On October 1, I posted this:

Each week, on his Blue Screen, Ralph Vacchiano has a weekly chat. One of the questions piqued my interest.

What is your opinion of Jacobs right now? Do you agree with Siragusa, Johnston, (and me for that matter), that he needs to hit the holes harder? I think he needs to take 4-5 rather than worrying about bouncing things outside and trying to bust the big one. He'll bust a big one as soon as he hits a DB full force and knocks him on his back!

Here is Ralph's answer.

I actually do agree with Siragusa and Johnston, to a point. I'm not sure Jacobs is "tiptoeing" to the line of scrimmage, and I think they're underselling his impact on the offense a little bit. But I do think something's wrong. He doesn't look as powerful as he used to be. In fact, just a few minutes ago I asked Tom Coughlin what he thought Jacobs' problem was. His answer: "Nothing that I want to talk about in here (in the press conference)." My translation of that is that there is SOMETHING going on with Jacobs, though we just don't know what yet. Whatever it is, he's not barrelling over opponents the way he used to. He doesn't seem as aggressive as he once was. And if he's lost that power and aggression he's lost the two things that make him the most effective.

In a preseason game against the Jets, Jacobs injured his arm. Could this arm injury be causing Jacobs problems? Or is it something else? In fact, yesterday, RB Ahmad Bradshaw was wearing a cumbersome boot on his foot. Apparently, Bradshaw has an old ankle injury which has flared up. Wearing the boot is precautionary. Bradshaw expects to play on Sunday.

I agree. Jacobs deserves tremendous credit for attempting to play the season with an injured knee. Before the 2009 season, much was stated about Jacobs not being able to play an entire season. And he was signed to a four year multi-million dollar contract. These two factors played a role in Jacobs wanting to play through this injury.

As for Coughlin: http://espn.go.com/page2/tvlis...cript.html
After reading this piece on Coughlin, you be the judge.

I think TC's hardass approach is good when discipline,motivation, or team cohesion is an issue. On medical issues, I'm more inclined to let the player make a 98% recovery before rushing him back . The season is too long to risk re-injury and running out of depth before the playoffs.

There's an interesting difference between how the Jacobs & Canty situations were handled this year.
Jacobs wanted to play through, and was allowed to.
I think its very difficult for a coach to take a player out when the player says he's ok & wants to go. Canty seemed to be handled very differently.
His return to action was delayed & delayed, etc, until he was ready. In fact,I recall the NYG saying something like " its a long season, & we're going to heed him 100% down the road". In this case it seemed like there was no undue pressure to get Canty
back on the field.

The fact that Coughlin,Reese and the owners(if they knew) allowed Jacobs to play with this injury is outrageous. I do have a problem with it's accuracy as if you remember,Jacobs said around week 5 that if he didn't average 4.5 yards per carry he was"going to quit". You have to wonder if a man playing on a bum knee would make that statement. It's hard to know who knew what and when. There is heroic and there is stupid. Either way,to me,this is the last straw. The league and the commissioner need to step up and put an end to the inhuman games some play! A team like the Giants having SO Many serious injuries is NOT Normal. It is immoral and just plain WRONG to allow a man to play if he has an injury serious enough to require he NOT play. If not from a humanitarian standpoint then from a business one. The play in the N.F.L. has become much lower and injuries are part of the problem. The Giants are an extreme example but there are many teams getting players injured and thus degrading the game. I am not clear on whether the trainers,the conditioning people or management is responsible for the NEW trend but it cannot be acceptable. With all we have learned about the serious problems many have to live with when their playing days are over something needs to be done. I read an article interviewing David Pear who was a pro-bowl defensive end for the Buccaneers and then the Raiders. He said in the interview that he is so damaged that he cannot work,cannot walk,cannot play with his kids. He goes on to say that he wishes he had NEVER played the game at all. He went to Wisconsin for college.
A big part of football is the macho image. Macho means a lot of things. I remember Bud Grant making his players play in the bitter cold when the vikings played outside. He would NOT let them use heaters and trust me,that is tough.That,to me,is football. He wanted his guys to be ready for the temp and comfortable with it. There were/are lots of tough coaches and players,it comes with the territory. In all of my years watching this game I have NEVER witnesses what we have seen in the last several years. A season ending injury was rare indeed and now it is common to so many players on most teams. I have a big problem with that.There are some who won't play with minor stuff and that is rare and that is wrong. If nothing else these guys are very well payed players similar to(pardon the analogy) a thoroughbred horse. Trainers DON't run horses when they are injured. If they do,they are on the street. Why are there so many hamstrings these days? That injury is 90% due to conditioning. So,something is seriously wrong and if the fans knew about crap like this you would hope they would stand up against it. In essence they are being cheated of their money as the game should be played by players at their best.

