Don’t Be a Scrooge, Jerry! Give Steve Smith a Contract Extension!

Around this time of year, you get a lot of people talking about what they’d really like for Christmas.

Some say they want nothing more than peace on earth.

Others would be fine with good will from their fellow men. 

The Giants’ Steve Smith apparently wants a contract extension , and the team’s general manager, Jerry Reese, had better give it to him.

Even though the 2009-10 Pro Bowl selections have yet to be formally announced, it’s exceedingly likely that Smith will be among them. 15 weeks into the season, Smith leads the NFC in receptions. He ranks third in the conference in receiving yards. He is tied for second in number of first downs gained.

All of this production comes in Smith’s first season as a full-time starter. Last year, just his second in the league, he led the Giants in receptions despite starting only four games. Throw in the fact that Smith is only 24 years old, and there’s ample reason for Reese to get into the holiday spirit, and do it soon.

Smith’s contract technically runs through the 2010-11 season. But with the specter of an uncapped season in 2010 looming, there’s no telling what kind of astronomical salary Smith could command in the most open market in NFL history.

Imagine what Daniel Snyder, who gave Antwan Randle-El an $11.5 million signing bonus in 2006 , could pony up.

Think of what the Chicago Bears, who will likely be in the middle of rebuilding their defense and in dire need of receivers, would be willing to spend. 

Reese could just franchise Smith to keep him out of the 2010-11 spending spree. But one of his most underrated talents as a GM is his ability to sign his players to reasonable extensions.

Back when Osi Umenyiora was coming off his first Pro Bowl selection, Reese managed to lock up one of the league’s hottest defensive linemen for a modest $15 million in guarantees. Two years after Brandon Jacobs scored 15 touchdowns, Reese got him for just $13 million in bonus money.

So if Smith and his agent, Ralph Cindrich, are willing to commit to a contract that reflects what Smith is—a valuable, up-and-coming, but not necessarily elite, wide receiver—then Reese ought to take one big task off his To Do List and simply add it to his Christmas list.

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If And Only If: New York Giants’ Postseason Hopes Hinge on Five Things

If somebody had told you three months ago that, 12 weeks into the season, the New York Giants would be 6-5 and one false move away from missing the postseason, you would have called them crazy.

Sure, there was no telling how the young receiving corps would hold up over a full season. And sure, you could have made a similar case about Ahmad Bradshaw, who was slated to shoulder a much heavier workload than in seasons past.

But c’mon! This is the Giants we’re talking about here! The team with the deepest defensive line in football! The team with the reloaded linebacking corps and the young, sharp secondary! How could they be 6-5 with just five games left in the season?

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Boley, Once a Question Mark, Quickly Becoming a Sure Thing

A lot has gone wrong for the Giants’ defense this season.

That might seem like a strange thing to say about a unit that currently ranks first in yards allowed and sixth in points given up, but the evidence is right there on the injury reports.

Two of Jerry Reese’s biggest acquisitions, Chris Canty and Rocky Bernard, have mostly been stuck on the trainer’s table.

Same goes for two of their top three cornerbacks, Aaron Ross and Kevin Dockery.

Worst of all, the jewel of Giants’ pass defense, Kenny Phillips, recently underwent season-ending surgery on his knee.

Until about three weeks ago, Michael Boley was part of this problem too. The weakside linebacker that Jerry Reese acquired from the Atlanta Falcons was a no-show throughout training camp, recovering from hip surgery.

The prospect of Boley taking the field after barely practicing with his teammates wasn’t exactly exciting, even if it was inevitable; Boley’s salary for this year alone is higher than the combined wages of his three backups (Chase Blackburn, Bryan Kehl, and Gerris Wilkinson).

But in the three games he’s started, Boley has looked like the team’s best free agent signing. He is currently third on the team in tackles, behind only free safety Michael Johnson and tackling machine Antonio Pierce.

A lot of this production is the result of opponents targeting Boley, and it’s easy to understand their thinking. Given his lack of practice time, offensive coordinators assume that his grip on the Giants’ defensive playbook is tenuous.

But Boley has made opponents pay for their tactics with his athleticism and tackling. Last week against Kansas City, the Chiefs tested Boley in coverage, and he showed himself up to the task. He broke up two passes, including one in the end zone where he was matched up against a wide receiver.  

It’s fair to point out that the Chiefs’ offense is a big mess, and the same can be said for the Bucs’ O. The real tests, the reasons that Jerry Reese signed Boley in the first place, begin in two weeks.

The Giants will face the Saints, Cardinals, Eagles, and Chargers in consecutive weeks. All three teams spread the ball around through the air, and each has a variety of players who are especially dangerous in space.

