I know he is gone but Steve Smith is now practicing....

but I also think that Reese and Hanlon did not acquit themselves very well in the immediate aftermath of the Smith signing. Now both Reese and Hanlon are both gentlemen and good human beings. Hanlon has been exceptionally gracious to BBI. However on this one single occasion I think they both came across as overly arrogant and callous to fans concerns. I think they could have handled themselves with a little more humility and less braggadocio. I think Reese's comments about making the playoffs may come back to haunt him if this season goes south.

twist it to suit their own agendas.

The Giants wanted him to take his time because it is healthier for the long term. The Eagles are getting him up and running right away--why not?? They have a one year investment in him so fuck 'im if he gets hurt!

the alleged offer from Reese to O$i semed fair to me..If you play like a top 5 DE, you'll be paid like one. 2008 he missed the season..2009 wasn't his best season. We were so crippled in 2009 that we could have used every body we could, yet O$i was benched the latter part of the year. Last year was a very good one. So since 2007, has he performed like a top 5 DE..1 year out of the last 3 does not merit top 5 money

Yes, we do have the same policy with FAs we bring in. The same thing happened with Baas. The 49ers claimed that their understanding was that they'd get a chance to match any offers he got. They didn't get that chance... Uh oh, this conspiracy by the agents might be more pervasive than we thought...

if he played like a top 5 end. Since then he was injured and missed the season, played so poorly he was benched and then had one great year. So tell me where that promise was broken.

SS was a good giant but he moved on, we need too as well. Hixon, Cruz, and Thomas all need to step up and that's pretty much sums up our situation. We can blame whoever but that's not going to bring him back here, we have some talent at the Wr area...we should be able to manage as long as Nicks and Manningham stay healthy.

I'm getting a big popcorn for the total meltdown here when he plays his first game. All you drama queens get your "A" material, competition will be fierce.

It's football -There is free agency and players move on. Get over it. It's not like Eli is suiting up for Philly.

By the Giants organization on this one. Just a huge fuckup.

I'm still disgusted that a Giant mvp was basically handed to philly. Don't worry sheep, barden had a great day on the exercise bike yesterday.

We will see how content people are with this move when were going 3 and out drive after drive

to lose someone in free agency.

It's another to lose the Giants' only Pro Bowl WR since the late 1960s.

Nicks is the better player. Maybe Manningham. But losing Steve Smith is a big, big deal.

I'm with you on this one. I also think the Smith to the Eagles thing was something Dogra was setting up all last year. I can't fully blame Reese because this situation seems very fishy.

You sound like StealingSociety. Relax. We have no idea if Steve Smith is going to be the same guy he was before he got hurt. His game relied heavily on sharp cuts and changes in direction and he's coming off microfracture. People are assuming it's not going to effect him which doesn't make much sense to me.

It sucks that we lost Smith but let's not act like we just let Eli Manning or Hakeem Nicks walk away from the team. There are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about this offense.

The probowl comment is irrelevant. We've had weak WRs over the years and a number of guys snubbed. That doesn't make the loss of Smith any more significant.

We will have to disagree on how big the loss is. Smith is coming off a very serious injury.

Quote:

-@JonathanTamari: Steve Smith - despite all the optimism - says he won't be at 100 percent for another 4 to 6 weeks. Mixed message there.

If prior MF surgery is any indication(for offensive players), SS will never be 100% or near what he once was..

IMO.

I understand but I'm heated. Also, I see a ton of ?? W the giants offense.

I believe this is a very questionable offensive line, we don't have an average tight end, we have 2 wideouts I trust.

I'm extremely worried about the offense. I feel the defense will be about the same as last year but the TT injury was huge

So, he's saying he will be 100% between Week 2-4. Not that bad, IMO. We were hearing he might not be back until Week 8-10, not too long ago.

It's irrelevant at this point because he's not even close to going full speed and production-wise most likely will never be close to what he was..So AGAIN, name one OFFENSIVE player who returned to what he was through all the years? Why is this being conveniently ignored?

That steve smith shouldve received a fair offer from the giants and he didn't. He got jerked around by them, got pissed and got a better offer from philly and bounced

The guy did not exactly draw a ton of interest in FA. Wonder why that is?

