Do the Giants have the heart of a champion?

Big Blue will need to show great intensity to defeat the Eagles in the Sunday night showdown at Giants Stadium.

Sure it takes talent and execution to win in the NFL. It also takes confidence.

But high intensity often leads to wins, and wins create confidence. I believe there is little difference in talent between teams in the NFL. The team that wins most of the time is often the team that plays the hardest.

Take for example the Pittsburgh Steelers. They won the Super Bowl last year and were expected again to compete for a championship this season. So far they are 6-7, and have lost games against teams like the Chiefs, Raiders, and Browns. All clubs that were supposedly less talented then they are.

Think back to the Giants home game against the undefeated Patriots back in 07. The Giants played like a team possessed, and nearly defeated New England while at the same time propelling themselves to a Super Bowl victory.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the Giants turned out to be the biggest turkeys this past Thanksgiving when they lost to the Broncos in Denver. During that game they showed no pulse.

So which team will show up tonight against the hated Eagles? I would suggest they will play at an energy level somewhere between the high-charged Patriot game in 07, and the lifeless Denver game this season.

The level of intensity that the Giants play with against the Eagles will be the difference between a victory and defeat. Sure there are other factors, but for me I will be watching closely to see if the G-Men come out to dominate.

For an early idea as to whether the Giants will be victorious, take a look at the speed with which they play the game, and the look on their faces on the sideline.

This is a BIG game for the Giants and their fans. It should give us a better idea about what kind of heart this team has.

As the regular season turns down the home stretch, we’ll see if Big Blue has the heart of a champion.

The Giants have signed 4th round selection Andre Brown. That leaves Hakeem Nicks, Clint Sintim and William Beatty unsigned.

To make room on the roster, the Giants cut Alex Derenthal.

While Domenik Hixon is listed as the starting wide receiver for the Giants opposite Steve Smith, that spot doesn’t figure to be his for long.

With Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham waiting in the wings, Hixon, a fourth round choice for Denver in 2006, will have a tough time hanging on to his starting role.

Hixon’s stand out game came against Seattle last season. He had 102 receiving yards, and 8 catches. He also had a touchdown in the game. However Seattle wasn’t a very good football team.

His play was mixed, however, during the rest of the year. Who can forget the pass he missed when he was wide open against the Eagles? Hixon has admitted that he needs to put previous plays behind him and concentrate on the current play at hand.

I believe Nicks or Manningham will get the starting nod over Hixon when the Giants play the Redskins in their opener. I see Hixon as more of a third wide receiver. He’s got the speed, but he doesn’t seem to have the concentration, or the body type to be a number one guy.

As far as Ramses Barden; he’s the wild card. I can see him helping in the red zone and some passing situations, but unless he learns the system quickly, it will take him time to step onto the field.

If the Giants were so happy with Hixon at the receiver position, why did they draft Nicks, and Barden, not to mention Travis Beckum, who appears to be in Big Blue’s plans this season?

Hixon is a good player, but I’d rather see him as a third wide receiver and a return specialist. Let’s give the other guys a chance.

The Giants have signed Travis Beckum, one of their third round picks. WR Hakeem Nicks (first round), LB Clint Sintim (second) and OT William Beatty (third) have not yet signed.

To make room on the roster for Beckum, the Giants cut DE Alex Field.

The Giants have agreed to terms with their 4th round pick Andre Brown. Here is the post from The Star-Ledger on the news as well as the training camp schedule for August.

Is New York Giants’ MLB Antonio Pierce slipping?

During and after last season, there have been rumblings from fans and the media that Pierce has lost a step. He looked slow and out of place at times, and that was magnified by the play of Brian Westbrook, or the lack of play by Pierce.

Some say his mind wasn’t right after the Plaxico Burress shooting incident. So let’s take a closer look at Pierce:

The Good:

Pierce is a leader. He has the respect of his teammates.

Pierce has experience. He knows what to expect on the football field. He is a competitor and he is savvy. He may not get to every offensive player coming his way, but he knows where the play is going most of the time.

The Bad:

He is turning 31 in October. He has played in the league since 2001, when he was signed by Washington as an undrafted free agent. This will be his ninth season of taking a pounding, and it could be taking its toll on him.

Pierce has his worst statistical performance in five years last season. He had 95 tackles and just 1 and 1/2 sacks. He looked slow on several plays, although he never was the fastest cat in the litter.

So if in fact Pierce is declining what do the Giants have as far as possible replacements?

The Giants selected Johnathan Goff in the 5th round of the 2008 draft.  He is listed as 6-2 and 236lbs. He was injured most of last season and only totalled a whopping 2 special teams tackles. He is an unknown.

Chase Blackburn is listed as the backup to Pierce on the Giants depth chart. Is is adequate at best, but he not the long term answer. So that brings us back to Pierce.

2008 was a disappointing season for Pierce. His performance wasn’t up to par, and the Giants lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Eagles. It seems that he has put all of that behind him, and is ready to move forward.

