Petty looked nice his 1st drive drove us into FG range & went 3/5. Could've been 4 for 4 with a TD if receiver would've came down with two feet inbounds; nonetheless a pretty nice 1st drive from Petty.
Jets with a 17-13 preseason win. Really nice to see these guys play focused & disciplined ball right out the gates under coach Bowles. Jacksonville was hit with 12 penalties for 132 yards compared to our Jets being penalized only 2 times for 20 yards. We also had 0 turnovers/1 takeaway. More importantly we lost 0 players due to injury. I'd say tonight's win was a success moving forward.
I thought Leonard WAS Wilk's replacement....no???? And sorry, I will be more than happy to say "I told you so" when I was supporting the re-signing of Snacks and almost all of TGG was like "Don't be a dumb-ass, NT means nothing and there won't be any drop off". Actually NT is probably the MOST important position on the line in a 3-4. Stopping the run up the middle (something we couldn't do last night) free the Wilks of the world reek havoc off the side. Sorry, but Snacks is the most dominant NT in the NFL since Vince Wolfork (remember him?) and we let him skate so we could pay a D-Lineman we don't need.
But Simon, our big home-grown NT in waiting, DID play, and Ivory gashed us like no one was home. And according to many on here NT is a junk position not worthy of a payday. After all it was our DTs that 'allowed' Snacks to shut down the middle of the field....something ANYONE could do on that line. Right? Wasn't it you in the Snacks thread that got on me for really wanting to keep ($pay$) Snacks? Last night was the reason why. Defense starts with shutting down the middle of the line. Everything else feeds off that.
We started Jenkins (98), Simon and Sheldon - Williams was added to the mix at times - We went without Mo and McLendon (the guy the FO signed to replace snacks) Simon was a 7th round pick last year for a reason and is still growing into the role, he learned from Snacks but was not in the rotation at all last year and is not ready for a full time role based on last night. 1st preseason game is often sloppy and tackling is off - they have had only 2-3 full tilt practices since end of last season and are going to be rusty. Unless I'm mistaken we had a similar concern in pre-season last year too.
I guess that's why you're so desperate to make this argument after the first preseason game? Shit, you didn't even know McClendon wasn't playing.
McClendon was known in Pitt as more of a gap shooter than 'occupy 2 guys and clog up the middle'. No one did that better than Snacks. And I wish we kept him.
Exactly. He moaned about Harrison being gone and our run defense struggling without realizing that Harrison's replacement wasn't even playing in McClendon. Also acted as if Wilkerson being out has nothing to do with runs up the middle. I'm not sure he understands how many double teams against the likes of Wilkerson & Richardson has created space for Snacks to stuff the run over the years. Also, Snacks has had two knee injures and has missed most of the the Giants offseason and training camp due to, you guessed it; more knee problems. He oh so conveniently decided to leave that part out.
He's not worth the money he received from NYG. He's really nothing more than a two down player who can not pressure the QB once dropping back ex: only 1.5 career sacks. He'll become exposed while with the Giants once no longer being surrounded by two animals on each side in Wilkerson and Richsrdson. Also, let's stop acting as if Harrison was the reason behind a good run defense. He wasn't. He only started getting playing time in 2013. Our run defense was stout years before he even arrived. Funny how quickly you've forgotten....
That's fine, duly noted. But the element this defense has been missing is a NT that can penetrate and cause distribution in the middle, just standing up and holding the middle is a very limited benefit and it's definitely not worth the money he got from the Giants, they can have him. I'm not sold on McClendon either, but I like his skillset a lot more than Snacks.
Relax. I think Snacks was great too. But TB has talked about the changes and that McClendon brings a different element to the line, and TB seems excited by that. They're trying to get more versatile and faster, everywhere. Plus they were playing basic vanilla D's last nite. The reports regarding McLendon have been good too.
You might want to let Wilkerson know. Wilk's already said that Snack's domination in the middle of the field lets him and Richardson run free and do what they do. There might actually be a reason the Giants, know for years for their dominating D-Lines, value Snack's ability in the middle so highly. And saying Snacks is a 2-down lineman is a testament to his dominance in stuffing the run on 1st and 2nd downs. His play directly led to many 3rd and longs. Passing downs. If he sucked, teams would have 3rd and short all day and he'd stay in to defend the run. Think before you post
I know and I really really hope our D-Line continues to be dominant. I think TB can run more stunts with McL. Snacks shut down the middle single handily, where now both ends will have inside run support responsibilities. Maybe TB can somehow use this to our advantage. I really hope so.
I hated losing Snacks and still feel he was underrated. But feel good about how they handled it all in the end. I'm hoping Big Cat makes a move, the dude is a monster. I wanna see Richardson up his game too.
Snacks with a whopping 1 tackle for the Giants tonight. Harrison; welcome to a defensive line/world of no longer being surrounded by the likes of animals in Wilkerson & Richardson. He did a great job here but Harrison will very likely become exposed without playing in the middle of Mo & Richardson while Mo & Richardson continue to flourish while Leonard Williams continues to dominate within a much larger role. This Jets defense won't miss a beat without Harrison. We'll be as dominant as ever against the run due to Williams emerging as well as faster LB's. Snacks on the other hand could very well flop on the Giants D-Line.