What player doesn't think he'll be 100% percent? You here that so often and the facts are pretty much against that happening, esp. in 2-4 weeks..

.

4-6 weeks from today is between Weeks 2-4 of the regular season. I'm sorry, but I think Smith will be a productive contributer this season. Him participating in any type of practice this soon is eye-opening, IMO.

Some of you guys can put all blame on the Giants organization. I honestly think the Giants was being cautious with Smith because this is a serious injury that can ruin his playing career for good. But if the Giants did offer Steve a contract last year then the Giants did everything they could, point blank Steve was going to the Eagles way before he went to the Eagles. This has Dogra name written all over it.

and oh my God, what will we do without him are two different things.

I'm not really sure what's so questionable about the OL. Snee, Diehl and KMac are all still here and Baas is an upgrade over O'Hara. Beatty is the biggest question but I think he'll be alright.

There's also no way Eli throws 25 picks again this year. That number will normalize this year and go down by 10 or more. Turning the ball over less will make a big difference for us on both sides of the ball.

I'm really not that worried about the offense.

He is clearly one of the best pass rushers in the game and would get 10+ million per season on the open market


to go back and look at 2009 when he was recovering from surgery is idiotic.

if Reese did indeed promise to redo the contract if Osi performed like a top DE, then he clearly reneged on the promise. i have no idea what in fact was promised, but if Osi is telling the truth, then he has every right to feel betrayed

But some people believe he is done. It works both ways.

Agreed. That is true.

and risking a setback. A little tweak in the wrong direction could spell major disaster when a healthy, fully healed knee could absorb that same tweak. I know this from experience.

we are SOL. Cruz has barely shown up this pre-season/camp, Barden is still in parts unknown. I'm praying our 2 WRs stay healthy.

At most he's done light jogging like Maclin..Nothing he hasn't done on his own for quite some time, so what is eye opening? Has he cut hard yet? We know by the reports he hasn't. So what is so eye-opening about something he's probably done for months now(Giants are obviously aware of this)? Is it because he's doing the same thing but in Helmet, Jersey, pads and pants?

If DeSean Jackson went down with a season ending injury, wouldn't the Eagles be in deep shit too?

How would the Texans WR's be without Andre? The Lions without Megatron?

If that is the case then Eli is not half the QB people make him out to be. Look what Rivers and Peyton did last year. Not to mention Eli.

that is.

but I didn't expect to hear him doing any type of practicing 2 weeks before the season started.

are more than adequate, don't you think? The only question was Hixon's knee and he has proven ON THE FIELD that it's a non-factor. I haven't seen any reports on post game swelling which is not to say there wasn't any. As a talent, I believe Hixon will do just fine as our 3rd wideout

but there are teams out there with proven 3rd WRs out there. Or at the least, some type of proven vet. We have Vinctor Cruz and a hurt Barden.

How has Hixon proven he can handle it on the field for a 16 game season?

Not saying he can't, but it's nowhere near a given.

I'm not even counting on Barden. Anything he gives us would be a bonus

he's proven a hell of a lot more since the injury than Smith. Hixon's injury was a lot sooner, and probably not as severe.

You are correct, we have no idea how he will hold up over the course of a 16 game season. So, what does that tell you about Smith? He hasn't seen the field AND his surgery was far more complex than Hixon's

It's not just Cruz and Barden.

Jernigan will take a little time but there's no reason why he can't turn into a solid slot WR. Hixon has looked outstanding so far.

Look at most NFL teams rosters. I think you're assuming many more teams have proven WR3's than they really do.

We'll have to see how things pan out. But for my take, wide receiver is really not one of my concerns for the team.

And I absolutely wouldn't have given Smith a long extension, after getting hurt. But for a 1 year deal, I absoultey would have. I'm still aittle surprised to hear about Smith jogging/running already, though.

I'm not expecting Jernigan to do much damage this year. Not sure what to expect from Hixon. He looked pretty good in the 1st pre-season game. Thomas? No idea. Put all of that together with Bardens' injury and Cruz being a non-factor so far this pre-season/camp, and it's awhole lot of question marks after Nicks and Mario.

a year ago verses what they offered him now. That should give some indication how big a concern it was for them.

he wasn't going to get an offer on par with what he would have gotten with no injury.