Are the NY Giants making good decisions?

... to a lesser degree Ghost (sorry just had to say it)

Hell hath no fury like a moderator scorned. :FIREdevil

They were sort of in the same place the Chargers were they have more holes in their game than just QB. And now Eli has to live up to the hype of the trade(Sorta like the Ricky williams thing). As far as the coaches I like the fact they got someone to come in a kick them hard. These guys gave up on their coach last year half way though the season. Also one big thing in Eli's favor is they have a pretty good QB coach in Kevin Gilbride.

I think 2004 will be rembered as a Manning year, i don't think the NFL has seen such a family of primadonnas . Eli stomped his feet and whined his way to the G-men making sure they gave up a bundle for him and Payton took th typically cash poor Colts to the cleaners with his huge contract this year.

The ironic part of this is Archie ended up being a star on a really bad team and wanted better for his sons but both have them to an extent have made sure thier respective teams will not be as good as they could be . Payton has contributed to the cap crunch which has seen rising stars like Washington leave the Colts because the Colts have invested so much in him. The Giants have in the past made some bizzare draft choices but next year they don't have a first pick which will likley be at least a top ten choice, and I know we have a rep for giving up draft picks for players but their we are trading for proven commodities (Coles, Morton etc) they have mortgaged the future on a kid who hasn't played a down in the NFL.

The other thing which occurs to me is the Giants were not one player away from the Superbowl, especially not QB. The dried out Collins was at least servicable back there sure Hillard and Toomer are good at WR and Shockley(sp?) is a great TE but Barber puts the ball on the floor far too often and is a huge liability and it was a push to say thier OL was any better than ours last year and say what you want the OL is were your offence starts forget that and nothing else works especially when you hav teams willing to blitz 8 and 9 players everydown .

On the defence they have Strahan and thats about it. DBs arent bad but they lost depth there this year and the LB core seem to have taken a step backwards and as for thier defensive line can they field a worse line than us?

Sure the Giants may be in full on rebuilding mode but you have to start laying foundation for the future sure in the next 3-4 years they could be strong but in this FA eara of the NFL most teams have a window of only 3-4 years before they are dismantled and rebuilt I am not sure you can build a team over a period of years any more.

Look at the Pats they have 2 superbowls in 3 years but not with the same teams. They picked up some key FA's who played thier socks off like Ted Washington that got them to the big game last year but it is coaching and focused front office that made the difference.

I like the Coughlin hire, but that is it, I don't like anything they have done the last 2 year's, they didn't figure out that thier problem's stemmed from letting all thier O-linemen go, and have the same problem again, they played out the draft about as stupid as can be, they could have traded down to cleveland and still picked river's, and could have obtained some more draft pick's, dumb!

I don't know how anyone can think the Gmen are making good decisions. I think it's quite foolish to give up what they did for Eli and letting Collins go. I know Collins didn't wanna be a back up, but I probably woulda kept Collins as the starter shit I wouldn't have been in this predicament if I was owner...
I would like to know more about the grievance that the Gmen organization filed against Coughlin and the Players Union...??? JoeCrisp or Matty, anyone?

Collins was expensive (and not even that great of a QB, in my book.) Collins also wanted to start, whereas the Giants wanted to put their first pick in to let him run that team from day 1. May as well start a new QB with a new coach.

I agree, Tiki fumbles way too much, but you could have a worse back. Ahman Green used to be a persistant fumbler, all it took was a single sweatband to keep it from happening.

As usual Daseal, you are just soooooooo wrong.

I understood what you meant about the OLine. My point is, regardless of their other offensive talent - which, other than Shockey, I think is moderate to good - their line stinks and, as we in Washington have known since Hog times, you are going nowhere w/out an OLine. The only thing they did to work on their biggest problem is sign a couple of Cleveland castoffs (of all the castoffs to sign - Cleveland's??) and draft Coughlin's son-in-law (who, to be fair, is supposed to be pretty good).

