Ballard claimed by Pats

Reese gambled and lost
The Eagles will know our playbook
Steve Smith will return to his old form
We don't have anybody on the roster to replace Steve Smith
Steve Smith would be starting if he were on the roster..

How'd all that work out?

Smith was a much better player.

He would most likely waive camp fodder and keep him. Regardless, I have a feeling this will end up being inconsequential. The Giants will have a quality TE in 2013

I'm with Eric on this one 1000%.

Even with Ballard not playing this season he is a winning football player. It appears Reese and co. got overconfident thinking no one would take the chance on claiming him. Jeez, it's not like he's a Brian Witherspoon or something - he made big plays in huge games - and is a great asset.

I absolutely hate this.

than we do. He's likely not the same guy as before this injury.

I don't think one season of Ballard and his 35 catches makes him an irreplaceable franchise cornerstone.

Boss was a winning football player. Steve Smith was a winning football player too.

Seriously?

Why not just release a camp fodder guy instead of risking losing Ballard on waivers? We have 3 TEs in Purvis, Donnell and Hopkins who have slim chances of making this team. Or a guy like Reinders. These guys most likely won't make the final roster so why couldn't we just cut loose one of these guys and just carry Ballard until we IR'd him? Just doesn't make sense to me. We kept a guy in Beckum who tore his ACL(yes, I know it wasn't as severe as Ballard's) who in 3 years has shown next to nothing, yet we cut a guy who worked like a dog for us and actually looked like a good starting TE when he was healthy in only 1 year of action. I know it's In Reese We Trust, but this was an unwise move in my opinion. Cutting a guy who wasn't going to make the team anyway and carrying an injured Ballard made much more sense.

I think it sucks that Ballard is gone. I was upset when Steve Smith left as well.

However, I trust that Reese and company know what they are doing. If they were comfortable risking it, then I trust that decision.

because you never know when the next Victor Cruz falls into your lap.

Did for this team, but I honestly doubt this will have much of an impact ont the Giants. If any. Lot of over reacting. This pails in comparison to smith and boss and we didn't miss a beat after losing those two.

Cruz was not camp fodder

Curious or wrong?

isn't going play this year most likely, and I don't think that we lost a lot going to Bennet. (phatty phat ass) The Patriots have two outstanding tight ends ahead of him, so I don't see him being of great use there.

by an butt sore BB

Hey Bill! Pope will build another one

or just incredibly poorly worded.

Jake Ballard please...all kidding aside... makes sense

Seriously guys, change your panties already.

Good luck to Jake. I hope his physical rehab goes well and he can play again.

Hardly an irreplacable loss.

On the oft chance they meet the giants in the SB again to gain some inside info. Come on. Whats the chances of that happening again? You r gonna pay a guy half a mil for that small chance of meeting up w the giants again in the SB. No way. What does BB love? Draft picks. Maybe he is thinking he can get one from the giants or someone else for ballard in 2013?

with the Jets. All sorts of D-bag moves which essentially were purely obnoxious - never helped or significantly hurt either team.

This move is that side of Bill. He can do it so he will.

Pats will tender him, maybe lose Hermandez. Pretty sure based on this senario that BB's interest is sincere and the Pats move sound.

I like Ballard and will miss him in blue.

for the Giants and good luck in NE.

the Pats want to put him on PUP, doesn't he go back on waivers? This is just a dick move by a bitter Belichick. I hope I see Jake again in the Big Blue, but if not, he will be fondly remembered.

owns the hooded one, 4-1 all time.

6 foot undrafted rookie FA WR out of UMASS having never started until he was a junior.

Yea, that's expected camp fodder

only made the team following a tryout consisting of local UDFA's. The Giants didn't even seek him out to sign him. LTS is right, he was considered camp fodder.

you'd think Ballard was the second coming of Mark Bavaro.

His loss is not inconsequential, but he's not irreplaceable, either. And we don't even know if he'll still be on the Pats - or even in football at all - come 2013.

picking up Ballard for Giant plays? Then he must be shaking in his boots because Miami got Ocho....errr, if he can only remember them?