But thanks to one of the defense’s newest bright spots, that shouldn’t be too much of a problem.

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Kenny Phillips’s Knee Injury “Career-Threatening”?: A Giant Question Mark

Three days ago, the Giants had a rising star on the back end of their defense.

As of this afternoon, they have a potentially season-defining problem.

The team placed second-year safety Kenny Phillips on injured reserve about five hours ago, ending his season and knocking the Giants off their early pole position in the NFC.

According to Newsday‘s Tom Rock, the knee soreness that bothered Phillips throughout the preseason was diagnosed as patellofemoral arthritis, a potentially career-threatening chronic condition that cannot be corrected or alleviated by surgery.

Dr. Craig Levitz, a noted orthopedist (who, it should be noted, has not examined Phillips or seen his MRI results), offered some very ominous information about the condition in Rock’s article.

“Arthritis only goes in one direction,” Levitz explained. “It only gets worse, it never gets better.”

In a less physically taxing sport like baseball (the Yankees’ Hideki Matsui reportedly suffers from the same condition), it is possible to continue playing with frequent cortisone shots as well as injections designed to drain fluid from the knee.

In the NFL, such measures are totally out of the question.

With Phillips out, the already thin Giants’ secondary is practically translucent. Neither Aaron Ross nor Kevin Dockery are likely to play in Sunday’s game against Tampa Bay, and Tom Coughlin will be probably be forced to elevate more than one player from the practice squad to the active roster.

The Giants have already started looking for replacements, claiming fourth-year safety Aaron Rouse from Green Bay off waivers.

But with the season already under way, finding a player of Phillips’s caliber will be impossible. In just his second year in the league, Phillips had the look of a Pro Bowler: that rare combination of a sure tackler, a devastating hitter, and a smart, aggressive coverage man with phenomenal range.

It is difficult to tell what kind of effect this will have on Jerry Reese’s long-term plans for his team. But Reese must be ruefully coming to the conclusion that his team, just 72 hours removed from Super Bowl aspirations, might have a higher draft pick than he’d hoped.

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Debuts of Sintim and Boley Give D Both Flexibility and Uncertainty

On Sunday night, the Dallas Cowboys won’t be the only team with new acquisitions to show off.

According to Mike Garafolo’s Twitter page, Clint Sintim and Michael Boley each got half the snaps at their respective positions in Wednesday’s morning practice session, which is a strong indication that both could suit up for Sunday’s game in Dallas.

The nationally televised game will be Sintim’s first regular season action, and it represents both a tremendous opportunity and a stiff test. Though he’s shown himself to be a capable pass-rusher, Sintim still has a lot to learn about pass coverage, and the Cowboys are well-suited to exploit that. Both Marion Barber and Felix Jones are effective at catching passes, and Jason Witten is one of the best tight ends in the league. Every time Sintim takes the field (Danny Clark will start), he must create havoc.

Sintim is unquestionably a better pass-rusher than Clark, so his insertion into the Giants’ game plan makes sense; the Giants’ front seven must protect its perilously thin secondary, especially this week with a potent Cowboys attack waiting for them.

Even though defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan will be tipping his hand every time he sends Sintim into the game, it will still be an essential part of keeping the Cowboys’ offense in check.

And while the prospect of Sintim’s regular season debut should excite fans, seeing Michael Boley at all, even if it’s just on the practice field, should be thrilling.

After Chris Canty and Rocky Bernard, Boley was the Giants’ most important offseason acquisition. Unfortunately, he has also been the least productive. Boley spent almost the entire offseason recovering from hip surgery, and he has not had many opportunities to even walk through defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan’s schemes.

Because Boley makes more (~$2M) than Chase Blackburn, Gerris Wilkinson, and Bryan Kehl combined, his rise to the starting lineup is inevitable. But playing him for the first time against a divisional opponent would be tremendously risky, and Giants fans are hoping those practice snaps are meant to help get him up to speed, not prepare him to play on Sunday night.

Injuries to the secondary aside, the Giants’ defense still boasts admirable depth. Coach Tom Coughlin and Bill Sheridan should be able to avoid putting their new players into unexpected situations, and with a little bit of luck, they just might get to watch Sintim and Boley up on Jerry Jones’ brand new video screens, making plays that leave Cowboys Stadium absolutely silent.

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Tough Pick: Which New York Football Team Has The Better Secondary?

Over the years, the New York sports media has tried everything in its power to get Giants and Jets fans to care about their annual preseason meeting.

Nothing’s worked.