While Eli may eventually turn out to be a hot QB, he ain't gonna be nothing in his rookie year. In addition, as I have continually asserted, I think this is a team with a huge psychological problem. Every year there has been some locker room divisiveness. It appears to me, Fassell kept it under control by making everybody "feel good" and not pushing to hard. Coughlin is the polar opposite of this approach - and, I believe, it is going to cause this team to tear apart. Fingers they will be a pointing - at the coach, at each other, at the fans. All this and a rookie QB too? The Giants and 49'ers will be fighting for the cellar.

You see Daseal, the reason you don't get it is because this is all part of the right wing conspiracy to demoralize the Northern California and New York liberal blocs. Their teams are gonna suck soooooo bad, they won't want to leave their homes come November.

I would like to know more about the grievance that the Gmen organization filed against Coughlin and the Players Union...??? JoeCrisp or Matty, anyone?
Actually, it was unidentified Giants players that filed a complaint with the players' union against the Giants for unspecified violations of the collective bargaining agreement-- presumably the portion of that agreement that pertains to minicamps and other offseason workouts. Here is an excerpt from the CBA regarding these issues:

Section 1. Voluntary Workouts: No player shall be required to attend or participate in any off‑season workout program or classroom instruction of a Club other than as provided in Article XXXVI (Minicamps). Any other Club off‑season workout programs and classroom instruction sessions shall be voluntary and take place in the manner and time period set forth in this Article.

Section 2. Time Periods: Clubs may schedule or conduct off-season workout programs for no more than fourteen total weeks, and no more than four workouts per week, for any individual player. Such workout programs shall not be permitted on weekends. During such workout programs, there may be no more than fourteen (14) days of organized team practice activity, to be defined by the Player/Club Operations Committee. Nothing herein shall prevent a Club from permitting an individual player to work-out on his own on weekends using Club facilities if he wishes to do so.

(b) Each year off-season workout programs may not begin, and players may not be asked to voluntarily attend any such program, earlier than a date to be agreed upon by the Management Council and the NFLPA, and announced before the conclusion of the prior regular season. Each year on a date to be agreed upon by the parties, each Club shall provide the Management Council and the NFLPA with the Club's schedule for its off-season workout program that year, and shall advise the Management Council and the NFLPA in writing in advance of any changes to that schedule.

(c) During the off-season program period, except for the fourteen days of organized team practice activity and mini-camps, players may be (1) at the Club facility no more than four hours per day, no more than four days per week, and not during weekends; and (2) on the field no more than ninety minutes per day. In addition, the Club may not specify to any player more than two specific hours a day during which it suggests that the player be at club facilities. Any player participating in an off-season workout program may select the other two hours in which he wishes to attend to conduct his weight training, etc., as long as he does so during the hours of operations of the Club's weight room.

Section 5. Miscellaneous: No Club official shall indicate to a player that the Club’s off‑season workout program or classroom instruction is not voluntary (or that a player’s failure to participate in a workout program or classroom instruction will result in the player’s failure to make the Club). Contact work (e.g., “live” blocking, tackling, pass rushing, bump‑and‑run) is expressly prohibited in all off‑season workouts. All Clubs, coaches and other Club officials shall follow all of the rules regarding off-season workouts set forth in Appendix L hereto.
It's hard to say which portion(s) of these rules might have been violated, but it could have been that Coach Coughlin exceeded the 90-minute on-field practice time, or suggested more than the allowable 2 specific hours of attendance at the club facility per day. It may have been suggested that attendance at the team's "voluntary" workouts was more than voluntary. There may have been a violation of the "no-contact" requirement during practice. At this point, it's anybody's guess.

From what I understand is they made certein parts of mini camp mandatory and longer than allowed. I don't think they came out and say the practices were mandatory per se. The story I heard was is the coaches put up a sign saying a breakfast before practice was mandatory. Each team is only allowed so many mini camp days and so many full practice days. From what I heard this isn't Coughlin's first offense in this area.