There was a glitch when I posted it. I wrote this not Andy or anyone else on staff.

Peter,

Excellent comment. As you stated, It is immoral and just plain WRONG to allow a man to play if he has an injury serious enough to require he NOT play.

Has the pressure to win become so great, it has corrupted the thinking of coaches, team doctors, and management?

Bob,
I agree. Jacobs' situation was handled differently than Canty's. Is Jacobs a fungible asset?

Thanks for the reality check, guys. I told this story to a friend earlier today, and asked him... "so when do you think Jacobs got the injury?" It was asked in a way that he knew where I was going with the leading question. So he faded low, responding with "what?!!..like Week 5 or something?!!" And then I let him know it was WEEK 1.

I still cannot get over that one. Week 1! We all knew something was wrong, that Jacobs was ordinary from the beginning, yet we did not know what they DID, what they HAD TO KNOW. That he was hurt in Week 1 and it was dragging down his productivity to the point where Gartrell Johnson could have done the same production. Yes, Jacobs knows the blitz pickups, but this goes back to what I keep harping on- you play the game for one thing- to win championships. That was not a championship decision. That was a decision to try be ordinary and survive. That was not a decision, witnessing his decrease in production and ability, to see that this guy was not going to be helping this team enough to warrant this route and then maybe make the playoffs and not have him at 100% for when you need him most... busting heads in the playoffs!

Ironically, with Jacobs getting healthy and coming back in Week ~7 and then hitting his stride by Week 10, he could ACTUALLY be your boon by MISSING those games early and being effective come December and January. Instead we got the tiptoe almost all year. And the moment the Giants were eliminated in Week 16, he was placed on IR. That too was telling, that he was on fumes for many weeks. Yes, I am guilty of second-guessing on this one, but when this happens Week 1 it is SO CLEAR what you have to do. And that is because you play to win titles, not survive.

All he had to do was look at the schedule to see he wasn't much needed the first 5-6 games. We needed a healthy Jacobs at the end of the year. A ridiculous decision.

2009 was the year that Derrick Ward was badly needed. Jacobs was hurt in week 1, Bradshaw was hobbled in a soft cast much of the year. Ward was exactly what we needed to keep the running game a viable threat.A reliable 1,000 yd runner and screen pass catching threat.Can you imagine our O, with our great receivers & a serious running threat ?

Instead the NYG let Ward go to save a few million bucks. Then immediately blew the money foolishly on
Rocky Bernard.

2009 was a very tough year.

Seriously, this is second-guessing supreme and it's getting into really fine line territory with football. I remember seeing something on Jerome Bettis and how the guy basically couldn't walk for days after a game. So, it seems that no one is healthy playing. When Plax goes the full season with his plantar issues, we're saying 'great - no excuses - he's a gamer'. Unless you're a sports doc - I don't see a basis to know who should be out and when. And you don't know who knew exactly what and when - you can't. Who knows even when the doctors know. Think Pierce was probably playing for weeks when he shouldn't have - think that was an automatic that he shouldn't be playing? Probably not, I'm going to guess that there's lots of gray area. Unless you dig up the "Jacobs-gate" tapes, I don't see the basis to finger-point. The treatment of Canty, Pierce, Boley (remember his start of season surgery? You telling me that the Giants didn't care about getting HIM on the field immediately?) and the myriad of other injuries should point to the Giants docs and staff being WILLING to be careful regardless of timing. That they weren't hellbent like Captain Ahab. I don't think it could have been a given that Jacobs needed surgery (maybe it was the prognosis that physical therapy would work). Again, I'm not a doctor so I don't know...What I do know was that the line play fell off a bit. I also know that there were plenty of healthy Jacobs runs where he was stuffed (thus the creation of Bradshawaholics). I'm still not convinced Jacobs is a premier back. I like him, but I still like Bradshaw better.

the nyg were hit so hard at rb as noted above that the team felt jacobs must play thru it. if ware had been healthy i bet they would have had surgery after week 1, especially with the weak beginning schedule. so it is really hard to criticize a situation that was truly desperate.

I was so disappointed in Jacobs this season!! It was so depressing watching him run sideways rather then forward, it just wasn't his year. It all makes sense now that I know that he was playing with a knee injury. He probably just didn't want to injure it more, unfortunately it injured the running game of the team. As a fan you have to back your team up no matter what, and no matter how bad they play! I'm looking forward to seeing Jacobs at the Steiner Sports Fest II, and hopefully hear him say he is getting better and that the Giants will be back on top in 2010!