The Average Joe's

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NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NEW YORK GIANTS

Pre-Season Week 1 Recap

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BIG BLUE NEWS

How about that? Who said pre-season games are boring? In the Battle of New York, the New York Football Giants bested the Green Gang in a thrilling second half showdown where Mike Glennon drove the Giants down the field with Graham Gano kicking the game winning field goal. The Giants showed their defense is going to, once again, be one of the best units in the league. Rookie Zach Wilson struggled to get anything downfield and Darnay Holmes had a standout game in the slot with the first team and on the outside with the second stringers.

New York are reportedly reluctant to use Saquon Barkley during the pre-season. Coming off an ACL tear it's understandable why they've taken that decision. He made a few runs and then came off the field with Devontae Booker carrying the load. How about 6th round draft pick Gary Brightwell, who rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown on his debut. The Giants jettisoned their castoffs from last season and they've replaced them with a solution.

Daniel Jones didn't get much playing time but made the most of his first quarter appearance completing 6 of 7 for 40 yards. That's likely his reps for the entire pre-season. We know that with Mike Glennon performing reasonably well while the Giants also announced the signing of Robert Griffin III. Whether RG3 remains on the roster going into the regular season will be dictated by his play in the remaining two games.

Rookies Azeez Ojulari and Quincy Roche played well in their outings. Azeez Ojulari has a strong possibility of winning the OLB battle this summer. I don't believe Oshane Ximines is showing us anything else entering his third season. The Giants spent a high draft pick on Ojulari, so they may as well get something back from that.

Logan Ryan signed a one-year contract with NY last season before having a three-year extension just before the end of the season. Well, that may have been too soon. Xavier McKinney is battling him for the starting FS position and Ryan could be forced to play less time at safety and play some nickle defense packages. It's a battle worth watching this camp.

That's it for this week. Once again, thanks to spiderxx7 and FlackoMars for the inspiration behind these weekly rewinds.

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NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NEW YORK GIANTS

Pre-Season Week 2 Recap

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BIG BLUE NEWS

Big Blue is living dangerously. For the second straight week, the Giants scored on their final possession and with less than a minute on the clock. Rookie Gary Brightwell rammed into the endzone with 47 seconds left on the clock and prevent defense did its job. Brightwell was the bright spot of the night with 79 yards and a touchdown off 11 carries.

Robert Griffin III made his pre-season debut for the Giants and shook off a first pass interception to post respectable numbers. Yet again Mike Glennon led the Giants down the field for the go-ahead touchdown. He's put together two game-winning drives this pre-season. He played horribly before the final series (throwing 3 interceptions). Has he done enough to keep the number two job or could he be a pre-season casualty? The final pre-season will be interesting to see who wins the battle between RG3 and Glennon.

The Giants have their clear #1 in Kenny Golladay, who signed a four year, $72m contract to fulfil that role, but what about the others on the team? Sterling Shephard is the incumbent #2 and Darius Slayton and Kadarius Toney round out your receiver corps. I wouldn't sleep on Dante Pettis making the team and having some catches this season. He had two important grabs this game and made the most of his opportunities. The Giants, on paper, have a talented receiving corps. Can Daniel Jones get the most out of them during the season though?

I talked a lot about rookies Azeez Ojulari and Quincy Roche last week. They played well again and Ojulari seems a lock to start on the outside for the Giants this season. I'm going to throw in another name this week. Second-year Carter Coughlin had himself a game against the Browns. He tallied 6 tackles, one for a loss and a sack in limited snaps. Reggie Ragland should be looking over his shoulder.

Xavier McKinney had a big game this week and he's surely won the free safety battle against Logan Ryan whose looking likely to be trade bait as the season starts. McKinney made all the right moves and tackles and that's one reason why the Giants have yet to conceded a touchdown while their starting defense has been out on the field.

That's it for this week. Once again, thanks to spiderxx7 and FlackoMars for the inspiration behind these weekly rewinds.

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NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE, NEW YORK GIANTS

Pre-Season Week 3 Recap & Depth Chart

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BIG BLUE NEWS

New York and New England provided two memorable Super Bowls in the last 15 or so years. Tonight, the Patriots had the Giants number and blew them out as the 2021 pre-season drew to a close. Rookie Mac Jones had a hot start against the Giants and didn’t cool down. New York had trouble defending against the run as Damien Harris broke through the first line of defense on a number of occasions.

The Giants signed veteran Sheldon Richardson to a one year, $2.75M contract. The 30-year old will anchor the defensive line and sit alongside Danny Shelton as the two defensive tackles in their 4-3 system. New York reportedly weren’t comfortable with Danny Shelton and Austin Johnson anchoring the line.

New York also signed LT Ty Nsekhe and LE/LOLB Dee Ford to one-year contracts to improve the depth at their respective positions. All are over the age of 30 and bring experience to a relatively young Giants roster.

There’s no surprise that rookie Azeez Ojulari won his battle against Oshane Ximines. Ojulari played impressively during the pre-season. Xavier McKinney will start at free safety over Logan Ryan who will reportedly move to the nickel position in the Giants 4-3 system. Will Ryan be offered up as a trade candidate as the season progresses? That’s something to check out on.

Joe Judge has decided to roll with three quarterbacks. Despite his two comeback drives, [b]Mike Glennon[b] will sit behind Robert Griffin III to start the season. Daniel Jones will be the starting quarterback – but for how long? If he doesn’t have a strong season you can bet the Giants will use one of their two first round selections on a quarterback this spring.

That's it for this week. Once again, thanks to spiderxx7 and FlackoMars for the inspiration behind these weekly rewinds.

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Week 01

Headlines

• The Seattle Seahawks have added free agent ROLB Vic Beasley to their roster. The former Atlanta Falcon signed a one year, $1.85M contract.

• Tyler Eifert is heading to the Big Apple. He signed a one-year deal with the New York Jets this morning. His veteran experience will help Zach Wilson grow during his rookies season.

• The Rams threw Jared Goff to the Wolves and jettisoned him to Detroit over the offseason. He responded with a player of the week performance as the Lions toppled the 49ers in the season opener.

NFC Players of the Week:

• (DET) QB J. Goff: 19/27, 281 yds, 3 TD
  (DAL) LOLB L. Vander Esch: 12 tackles, 1 sack, 1 INT

AFC Players of the Week:

• (TEN) QB R. Tannehill: 21/28, 357 yds, 3 TD
  (LAC) CB M. Davis: 5 tackles, 2 INT, 1 TD

NFC East Standings

• Philadelphia, 1-0
  Washington, 1-0
  Dallas, 0-1
  New York, 0-1

Up next:

• Dallas (0-1) at LA Chargers (0-1)
  New York (0-1) at Washington (1-0)

Headlines

• A season ending injury for Lucas English (QB, LSU) is sure to give teams pause and shake up the Quarterback rankings heading into the draft. English was a projected Top 5 selection.

• Forget top plays shows, that Cornell McKee (RB, Oregon) run deserves NFTs minted of it right now. The Oregon RB is projected top 5 but rarely protects the football and suffers from concentration drops. At 5'8" and 210 lbs, he reminds me of Ray Rice. Top fits are the Atlanta Falcons, NY Jets and New England Patriots.

• Mutual separation was the term used to describe the departure of LOLB Wes Weatherspoon from Purdue. Weatherspoon is regarded as a Day 3 projection and always looks for the massive hit. He's a big OLB standing 6'6" and weighing 263 lbs. Top fits include the Cleveland Browns, Baltimore Ravens and Buffalo Bills.