Roger Goodell lowered the sonic boom on the Saints yesterday.  The Saints got hit hard with the loss of 2 second round picks in 2012 and 2013, $500k, Payton 1 year suspension and 6 8 game suspension of their GM.  Was this a power play by the commissioner of the most powerful organized sports league in the world, or a justified action?  We have heard a lot from the Commish’s office over the last couple of years about player safety with severe public fines such as his poster boy Steelers’ Harrison.  The League is undergoing pressure with a slew of lawsuits from former/retired NFL veterans on concussion related injuries including one recently from Jim McMahon.  But, why was the levy so harsh?  Let’s not be naive, as we all know that bounties are not uncommon in the NFL.  One has only to infer that the Saints lied through their teeth to interfere with the investigation in order to get levied in this way. 

In other related news, the snitch has been speculated to be none other than former TE Jeremy Shockey.  The alpha male has been singled out by Warren Sapp, which makes sense in terms of a) what we’ve experienced with his outbursts on being out-coached and b) his exact tenure with the Saints.  Yet, Pro Football Talk questions Sapp’s source.

Team Tebow has landed in our shared building.  It makes a lot of sense to the Jets, whose current OC (Toney Sparano) started the ‘wildcat’ scheme with the Dolphins.  Expect Tebow to be utilized solely in that role, but knowing Jet fans you might see a billboard on the Jersey Turnpike soon lobbying for Tebow as their starting QB.  Broncos, how did that work out for you 2 years later?  Tebow was a 1^st rounder in 2010 and traded away for a 4^th rounder in 2012.  By the way, how many are you peeved with the Texans giving up DeMeco Ryans for a 4^th rounder to the Igles?

On a sad note, the late Ron Erhardt passed away yesterday at the age of 80.  We honor Erhardt for bringing us 2 Super Bowl rings.  He had a conservative offensive game plan, but with great defense, he delivered the bottom line with 2 trophies that we celebrate up there on the banner.  Besides the Lombardi trophies, I respected how he utilized Bavaro in his system and I give credit to him for the development of Phil Simms.  An interesting historical note, Erhardt gave Bill Parcells his second NFL job as LB coach with the Patriots in 1980 in between stints with Perkins.  R.I.P. Ron Erhardt.

Yesterday, Aaron Ross signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Ross has been a stable but unspectacular CB for the NY Giants.  We have rated him the prototypical "4," a replaceable starter.  And considering that Jerry Reese let him walk without much of a fight, the 'replaceable' description is appropriate. 

Ross played well down the stretch.  But less obvious to most is that the Giants did not face a highly rated set of WRs in the playoffs, with the exception of the Packers.

We need to also remember a key play in the GB game in Q3, where Ross is beat but Rodgers gets sack-stripped by Osi Umenyiora.  The point here is that the Giants had great matchups in 3 of the 4 games.  Ross is a competent but very average CB who helped the Giants to a title but will not be missed if Amukamara (first true camp), TT (ACL) and a few others (Tryon, etc.) can plug the holes. 

Many things broke the right way for Ross and the Giants.  During the regular season, Ross was vulnerable to Braylon Edwards, but the Niners cut Edwards for disciplinary reasons before the playoffs (and hence their keen interest in improving at the WR position with Randy Moss and Mario Manningham).  The biggest break of all came when the Niners pulled off the miracle in the divisional round vs the Saints.  If the Giants had to face the Saints in the dome, how many of you feel we win that game?  This game is about matchups, and while I personally feel the Giants had a great deal of resolve in the XLVI run, that Saints offense was ALWAYS going to matchup well vs the Giants defense.  Considering that Vernon Davis took us for 2 TDs while the Giants keyed on him all game, how do the Giants manage superstar TE Jimmy Graham PLUS Colston, Henderson, Meachem, Moore and Sproles?  The bottomline is that the Saints are nasty to handle on a good day, but in the dome they are a nightmare. 

In the Superdome, the Saints were 8-0 this past season with an AVERAGE winning score of 41-18.  This was the game we are all grateful never happened.  This was the game where Aaron Ross would have been exposed and thankfully was not.  Instead, the Giants faced a pedestrian set of WRs in SF, Ross got another ring, and he cashed out with a nice contract courtesy of the Jacksonville Jaguars.  Good for the Giants, good for Ross, a very happy ending for all sides.

Mike Florio goes around the league, talking about Peyton Manning, Peyton Hillis etc..  Later, he and Amani Toomer talk about #81's comments on his former teammate, Jeremy Shockey. 

Amani Toomer: "After Jeremy Shockey in 2007 got injured, Eli's play went up because he didn't have that distraction in the huddle."  On twitter, bad teammate, worse person.  "When Jeremy first came he was the ultimate professional, and I was the first person singing his praises."