As quoted in the Big Blue Screen Pierce has this to say about last year:

“The past is the past, you learn from it, you live from it. There’s nothing you can do about it. Why am I going to talk about negatives? It’s behind us. We’re trying to move forward. We’ve got new faces here. We’re trying to build a new team. This isn’t the 2008 Giants. A lot of things have changed.”

Pierce had this to say about himself:

“I’m just getting better,” he said. “It’s going to be the old A.P. It’s going to be a new look. I’m excited about it being a new year, new experience, and a different guy.”

Time will tell if Pierce will play like the old A.P. this season. He has the fire and desire…but does he still have the skills?

Weak side linebacker Michael Boley has undergone  arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip. His recovery is expected to take 8-10 weeks.

It’s possible he won’t be ready for the season opener against the Redskins. This will open up competition again between Gerris Wilkinson and Brian Kehl.

The Giants have announced the signing of WR Ramses Barden and QB Rhett Bomar. Barden is the big receiver that was selected in the third round. Bomar is a fifth rounder.

The Giants waived TE George Wrightster and OL Mike Fladell to make room on the roster.

David Diehl has played every position on the Giants offensive line except for center. He is their left tackle today, but do the Giants wish he was still at left guard?

Diehl was drafted by Big Blue in 2003 as a 5th round selection. He played right guard in 2003, right tackle in 2004, left guard in 2005 and 2006, and he has held down the left tackle position for the past two seasons.

When the Giants moved Diehl to left tackle in 2007 after cutting Luke Petitgout, they could only hope things would work out. So far they have.

Still, when the Giants gave Diehl a new contract last spring, it included escalators that would increase his pay if he stayed at left tackle. That may be a sign that they want him to push himself to stay at tackle…or it could mean that they plan on moving him back to guard.

Guy Whimper was drafted in the 4th round of the 2006 draft with hopes of becoming a left tackle in the future. In 2006 he was raw, in 2007 he was a back up and in 2008 he was placed on injured reserve on August 30th.

I remember John Madden saying the Whimper looked ready to start in the 2007 season. I believe it was the opening game against Dallas. 

Adam Koets was selected by the Giants in the 6th round of the 2007 draft, again to be a tackle.

William Beatty was a second round selection in the NFL draft in 2009.  He again will be groomed to be a left tackle. At 6-6 and 307 he was considered the most athletic tackle in the draft according to the Giants.

Why do the Giants keep drafting offensive tackles with the hope of them playing on the left side?

Diehl was abused by DeMarcus Ware of the Cowboys near the end of the 2008 season. Then again who wasn’t? Diehl has been on record as saying that he is a tackle and not a guard. But…

Beatty figures to be at least a year away from stepping in, and this could be Whimper’s last training camp if he doesn’t show signs of real improvement.

Where does that leave Diehl? For now left tackle is his position to lose. However, considering the drafts of the past few years, it looks more and more like the Giants would be more comfortable moving him back to guard. What do you think?

(Note: Quotes gathered for this post come from an article written by Patricia Traina called Giants’ Kiwanuka Masters Adversity.)

Flash back to the 2007 season. Justin Tuck had ten sacks rotating in with other players on the Giants defensive line. In the Super Bowl, Tuck was a monster, recording six tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble, and two QB hurries.

Can Mathias Kiwanuka duplicate Tuck’s success in 2007 in 09?

I say yes.

Last season Kiwanuka was up and down. While he did record eight sacks, an injury at the end of the Washington game set him back for the first part of the year. He said,

“I played the first four games at less than full speed,” he said. “I had so much tape on my ankle that sometimes I found it hard to lift my foot up, and that affected my initial burst.”

In addition Kiwi seemed to wear down late last season, similar to other Giants players.

Some fans question why the Giants picked up Chris Canty, and Rocky Bernard in the off season. Don’t forget it was the DL rotation in 2007 that helped the Giants reach the Super Bowl. Add Osi Umenyiora to the mix this year and Big Blue has the potential to wreak havoc this season on opposing quarterbacks.

When Kiwanuka came into the league in 2006 he had a very good season for a rookie. In nine starts he had fifty- five tackles, twenty-three QB hurries, four sacks, and two interceptions. He moved to SLB in 2007 and broke his leg on November 18th against Detroit. He missed out on the run to the Super Bowl, and that was hard to take,

“I understood what Shockey meant when he said all those things because I felt the same way,” Kiwanuka confessed. “As much as I wanted to be a part of that, in any capacity, I understood why I couldn’t. But I won’t lie to you. It hurt me deeply.”

2009 is a new season. A new slate for Kiwanuka,

“A lot (of ) this is still a dream,” he said about his NFL career. “Playing in the NFL is definitely a privilege that has to be earned. If you’re committed to working hard, doing what the coaches tell you, and focus on your job, which I am, there’s no reason why anyone can’t be successful.”

So can Kiwanuka duplicate the success he had in his rookie season? Absolutely. Look for him to have a great year. If all goes well the Giants defense could lead the league in sacks.

This year, Kiwanuka has a real shot of  playing in the Super Bowl. A shot he’s eager to take.