ESPN - N.Y. Giants' weakness: Middle linebacker

[HapHaszard]

http://espn.go.com/blog/nfceast/post/_/id/14161/new-york-giants-weakness-middle-linebacker

While the Giants addressed their defensive line early in the draft, they waited until the fourth round to address their middle linebacker need when they selected Phillip Dillard out of Nebraska. While this is probably just a two-down position in the Giants' defense, it is still a serious concern.

Perry Fewell has taken over as defensive coordinator and is in the midst of installing a more free-flowing scheme that stresses speed and athletic ability at all positions. With Antonio Pierce in the middle last season, the Giants were painfully slow, which was a problem with range in the run game, but more so in coverage. Remember, the Giants’ middle linebacker is going to cover players such as Felix Jones, Jason Witten, LeSean McCoy and Brent Celek -- all of whom are more athletic than any of the Giants’ present linebackers.

Along with Dillard, whom I expect win this job before long, the other candidates to follow Pierce, who was released in February, are Jonathan Goff, Gerris Wilkinson and Chase Blackburn.

click on the link above for the rest of the article

[Skin'Em84]

Wait..Antonio Pierce was released?

Vet Min + Incentives :-p?

[No_Pressure]

I like how they say the Giants middle linebacker will have to cover the amazing RB's and TE's from Philly and Dallas but make no mention of Chris Cooley, Fred Davis, Clinton Portis, Willie Parker, etc.

I mean look I know with Portis and Parker you don't really know for sure if they're gonna do well but Chris Cooley is a pro bowler and Fred Davis started 9 games and got 40 catches for 500 yards...

Oh well.

[HapHaszard]

I like how they say the Giants middle linebacker will have to cover the amazing RB's and TE's from Philly and Dallas but make no mention of Chris Cooley, Fred Davis, Clinton Portis, Willie Parker, etc.

I mean look I know with Portis and Parker you don't really know for sure if they're gonna do well but Chris Cooley is a pro bowler and Fred Davis started 9 games and got 40 catches for 500 yards...

Oh well.

Under the radar is good. Most are predicting the Redskins to go 8-8 which probably is a reasonable guess at this point. I know all us extremeskins fans expect 11 wins but hey................ :ols:

[No_Pressure]

No I'm not expecting anything great, I just think its funny...one of the few things on our team that are consistently good are our tight ends and the article makes no mention that we even exist in the division. Celek is a good TE, but he also had a good QB throwing him the ball not an unproven guy. Cooley is a good TE and so is Davis and they had Jason Candle throwing them the ball...just sayin.

[sideshow24]

Wait..Antonio Pierce was released?

Vet Min + Incentives :-p?

Pierce finally made a solo tackle and it injured him. Why would we want that clown?

[HapHaszard]

No I'm not expecting anything great, I just think its funny...one of the few things on our team that are consistently good are our tight ends and the article makes no mention that we even exist in the division. Celek is a good TE, but he also had a good QB throwing him the ball not an unproven guy. Cooley is a good TE and so is Davis and they had Jason Candle throwing them the ball...just sayin.

I would suspect that its because Davis and Cooley actually only played half a season each.

[NewCliche21]

Wait..Antonio Pierce was released?

Vet Min + Incentives :-p?

Vet minimum + incentives:

The joke that just keeps managing to get even more unfunny every time. :doh:

[Inquisitor]

The Giants don't place much value on the linebacker position, as evidenced by the teams lack of high draft picks and infrequent spending during free agency the past several years.

In today's NFL the value of the 4-3 LB has largely diminished. Which is why the Giants have put so much of the teams resources defensively towards beefing up the defensive line rotation and secondary.

On third downs the Giants usually only go with 2 LB's, and bring in either an extra safety or CB, but usually a safety.

Boley is actually a pretty good coverage LB, and I'm expecting Sintim to make some strides this year, especially as an edge rusher. MLB is pretty dicey, but I'm not that worried about the linebacking corps in general if the defensive line plays up to it's potential. It really comes down to that if the Giants are going to be successful defensively this year, will the defensive line step up, and can the secondary avoid the injury bug it was devastated with last year? Time will tell.

[Tom [Giants fan]]

It's amazing that these guys get paid to write articles that fans could write.

[HapHaszard]

;7538097']It's amazing that these guys get paid to write articles that fans could write.

Actually some of the fan Blogs are much better written than the articles the "professional" writers produce. I don't follow the Giants Philly or Cowboy blogs but we have some very high quality ones on the Redskins, and I would suspect the same goes for other teams.

[pvkeeper19]

People sleep on Phillip Dillard, but I actually think he's going to be a very good NFL linebacker. He was a guy I hoped we'd take.

[pjfootballer]

But isn't the MLB kind of important in the 4-3? I mean, if the Giants don't value LB in their scheme teams can always take advantage of it. Teams don't pass all the time and once the RB gets past the LOS, you need a good MLB to make tackles or shoot the gap between the linemen.

[barens2]

The Giants don't place much value on the linebacker position, as evidenced by the teams lack of high draft picks and infrequent spending during free agency the past several years.

In today's NFL the value of the 4-3 LB has largely diminished. Which is why the Giants have put so much of the teams resources defensively towards beefing up the defensive line rotation and secondary.

On third downs the Giants usually only go with 2 LB's, and bring in either an extra safety or CB, but usually a safety.

Boley is actually a pretty good coverage LB, and I'm expecting Sintim to make some strides this year, especially as an edge rusher. MLB is pretty dicey, but I'm not that worried about the linebacking corps in general if the defensive line plays up to it's potential. It really comes down to that if the Giants are going to be successful defensively this year, will the defensive line step up, and can the secondary avoid the injury bug it was devastated with last year? Time will tell.

I don't buy that. I'm pretty confident McClain was on the top of our list, despite the organizations claims that Pierre-Paul was rated the #6 player on our board.