseley*; 77-John Jerry
RT: 67-Justin Pugh*
LDEs: 72-Kerry Wynn; 91-Robert Ayers; 94-Mathias Kiwanuka*
LDTs: 95-Jonathan Hankins; 96-Jay Bromley; 99-Cullen Jenkins*
RDTs: 78-Markus Kuhn; 93-Mike Patterson*
RDEs: 90-Jason Pierre-Paul*; 98-DeMontre Moore
SLBs: 53-Jameel McClain*; 59-Devon Kennard
MLBs: 52-Jon Beason*; 53-Jameel McClain; 58-Mark Herzlich
WLBs: 54-Spencer Paysinger; 57-Jacquain Williams*
LCBs: 21-Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie*; 31-Zack Bowman; 38-Trumaine McBride
FSs: 27-Stevie Brown*; 35-Quintin Demps
SSs: 26-Antrel Rolle*; 34-Nat Berhe
RCBs: 20-Prince Amukamara*; 24-Walter Thurmond, III
PK: 3-Josh Brown
P/H: 5-Steve Weatherford
LS: 51-Zak DeOssie
KR: 12-Jerrel Jernigan; 35-Quinton Demps*; 83-Preston Parker
PR: 12-Jerrel Jernigan; 82-Rueben Randle*; 83-Preston Parker
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For the latest in sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
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