Off-season football
'That's not Peyton Manning back there'
Mark Sanchez doesn’t fare well in the face of a pass rush. That’s the conventional wisdom tells us, and that’s what the statistics, courtesy of Pro Football Focus's game-charting data, confirm. More
Remember when Eli Manning panicked?
Two recent scouting breakdowns on Eli Manning focused on two aspects of his game: His ability to read through his progressions, and his knack for buying himself time by maneuvering in the pocket. More
(2)Tim Tebow is a big deal until football starts
Tim Tebow won the Good Guy Award from the Pro Football Writers of America, thus putting a bow around what can only be described as The Year of the Tebow. More
Happy-stern Giants set to return, heart monitors and all
Speaking with reporters, Tom Coughlin summarized his message to his players on the eve of their six-week break before training camp: More
(1)Rex Ryan and the Jets defense chasing the ghosts of 2009
A weekly column about what the Jets are up to when they're not playing football.
Calvin Pace said that the Jets are “getting back to square one” on defense this year.
“As if it’s the first day Rex is here so we just reinstalled the defense from the ground up,” he said.
Normally, declarations about starting from scratch follow on the heels of a spectacular bottoming out. But despite the overwrought, sky-is-falling narrative surrounding it, the Jets’ 8-8 season last year doesn’t qualify. More
Why does Rex Ryan keep talking about the locker room?
Rex Ryan appeared spry and svelte on "Costas Now". Two years after gastric lap band surgery, he’s down from 340 pounds to 256. More
Tom Coughlin gets his contract, and Parcells-like status; a German Giant waits for his visa
Tom Coughlin just signed a contract extension through 2014. He has won two Super Bowls in his eight seasons as Giants’ head coach, which was also true of Bill Parcells when he abruptly resigned several months before the 1991 season. More
The Giants are much, much more popular than the Jets now; Osi is agonized
In an ESPN Sports Poll, which, I believe, simply asked fans, “What’s your favorite N.F.L. team?” the Giants ranked 3rd, at 7.1 percent. They were bested only by the Cowboys (obviously) and the Packers. More
Do you think Lawrence Taylor cares who bought his Super Bowl ring?
Despite all the mugshots and perp-walks though the years, and even the lesser self-imposed humiliations like that Nutrisystem commercial, L.T.’s legend is still intact, safely preserved in the ‘80s highlight videos celebrating his greatness, in which football talking heads proclaimed we were watching a player who had changed the way the game is played. More
The mysterious fitness methods of Joe McKnight
The good news: Joe McKnight bulked up this offseason in the hopes of vying for more carries and more regular role in the offense. He’s at 216 pounds now, up from 198 last year. When the season starts, he hopes to be in the 205-210 range. More
What's a middle linebacker? And other questions to be answered by the Giants
It's still anyone's guess what the Giants' linebacking corps will look like this season.
Chase Blackburn is penciled in as the starting middle linebacker at the moment, but defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said Keith Rivers, Greg Jones and Mark Herzlich will compete for the position. Earlier in the offseason, general manager Jerry Reese mentioned Michael Boley, which basically means that every linebacker other than Mathias Kiwanuka and Jacquian Williams is a candidate for the job. More
Matt Bahr on kicking the Giants to a championship while 'dinged up'
Another data point on how concussion awareness has evolved, and the tangled web between head injuries and everything that has ever happened on a football field: It turns out that Matt Bahr was suffering the after-effects of a severe concussion when he kicked the game-winning field goal that sent the Giants to the Super Bowl in 1990. More
(1)Osi agrees with Kurt Warner about kids and football; Ahmad Bradshaw enters his 'thunder' phase
You’ve probably heard about this little dust-up: Kurt Warner, the former star quarterback who took a mysterious sabbatical from his stardom as a Giant, expressed misgivings about having his children play football. More
(1)Meet Tim Tebow, the most famous special-teams upback in N.F.L. history
Jets special teams coach Mike Westhoff, without indicating the full extent of his vision, said he plans to use Tim Tebow on special teams a lot this year. The Jets already announced that Tebow will be the upback/personal protector on the punt team, thus making him the most famous upback/personal protector in the history of the league. He will likely see action on other units as well. More