Whether it’s because the teams play in different conferences, or because their fan bases live (for the most part) in different parts of the greater New York area, or because, deep down, nobody really cares about preseason games, neither fan base has ever felt threatened (or over-confident) enough to really turn the Meadowlands showdown into an event.

It hasn’t helped that the teams are rarely competitive at the same time, and that is true again this season. The Giants, provided they can get over their health concerns, are a legitimate Super Bowl contender. The Jets, on the other hand, are optimistic but ultimately in transition.

But if there is one scrap of controversy that can be wrung out of Saturday’s game, one remotely meaningful debate that could conceivably be had between blue and green-clad fans tomorrow night, it is this:

Which team has a better secondary?

From a purely statistical standpoint, this might seem like a strange debate. The Giants finished 8th in pass defense last year against one of the toughest schedules in the league, playing in a division featuring the pass-happy Cowboys and Eagles. The Jets, playing a comparatively lighter schedule in a much less aerially potent division, finished 29th.

Jets fans will argue that the Giants’ pass rush gives them an advantage, but it’s less significant than one might imagine: The Giants generated just one more sack than the Jets did last year. And with Rex Ryan’s aggressive, blitz-crazy defense in place this season, pressuring the quarterback will be the least of the Jets’ worries.

But this year, changes to the Jets’ defense go well beyond scheme. Gang Green added a ball-hawking corner in Lito Sheppard, and a scrappy film-nut safety in Jim Leonhard to their roster in the off-season, and they also expect second-year corner Dwight Lowery to improve on a tremendous rookie year in which he had 16 passes defended and an interception.

Pair that talent with Darrelle Revis, who finished with five interceptions last season (tied for second in the NFL), and Kerry Rhodes, a Pro Bowl-caliber safety, and that’s an awfully impressive last line of defense.

The Giants, by contrast, are going to be relying on growth and cohesion this season. If training camp is any indication, there is plenty of both. The defense notched 30 interceptions up in Albany, even with last year’s starting corners, Aaron Ross and Corey Webster, missing significant portions of camp with nagging injuries.

Second year players Terrell Thomas and Kenny Phillips both look vastly improved, and the entire team is comfortable with a defensive scheme that has been in place since 2007.

It’s probably not enough to drag New York into a civil war. But with the regular season still two agonizing weeks away, this debate should give New York sports fans something to get heated up about.

Is The Giants’ Secondary Ready For The Eagles’ Newest Wide Receiver?

About ten minutes ago, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported that the Philadelphia Eagles have signed Michael Vick.

When Mike Tirico broke the news during Thursday’s Cardinals-Steelers preseason game, color commentator Ron Jaworski was stunned.

“What is Donovan McNabb thinking?” Jaworski erupted.

I don’t want to sound presumptuous or anything, but I’d guess McNabb’s thinking something along the lines of: “WHOOPEE!!!”

Jaworski assumed that Vick, the former Falcons quarterback who has been temporarily reinstated by Commissioner Roger Goodell, would vie for the Eagles’ quarterback job.

But Vick is only allowed to play in the final two preseason games, and he will only be allowed onto the active roster in mid October.

That’s barely enough time to learn a high school playbook, let alone the myriad protection schemes, hot reads, and several hundred plays that typically constitute an NFL-caliber West Coast offense.

Instead, it’s far more likely that Eagles coach Andy Reid and offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg are planning to use Vick another way: as a wide receiver.

Vick’s abilities as a quarterback were being debated well before he was arrested on dogfighting charges, but his athleticism has never been. In the open field, Vick is a touchdown waiting to happen, one of the most electric playmakers in NFL history.

Up until today, the Eagles offense knew it would have some hurdles to overcome. Jeremy Maclin is sure to suffer from rookie growing pains, Desean Jackson is likely to face double coverage all year, and Brian Westbrook is already playing on a creaky knee.

But if the Eagles can trot Vick out into the slot, defenses will have to change their game plans entirely.

Imagine him getting a free release off the line of scrimmage. Imagine him taking the ball on an end-around. Imagine him catching the ball in the flat, with nothing but a weak-side linebacker to stop him.

To make opponents’ matters worse, Commissioner Goodell’s conditions for Vick’s reinstatement give the Eagles a golden opportunity to turn their newest signing into a top secret weapon.

Vick might not even officially be reinstated until week six, and it’s highly unlikely that the Eagles will put him on the field before the stretch run of the season.

There’s no sense in the Eagles revealing their season’s biggest surprise until it really counts.

If there’s one silver lining to be found here, it’s that the Giants’ secondary has been dominant in training camp. The defense has snapped up 22 interceptions in just 14 practices, and everybody from Corey Webster down to Stoney Woodson has looked confident, aggressive, and capable.