BBI reacted the same way last year with Smith and Boss and both were more accomplished.

Look it sucks loosing the guy, we all came to really like him. However, some of you are really over reacting.

..around Novermber or there abouts...If not, then I guess not the worst of news him leaving...

he seems like a great guy and contributed quite a bit but he might be done--or a shadow of himself for all we know. I defer to the Giants on this one.

It's unlikely we'll play them again until 2016 in the regular season. If we do, it's going to be the Superbowl again (unlikely). I'll take my chances.

He's probably not very happy right now.

Going from an organization that he just won a Superbowl with, who was going to take care of him, and bring him back as their guy to one where he's the 5th or so TE on the roster, one with two superstar TE's already, only to be discarded eventually (likely).

If I'm Ballard, I'm pretty pissed, and I don't know how freely I'd offer up any information if I didn't have to.

He's not playing in 2012 anyway, and in today's NFL every Giant except for a handful is a year to year guy. He's just as likely today to end up with the Giants in 2013 as he was yesterday.

there were probably 10 guys the Pats could have just signed that might play this year who could have provided the same playbook information (if a player were even inclined to do that).

Someone like Kareem Mckenzie, Jimmy Kennedy, Deon Grant, etc.

Giants lost a good player who they didn't need to lose is the way I look at it.

He will be an Exclusive Rights Free Agent in 2013. He can't leave the Patriots.

I thought there was a good chance that Bennett was merely holding Ballard's spot for one year. We had better pray Bennett turns out to be good player because Pascoe is a journeyman, Beckum is still an unknown, and Robinson is green as grass.

we lost a good player who wasn't gonna play in 2012 anyway. I don't understand the hand wringing.

Someone needs to make a picture of Reese like the one with Eli

'Everyone chill the fuck out. I got this.'

I agree, the key was they lost a guy they didn't need to lose - unless of course Reese just didn't care if they lost them - but to be fair, many of us had this same exact conversation about the TE position last summer.

Fact is Ballard was unlikely to contribute AT ALL this season, and he had microfracture surgery - and while that's not the death sentence it once was, as we saw with KP it take a while to get yourself right.

Who even knows if Ballard can contribute in 2013. I believe it was a gamble Reese took and lost, but I don't know what he really lost. None of us do.

And Pope helped Ballard step up. Some people are acting as if Ballard was a sure thing for us all along. He wasn't. We have the #1 TE in the league. Let's have some faith he can continue to develop these TEs.

I, for one, will miss Ballard, but I have all the faith in the world we will be fine at the position.

Like Reese, I don't just look at the next year but beyond. I wanted Ballard back in 2013.

and subsequent surgery that Ballard's injury was much worse than originally feared and he might be done.

Look at Steve Smith. He was terrible last year, and he doesn't have nearly the weight Ballard does.

this place really is hard to believe sometimes.

Pope didn't manufacture Ballard. He coached him up. But he had the talent.

?

It was bad knee injury. It required microfracture surgery. But the Giants wanted him back.

I was talking him up as Witten 2.0 all season.

Reese wanted him for 2013 too.

But belichick swooped in, had he not made a very surprising move (as dubs said, it almost never happens), he'd be ours

We'll find another TE, just like we found another WR and TE last year. The giants don't need to 'pray' for anyone to step up, they just need to coach up the guys on the roster and if that fails this season, we'll go out and get a FA and a draftee again.

They wanted Steve Smith and Boss back, too. They have a year to figure it out and address it.

I'm confident they will.

On a side note, you have to wonder how much of Ballard's performance was on Ballard, and how much was attributed to the playcall and the read by the QB.

He looked slow as molasses out there but was always open. I'm thinking scheme and read had a lot to do with that.

Just like Smith and Boss, too. Plug and play when you have an offense like ours where you have an oustanding QB and Coordinator.

If he doesn't do well, they can let him walk. If he does well, he may price himself out of their range.

It's entirely possible our 2013 TE isn't even on the roster.