This whole topic of conversation got started because Shockey is a free agent.  Naturally, people consider whether the old team will have interest. 

Okay, folks, this may not be easy, but on a day when Shockey's stock price is collapsing, I am going to support this guy and take his side.

No, I am NOT advocating for the NY Giants to take Shockey back.  That ship has sailed.  But it goes back to what I have always said about Shockey- he was never managed properly by his coaching staff.  He was an alphamale Pro Bowl talent that could arguably be a Hall of Famer.  Instead he is a loudmouth and a bad teammate.  What happened?  As I have said before, when you have exceptional talent and a pea brain, it is a volatile cocktail.  Guys like Keyshawn Johnson come to mind.  And the next moment, my thoughts lead to Bill Parcells.  To watch a guy like Parcells manage Keyshawn Johnson was a thing of beauty.  How did that 1st rounder go from malcontent to thoroughbred warrior?  Because Parcells managed him.  Parcells knew how to get the most out of his alphas.  He set the bar high, gave them touches on offense (or in the case of LT, latitude on defense) and demanded they deliver on Sunday.  It was not THAT complicated. 

With Shockey, he was asked by Hufnagel, Gilbride and Coughlin to block.  And that is why you hear the stories of how he is a malcontent in the huddle, tugging on Eli, get me the ball, get me the ball.  NO F'G SH*T he wanted the ball!  He deserved it because he was one of the most potent offensive players in the league, yet he'd go games without more than a few receptions.  Good coaches coach to their personnel.  God gives you WRs, you throw to your WRs.  God gives you a RB in 1970, you run him.  God gives you a RB in 2011, you hand him the ball AND you throw the ball to him.  And if God gives you a Pro Bowl TE, you get that Pro Bowl TE the ball.  You play the hand you are dealt.

You think that maybe Shockey wouldn't be tugging on Eli's jersey if the coaches were willing to have him in the gameplan?!  You think maybe Shockey would be less of a problem if his coaches were feeding him the ball in the red zone, where his skills would be in even greater demand?! 

The reason why Shockey was dysfunctional was because the coaches were dysfunctional.  I remember games where a few of the WRs would be sidelined with injuries, and all of a sudden TE Shockey would explode with oodles of catches for 100+ yards.  Gilbride had no choice but to get the TE the ball, and shock-ey of shocks-ey, the passing game flourished through the TE.  Surprise surprise Sergeant Carter!  We always wondered aloud- why make Shockey block 1 player when he could take 2 into coverage?!!!  It made no sense then.  It still makes no sense now (when I think back to those days).

Shockey is now well past his prime.  His body is a shell of what it used to be.  We won't bother talking about the waste on that front again.

Amani Toomer can badmouth the 2007 Shockey all he wants.  He, as always, is 100% accurate in what he says.  By that point in 2007, absolutely, Shockey was a problem and Eli did not need that.  But Shockey did not come into the league a problem.  Toomer testified to that as well.  The progression from "ultimate professional" to "distraction in the huddle" happened because his tremendous talents were underutilized.  That his behavior devolved was a reminder that genes still need environment.  What a waste.   

The Giants retained two of their own players, while plucking another from a division foe.

On Tuesday, the Giants re-signed cornerback Terrell Thomas.  Thomas, an emerging defensive star, suffered a season ending knee injury in the preseason.  This torn ACL kept him out for the entire 2011 season.  Prior to this injury, Thomas was on the cusp of greatness. From our August game recap, here is our take on Thomas.

Terrell Thomas is the best cornerback on this team.   Not only is he good in coverage,  out of all of the cornerbacks on the Giants, he is their best tackler.  As a matter of fact, last season, Thomas LED the team in tackles with 81.  (SURPRISE, he led the team in tackles in 2009 as well.) Besides being a very good tackler, Thomas is an effective blitzer.  Ironically, on the play in which he got injured, Thomas was blitzing off the edge.  Furthermore, over the last two seasons, Thomas led the Giants secondary with FIVE interceptions.  Sadly, like Jason Sehorn 13 years ago in another preseason game, the Giants lose their best cornerback to a serious knee injury.  Although Sehorn did make a comeback, he was not the same player. We can only hope TT can recover from this injury and upon his return play at a high level.