Let’s hope they’re ready for a dog fight in the playoff because the Eagles were one step away from the Super Bowl; and this signing may put them over the top.

Why the New York Giants’ Secondary is Stealing the Show at Training Camp

Through the first five days of Giants’ training camp, there have been a lot of little stories — Steve Smith getting behind people, Eli Manning getting paid — and one big story: the secondary.

Aaron Ross, Corey Webster, Terrell Thomas, and Kenny Phillips have been making the Giants’f offense look downright silly all week, and there is a secret to their success.

Will The Giants Sign Hakeem Nicks On Time?

There are several million reasons that New York Giants fans ought to be worried about Hakeem Nicks.

How many, exactly?

Well, that’s the problem.

With training camp a mere three days away, every member of the Giants’ 2009 draft class, from Clint Sintim all the way down to Stoney Woodson, has been signed to a deal.

Everybody except Nicks, that is.

According to Peter Schaffer, Nicks’s agent, both sides are “working hard every day” to get a deal done, but he ended his comments to one beat reporter on an ominous note:

“We shall see.”

Schaffer is one half of the well-respected All Pro Sports & Entertainment, Inc, a sports management company that’s been home to players ranging from Eddie George and Barry Sanders and currently lists Braylon Edwards and Larry Johnson as clients. 

Talent-wise, this is undoubtedly fine company for Nicks to be in. But those last two names, Edwards and Johnson, ought to make Giants fans nervous; both held out during their rookie years, even when players picked ahead of them had already signed contracts.

Of all the players drafted by the Giants this offseason, Nicks is easily one of the most important, and one of the players who most clearly needs to be on the field from day one.

Wide receivers typically have a very tough time adjusting to the NFL in their first year, and those who miss large chunks of time in training camp almost never see the field once the season starts.

And for all the tantalizing stats he put up in college, for all the talk about his tremendous hands and all his experience with the streak-read offense, none of it will matter if Nicks isn’t up in Albany.

Especially not with a month-long battle royale scheduled to take place between Steve Smith, Mario Manningham, Ramses Barden, Sinorice Moss, Domenik Hixon, and David Tyree for the starting wide receiver spots.

To be fair, these two sides are likely to negotiate well into the weekend to try and get something done.

But until they do, Giants’ fans have between 10 (Clay Matthews’ guaranteed money) and 6.1 million (Ziggy Hood’s) reasons to be very concerned.

Like Father, Like Son: John Mara Continues His Father’s Level-Headed Legacy

Giants President John Mara knows the value of keeping quiet.

The son of longtime Giants owner Wellington Mara, John grew up around one of the NFL’s most dignified, level-headed men, a multi-millionaire blessed with common sense.

When his father spoke, people listened. Throughout his decades as the Giants’ owner, Wellington Mara did everything from help secure the NFL’s first TV broadcasting deal to marshal support for the most recent collective bargaining agreement.

Wellington Mara’s reasonable and responsible thinking always carried weight.

So when New York district attorney Robert Morgenthau ominously suggested today that Antonio Pierce might be charged as an accessory in the Plaxico Burress case, Mara did something that might have made his father very proud.

He called the idea ridiculous.

In a statement released this afternoon, Mara wrote that he “cannot understand the DA’s position that Antonio is subject to criminal charges.”

“When this incident occurred,” the statement reads, “Antonio reacted out of concern for the health and well-being of Plaxico Burress. His first priority was to make sure Plaxico received proper medical attention for what very well could have been a life-threatening wound.”

“There was no criminal intent,” it continues, “on the part of Antonio, who was thrust into this predicament simply because he accompanied Plaxico that evening and because he made the decision to immediately take Plaxico to the hospital. We believe it is unwarranted for the DA’s office to press criminal charges against Antonio under these circumstances.”

In an era in which “No comment” is the response of choice for people in his position, Mara opted instead to say something completely reasonable.

Pierce is neither a hardened criminal nor a shady, irresponsible enabler. And Mara stuck up for him at a crucial moment in what has been an unusually testy and unpredictable episode for both the Giants and the New York District Attorney’s office.

There wasn’t much for Mara to gain by opening his mouth about this case. He and the rest of the Giants’ organization has stayed mostly silent, choosing to avoid possibly inflaming Morgenthau and Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who has also taken interest in the Burress case.

But like his father, Mara will go to bat for his players. And in a moment when Pierce could have been unnecessarily caught up in the public’s ongoing trial of fans versus athletes, John Mara showed that the Giants are still in good, common sensical hands.

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