Training Camp 2015: Recap

Labor Day Weekend has come and gone. School buses have flooded the roads, Halloween decorations are creeping in the aisles of stores everywhere, pumpkin spice is invading all of our senses. This only means one thing... football is finally here.

This time of year you can find Pumpkin Spice in coffee, cookies, guacamole, french fries, toothpaste, ...

After months of practicing, training, and playing preseason games, I didn’t find much to be optimistic about. I know the Giants’ game plan in August won’t resemble their game plan in September. It looked like Eli and the some of his fellow teammates were just going through the motions like a little league team who care more about going to Pizza Hut after the game than they do about winning.

"Guys! Only two quarters left until we get our personal pan pizzas!"

There actually were things during preseason that were encouraging. The offensive line looked better than I thought it was going to. They all did a good job creating a pocket for Eli.
Rookies Landon Collins and Owamagbe Odighizuwa were both impressive during their time on the field.
Defensive end Robert Ayers has stepped up and looks to be the anchor of that defensive line. That is until JPP comes back... if he ever comes back.

Time To Buy Stocks In Bandages And Crutches
Training camp and preseason left behind a crazy number of casualties in its wake, and the Giants, just like every other team, got banged up like Detective Nordberg.

"Doctors say I'll be back on my feet in two weeks..."

Victor Cruz injured his calf, and hasn’t played any snaps of preseason football. It looks like we’ll have to wait to see how this “high powered” offense will look.
Left tackle Will Beatty got injured early in camp and will be out until week six. This lead to rookie OT Ereck Flowers getting thrown into the deep end of the pool at left tackle. Fortunately, it looks like the big guy can stay afloat.
Newly acquired center from the CFL, Brett “The Hitman” Jones, is on IR with a knee injury.
Nat Berhe, Justin Currie, Josh Gordy, Jackson Bennett, and Mykkele Thomspon are also on IR this year. What makes this interesting is that all the guys I just listed are safeties. I don’t know if the safety's film room was built on an Indian burial ground, or if safety coach, David Merritt, angered a witch doctor, but this situation is terrible. Ironic that the position titled “safety” is the most banged up.

All things considered, the Giants got off light in terms of injuries. They didn’t lose anyone of great importance for the season. Just ask the Packers how they feel about losing Nelson for the year, or ask the Cowboys how they feel about Orlando Scandrick missing the entire season. I bet they would rather suffer the losses that the Giants had to deal with.

I Left My Finger In South Florida
Jason Pierre-Paul, who is one finger short of a high five, met with the Giants’ organization about his return. However, it didn’t go well, and JPP is back in Florida for maybe another month. It’s frustrating to see that the Giants didn’t think he was healthy enough to play at a competitive level, but I have no choice but to trust their decision. There is nothing that Giants could gain by sending him home when he can make a contribution to the team.
Right now, JPP is in NFL limbo. He’s floating around the periphery of the NFL aimlessly like a big, athletic, nine-fingered ghost. Hopefully, he can get his hand back to one hundred percent so he can go to the light, which coincidentally is located in East Rutherford, as soon as possible. 

Released/Replaced
The Giants have released the most jacked punter in the league, Steve Weatherford. The marble-sculpted booter was having issues with his directional punting this pre-season, plus Weatherford was due to make over three million dollars this year.

They also got rid of fullback Henry Hynoski. Unfortunately, it looks like we’ll never see his cool Hynoceros touchdown dance ever again.

New Faces And Not So New Faces
To replace Weatherford, the Giants traded a seventh round pick to the Steelers for Brad Wing. He is younger and is going to make five hundred thousand this year. You may not be able to create a topographical map of this Aussie's torso, but he frees up some cap space.

Nikita Whitlock is the Giants’ new fullback. He played nose tackle at Wake Forrest, even though he’s under six feet tall, and converted to fullback when he got into the NFL. He loves making contact, and hopefully this translates into him being a solid lead blocker for the running backs.

The injury issues at the safety position is so bad that the Giants were forced to sign former Redskins’ safety Brandon Meriweather. This guy hands out more cheap shots than a Ft. Lauderdale bartender during spring break. He’s a walking personal foul penalty who, unfortunately, is the Giants’ best option for the safety position. The G-Men also tried out former safety, Stevie Brown.They ended up releasing Brown, but signed safety Craig Dahl, who was with the Giants during their Super Bowl XVII run. He also played for the Rams when Spags took the reigns there. His familiarity with Spags’ defense will hopefully help out a paper thin secondary.

SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS! SHA SHOTS! EVERYBODY!

What I Expect From This Season
In my last entry I made a list about everything that needed to go right for the Giants to get into the playoffs. The items on that list are now even harder to obtain. I don’t feel feel that great about the upcoming season. I think the feeling that I have the most is dread. Like when you realize you’ve forgotten all about a high school project only to be reminded of it an hour before it’s due.

Even though I feel this way, there is a reason why these games are played every Sunday. Anything can happen. I’d be surprised if they make the playoffs, but I’d be even more surprised if they didn’t win more games than they did last year. This team has a knack for playing their best when everyone counts them out, and it seems like this season, everyone is counting them out. I know it really doesn’t mean anything, but maybe this can be the chip on their collective shoulder that propels them to success.

On To The Next One
The Giants open their season in Dallas against the Cowboys. On Sunday night, because why go to sleep when you can get disappointed with your team? Whenever these two team meet, they play each other with a Rocky-Balboa-like ferocity. I don’t expect this game to be any different.
It’s gonna be an offensive showdown. Both teams are primed to score a lot of points here. It’s gonna come down to what defense is gonna step up and make that one play to put their team in position to win.
I hope the Giants can head back home with a road win against Dallas under their belt. A division win in week one will definitely ease the pressure for the upcoming season.