Ballard claimed by Pats

look back. Always looking forward. They do what they have to do with no regrets. They personify the "next man up" mentality better than any other team I've ever seen, kind of like the early part of the 2000's Patriots.

We're always drafting talent for various positions, even when we don't seemingly need it, for situations like this. We're always prepared.

From Plaxico to Smith, from Smith to Cruz, from Shockey to Boss, from Boss to Ballard, from Ballard to whomever....

There is a pattern here.

of Bavaro or he was a one-hit wonder courtesy of the genius of Mike Pope.

Ballard was a solid yet unspectacular TE. He gave it his all while he was here, which is why I'm a big fan of the guy, but I can't imagine the Giants will have a very hard time replacing him since they're going to have to work on replacing him this season anyway. Don't forget - it's not as if we're limited to the guys on the roster and the draft, we could always sign a FA TE.

Sucks to see Ballard go, but I can't imagine that we'd have 300 posts on this if the pilferer was anyone but Belichick.

He may have looked slow, but he got deep down the seam pretty effortlessly...see the first game against the Redskins, the first game against the Patriots.

He made huge plays in the clutch...Arizona TD, seam pass against Pats, three late catches in Dallas, etc.

They will find more bodies, but Ballard was better than many are giving him credit for.

If Cruz didn't steal the show last year, we'd be talking about what a find he was.

after he returned in 2013, and what it might cost to keep him after that season.

In reality, we've lost one year of Ballard, and not even for this season. He was a good player and the loss will hurt, but he was lost for the year long before he was waived.

As a matter of fact, I was telling people on the board early in the season last year that I couldn't tell the difference between Ballard and Boss. That they looked like the same dude to me on the field, like Boss never left. Nobody wanted to hear it, as it was still popular to crucify Reese for letting Boss go.

I wish I could find those threads.

doesn't need to catch a pass and he can upgrade the TE position.

If the Giants can run the ball next year, TE blocking should be a big part of that.

As much as people on here like Ballard he was not a great blocking TE, in fact contrary to many I think it was a deficiency.

Bennett is supposed to be able to improve that.

the 38 catches, clutch or not, Ballard had last year will need to come from someone else, maybe Wilson out of the backfield or maybe the JPP of TE's gets it quicker than anticipated, maybe Bennett caches a few passes, they go to Hynoski more, who knows, but they will come from somewhere.

Boss was a big loss because it appeared we had no other viable option. Then Ballard had a great first year. So you are making the assumption that finding his replacement will be just as easy. It doesn't work that way.

Coughlin doesn't seem to agree with you guys, but what the hell?

understand the management intricacies with regards to waiving injured players, so I can't evaluate the decision to waive Ballard.

I don't buy for a second that Belichick picked him up out of either spite or as a way of learning about the Giants. The odds that it would pay off for those reasons are way too low for NE/BB to make that move.

I do think it's a wise move for the Patriots if they feel confident that they won't be losing out on a hidden talent at the end of their roster.

For right now, the Patriots are set at tight-end with Gronkowski and Hernandez. So they do not have any need for Ballard to try and rush back for this season. He can just take his time to rehab and study tape and the playbook.

Hernandez is under team control through 2013. But with what Gronkowski was just paid, I could see pre-2013 being a tough negotiation period for the Patriots and Hernandez.

If Hernandez decides to hold out, the Patriots will still havce Ballard that they can put into a tight end role. And if they do pay Hernandez, they can trade Ballard for draft picks.

I think Ballard is a solid receiving threat across the middle of the field / down the seam. He isn't a playmaker like Gronk/Hernandez/Graham/Vernon, but I think he is a big, reliable target that was perhaps underused in the GIants scheme.

But with the Patriots MO on offense, and Brady's razor-sharp precision in the short-game, I could see them loving Ballard whenever he gets healthy.

wasn't a fan of waving Ballard.

There is a pattern.

front page thing about Ballard being an exclusive rights FA, this move really started to puzzle me. I don't understand the move at all. Why would you just give away a pretty good player? This never would have happened to many of the other starters on the O or D if they were hurt during the SB.

My hunch is that either: A) they are really excited about the other TEs on the roster, or B) they don't think Ballard will ever fully bounce back from this injury.

On the surface, the move seems weird to me.

You and I disagree.

If you needed the roster spot, waive Clint Sintim.

So I do think Coughlin does agree with us. But what can you do? Move forward, which is what they always do.

My point is this sucks. I don't agree with those who say "it's no big deal." Do I think it's a major blow? No. But it hurts.

And the Giants obviously gambled and lost on this one. Coughlin isn't happy.

about this is Ballard.

I'm not happy to see Ballard go either, but 2013 may as well be ten years from now with all that could happen between now and then.

Ballard was a serviceable TE but nothing special. I don't think we are going to have major problems replacing his 38 receptions and average blocking. That's not to say I didn't like him as a player. He made some big plays and seemed to be a great teammate. But it's a little ridiculous to say we're going to have any type of major issue replacing his production, imo.

Do teams have a "gentlemen's agreement" not to claim them?

a scrub like Sintim. Can't wait until he is no longer on this team.

Yeah, it sucks. See, we do agree.

But it's not the end of the world and we will move on, like they always do.

there is no guarantee he would even be that same player once he did return from that major knee injury. This was a calculated risk by the Giants and I don't fault Reese one bit.