The Giants are banking on Thomas for a full recovery.  But his recovery may take time.  Think Osi 2008 and Kenny Phillips 2009.  Both Osi and KP did not ascend to their optimum playing levels until the following year.  Nevertheless, the Giants structured his contract based on performance.  Newark Star-Ledger's Mike Garafolo has Thomas' contract in detail.  The Giants are hedging on Thomas coming back from his grave injury.  If Thomas struggles, the Giants can choose not to pick up on his 2013 option.  In the meantime, Thomas' return will only bolster the Giants defense.  As mentioned, he is a superb tackler, blitzer, and can guard a slot receiver.  Neutralizing a slot receiver is pivotal to shutting down a team's offense.  Because of his size, arm span, and physical play, Thomas matches up very well against slot receivers.  A few days ago on the NFL Films Blog, Greg Cosell examined the importance of Saints Marques Colston's importance to the Saints offense.  Colston, a slot receiver, inked a lucrative contract to remain with the Saints.  Let us hope Thomas can regain his pre 2011 form.  

David Carr will he holding the Giants clip board for another season.  The Giants and Carr agreed on a one year contract. 

When the Giants trailed the Cowboys by 12 points late in their December match up at Texas Stadium, then Cowboys TE Martellus Bennett must have been taking notes.  If Eli Manning can make undrafted TE Jake Ballard look awesome, he can then make Bennett into the next Kellen Winslow Sr.  Bennett, a huge disappointment with the Cowboys, looks to revitalize his career with the Giants.  Bennett signed a one-year 2.5 million prove it deal with the Giants.  If Bennett was worth his salt, he would have put up better numbers in Dallas.  According to the Dallas Morning News' Brandon George, Bennett is a great blocking tight end who never came into his own in the Cowboys' passing game. He had too many drops when given chances. At least Reese addressed this issue immediately.  The immediate signing of Bennett indicates the recovery times for Jake Ballard and Travis Beckum are going slower than anticipated.  As Bill Parcells would say, you need hold down the fort guys.  And Bennett fits this bill.  If he exceeds expectations and blossoms with the Giants, it would be gravy. 

First off, thanks to Brandon Jacobs, who always seemed proud to play for the New York Giants up until his last game on us. While he will probably be picked up by another team, he ended his career with the Giants on top.  No matter what he said in the media or did during the week, Jacobs came and gave the Giants his best effort every Sunday.

Still--he had to go.

For a team that is trying to shed salaries, Jacobs provided a great opportunity to do just that. No reason the Giants should be paying their backup RB $4.9 million base salary (or even half of that number to be perfectly honest). I mentioned recently that the Giants could look to upgrade the position through the draft. Perhaps they choose to bring in a veteran who is willing to play for around $1 million a year. That question will be answered soon.

Anyway let's look back at Jacobs' tenure with the Giants. Stats wise--he averaged just about nine rushing TDs per season over his seven-year career. Pretty impressive. His lowest total was four in 2007, which also may have been his best year. He broke the 1000-yard mark and rushed for 92 yards per game. 

After showing flashes as Tiki's backup in 06 it seemed like everyone had high expectations for Jacobs heading into 2007. And while he was great in 07 and 08, breaking the 1000-yard barrier in each season, it always seemed like he was falling just a bit short below of the (maybe unfairly) high expectations that everyone had for him. Then again the timing was never right for Jacobs to be a star. Splitting carries with another 1000-yard back in Ward (and to an extent, Bradshaw) prevented Brandon from ever having a 250-300 carry season in the heart of his prime. Who knows what a fresh-legged Jacobs could have done behind one of the best run-blocking lines the Giants have ever seen. That is something that seems to get lost on some people.

By 2011 many had become frustrated with his inability to hit the hole with purpose (while the logical fan knew it was some combination of that and the struggles of the offensive line) and ruled out the back as a viable option. But the running back's second half of the season proved that Jacobs still could run well, despite the Giants' struggling o-line. 

He always showed up for the big games, especially Dallas (that goes a long way with me) including this season when he lit up the Cowboys in a game where Bradshaw was suspended. He was pretty solid for the Giants down the stretch this season and turned in some pretty good games while Bradshaw was hurt. None bigger than the Dallas game. 

By the end of his time with us he became a very good pass blocker, something he inexplicably wasn't earlier in his career. I'll always have the lasting image of the "veteran Jacobs" in Super Bowl XLVI taking on a blitzing Rob Ninkovich and just absolutely standing him up and delivering a massive blow. Great stuff.

Jacobs Giants run can also be quantified in the collection of YouTube moments that he has compiled throughout his career---like this one, or this one, this one, this one, this one or this one. I mean--come on--Jacobs just seems like a natural fit in professional wrestling. Seriously. The man is a football player AND an entertainer.

While all of that is great stuff, it'd be foolish not to focus on Jacobs' on-field production and contributions. He played a major role on two world champion teams as both a player and a team leader.  He's no longer a NY Giant, but he was a very effective player who was a major contributor to two world championship football teams.