.

The Giants got caught trying to save a roster spot and they lost a player I liked last year. Yeah, he would not have played last year, but he could have been but on PUP at some point.

You don't really see it. I was thinking the same thing.

looking at the players' salary page. Thank God.

that's why it's clear that this was a infantile move by Bill Belichick to stick it to the Giants.

Nothing more, IMO.

practice squad as revenge for Ballard.

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made one play since he was drafted? He had a sack when he was left unblocked, but I can't remember anything else.

Now he has two ACLs in back-to-back years.

Before he got hurt last year, I thought he was going to get waived.

that is exactly what I thought. This is something the Eagles would do. Maybe Banner leaving would change that, but I doubt it. Reid seems like he likes to be an ass when it comes to the Giants too.

He started Training Camp as a starter last year.

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see this happen due to an unwritten rule that you don't do it, or is it because most of the players that are injured-waived are marginal players that don't generate interest from other teams?

that can be revisited.

That's why I try to avoid doing it.

That's fine ,you have your opinion, and we have ours. When he does something notable for once, maybe we can revisit it.

Great attitude, big heart, simply the type of player that you like to have in the club house and he will be missed. Having said that, the team was going try to upgrade the position anyways and he probably wouldn’t have been the 2012 starter given the physical talent the Giants picked up in the offseason. IMHO, Ballard won the job for being the best of a poor group of TEs the team had when they broke camp in 2011, and fortunately he made the most of it. But, he doesn't have a large upside (IMO), the Giants now have more options at TE with guys that are physically more gifted (I think Shawn Rogers would beat him in a foot race), he is recovering from serious injuries and may not see the field at all during 2012. Waiving him was a gamble the team could aford to lose on, and it was the right buisness decision.

But if it's a requisite of talent, then Bennett, Robinson, Hopkins all have talent. I have complete faith that Pope will "coach them up".

I also don't see how Ballard is such a devastating loss, especially since he will be completely out of commission of the whole year.

We have a full year to replace Ballard. I fully expect either Pope to develop/coach up somebody in that time or for Reese to go out and get somebody else.

because I haven't seen him get much of an opportunity. Which is why I find it funny that so many people have the opinion that he's absolutely terrible.

However, using logic, I see a player that was talented enough to get first and second round mention pre draft, drafted by Reese in the second round, and one of the guys Reese singled out by name as somebody who needed to "grow up". Add in the fact that he's been kept through 2 ACL tears and logic tells you that our coaches and talent evaluators see something talented in the guy, so I will defer to them.

but everyone makes mistakes every now and then. Happens to the best of us. The guy has been on team for a few years now, and hasn't produced a thing, even when healthy. This is the last year of his contract, so we will find out sooner rather than later if the Giants even attempt to re-sign him. I'll to the past 3 years.

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I guess we'll see.

In the meantime, though, I'm not going to pretend I have a handle on what type of player he is when I don't have the neccessary talent evaluation skills (even from a novice standpoint) to back that up, nor am I seeing him day in, day out like the coaches are.

How many people here wanted Cruz dumped in similar fashion last year or the year prior as taking up a roster spot.

Always better to let things play out than look like a fool later, IMO.

than just a serviceable TE last year. He was tough, big, strong target who made plays and several big ones at that. Having said that, I would be more upset with this if we lost him as a UFA like Boss last year. But he was/is going to be on IR this season and needed to be replaced anyway.

But lets not down play what he contributed last year just to feel better about losing him.

according to you, not firing Coughlin was settling for mediocrity. Good call.

You were right on the fire Reese Bandwagon last summer for the Boss and Smith "debacle" as well.

Also, wasn't it you who told me last summer to just "face it, the Eagles are going to be very good" when I was starting threads pointing out their flaws and weaknesses as I saw them?

Batting .1000 in absolutes, you are.

I'll defer to those.

thought the Eagles would at least be pretty good last year. Last time I checked, they still have this year to prove themselves. I'm thankful they weren't as good as advertised, but lets see how they do if they stay healthy. That is a mantra we hear here quite a bit, you know.

And there were quite a bit of people who felt the same exact way I felt. I have *zero* problem admitting when I am wrong. No problem with that here. I feel 3 out of 4 years is a pretty darn good sample size on a player. Silly me. If Sintim goes out this year and impresses, I'll be the first to say I was shocked. But the odds of that happening? Not very good.

In my opinion Ballard was better than Boss.

And to say Ballard didn't have much upside, well he didn't need much upside, he was already playing at the level of a quality starting TE.

Anyone who wants to dismiss the loss of Ballard as meaningless, should talk to Belichick and Coughlin. Unless of course you're convinced you know better than Belichick and Coughlin.

Nobody is claiming it's the end of the world, we're just saying it was a mistake. And an unnecessary one.

who figured we'd be fine and didn't buy into the eagles hype.

And we were ridiculed left and right.

Like the year before when the same small group knew Eli would be fine and he was.

And the year before when we were fucked at the WR position then smith went out and set a franchise record for catches.


I expect people to learn at some point that this regime knows exactly what they're doing rather than look like jackasses time and time again. Save for the safeties fiasco in '09 and the dodge blunder in '10, why exactly do people still think they know better than the pros?


And before anyone says it, I'm not saying don't discuss these things on a football message board. I'm saying try a little harder to learn how this regime does things and trust that.

good lord