Mathias Kiwanuka Yesterday...Where the F*** has he been?

Must be getting a 'pee in a cup' letter from Goodell today.

he sucked to start the season but he is getting better as he gets more comfortable at the position

still lost contain on an outside run in the second half, but the improvement is there. He was the best player on defense yesterday

he went up against a former #1 pick in Riley Reiff, the latest star from the Iowa o-line factory.

and most of BBI has been unaware.

I don't think that is far off.

but I remember Eric saying a few weeks back that Kiwanuka had a good game also. It is not all about sacks ...

Kiwi has had a ton of "almost"'s this year.

He finished the job yesterday and had a great game.

But I will give him Yesterday where he was a force and used additional Pass Rush moves other than the ouitside rush.

no idea how any even semi-knowledgeable football fan can watch a game and come away with the conclusion Kiwi has been good. Even average or even just bad. He's been atrocious. But yeah, act all arrogant and group BBI into one fictitious person and say "it's been that way all along and BBI didn't notice". Ok, keep believing that and show even more football ignorance.

Yesterday is the best I've seen Kiwi play in years and the only answer I have is that he started at DE. He'd been coming in rotationally at DE or starting at LB - maybe he wasn't comfortable doing either.

In comment 11412431 pjcas18 said:

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no idea how any even semi-knowledgeable football fan can watch a game and come away with the conclusion Kiwi has been good. Even average or even just bad. He's been atrocious. But yeah, act all arrogant and group BBI into one fictitious person and say "it's been that way all along and BBI didn't notice". Ok, keep believing that and show even more football ignorance. Yesterday is the best I've seen Kiwi play in years and the only answer I have is that he started at DE. He'd been coming in rotationally at DE or starting at LB - maybe he wasn't comfortable doing either.

Agreed. Most games, he is routinely stonewalled.

I don't think it's fair to say the best in years. There were a number of games last year where he made impactful plays in the handful of DL snaps he got. The problem is that he spent far more time at OLB, where he sucked. Then, this year, he was still not much more than a rotational DE for most of the season.

yesterday. He had a very rough start to the season so people began only noticing the negatives without seeing the positives. He wasn't playing well, but he wasn't as bad as people made him out to be.

He has been playing better as of late as the whole DL has. They got confidence and believe in each other and just as important, themselves. It's amazing how that works.

I thought Kiwi was pretty good for a lot of 2011.

but then in December for some reason his snaps dropped (and I don't think we ever heard why), to almost like 15 to 25 per game or less (from a point where he was playing practically every down).

His play fell off around that time too.

So, my estimate is all of 2013 (until yesterday) and all of 2012 he was terrible IMO.

noticed his play a few weeks ago. Although he doesn't have the stats, he was moving very well, giving 100% and barely not making the play himself.

You could see him play after play just missing. He's probably getting near 100% now for DE.

but you do have to field a team next year. They might both be back, if Tuck takes a bit of a hometown discount. He strikes me as a guy who might.

But he is enigmatic. I expected a lot more games like yesterday's, but he's been MIA.

when your out of the playoffs and the pressure to "step up" is gone..

BAHAHAHAH.

Yeah, his weekly 15 yard personal foul penalty/drive killer were exceptional.

Kiwi has been woefully abysmal all year, I too was shocked that he actually was a + yesterday for the first time in years. Still, would rather him not on the team because he usually stinks and is an idiot.

he hasn't been good this year. PFW had him rated as one of the lowest (if not the lowest) 4-3 defensive end in the NFL this year - prior to yesterday's game.

how he's supposed to play all the time. a disruptive player

and not quite gotten there for like the last three years. Yesterday is one of the few games where he's actually made the play when its there.

Kudos, but I can't get that excited about it. It's not like he's been getting more disruptive each week with TFL's increasing or his QB hits going up significantly. I'll believe he's progressed when I see consistent impact; of course we've got only one game left, so if it was a case of increased DE reps, it's nice that he needed a season to warm up...

has been an above average pro for his entire career. Sometimes above average players play great. Don't count on it again soon.

That this guy has missed so many reps over the years at the DE position. That along with the additional strength training for a DE will do him wonders for next year.

I expect at least a 10-12 sack season from him next year if he's healthy.

Just not as bad as some are saying. I would view him as coming back and another offseason as DE would help for sure. Remember this was his first offseason as DE again.

kiwi is serviceable. Serviceable players have great games.

on the individual matchups week to week.

Could easily be a cap causality next season .
I also thought that he ranked in the bottom
5 of 4-3 Defensive ends .
The linebacker square peg in round hole messed
up his career IMO...

Ideally Giants wanted him behind Tuck and JPP. With JPP's injury, he was moved up.

As a back up, he's good IMO

an average player for years. Average players don't necessarily play at a consistently mediocre level - sometimes they have bad games, and sometimes they have good games. Yesterday was a good game. Does not change my opinion of him.

Found one offensive tackle in the 15 he has faced that he could beat and folks here think he's a good player.IMO., he's not.

guy. But one game doesn't compensate for an otherwise bad season. As someone said, he's been stonewalled most of the year. I could see him being cut at the end of the year.

calling out the offense after last week's loss?

Maybe he felt pressure to go out there 110% to back up what he said. Whatever works.

one game where he played pretty well does not come close to his salary number for next year.

unfortunate that we moved him to LB, it really hurt him. He's done everything asked of him but he production is not close to his salary.

that would mean 5.25 million in dead money and a cap savings of 1.8 million. Not happening

Paying Kiwi two more years or take the hit now but free up 1.8 in cap room. Savings is savings. Kiwi is no where worth that cap number next season.

That's exactly the point -- he's a solid back-up, but he's getting paid nowhere near backup money. He needs to produce way more for his cap $.

before I decide if Kiwi has turned a corner in my book, and I think I need more evidence still.

He's capable of having an occasional good game....but to get excited about the way he played in a meaningless game?

When we needed him this year, it just didn't happen....

Detroit had nothing on the line in that game

to see him so active. He looked faster as well but maybe that was the alcohol (mine).

However, I disagree with the "he has been close so many times this year" crap. His presence on hits/hurries imo has been a direct result of another Giant defender applying pressure in the pocket and moving the QB towards Kiwi. I know that's the way it should happen but I never see him reciprocate or beat his guy straight up until Sunday.

In the end, he is not effective enough to be a reliable starter next year on this team. To me the decision is just can we find a better alternative (younger, faster, future promise) that is worth using Kiwi $ on?

Sometimes OK players have good games. Sometimes they have bad games. Frequently they have OK games.

There's not always some secret. He just had a good game.

Younger faster DE with promise show up in the draft only. No one in the NFL is letting that type of player go. They are too hard to find.

doesn't imply that he should be able to play that way all the time. Average players have big games sometimes. Kiwi is very average.

All year he was bad. 1 good game doesn't change my opinion of him at all. This goes to show again, the coaches arent motivating their players

In comment 11413255 oipolloi said:

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that would mean 5.25 million in dead money and a cap savings of 1.8 million. Not happening

If you think you can sign someone better in his place (back up) for $1.8m, or even say up to $2.5m, then I dont think you should worry too much about the dead money.

Obviously not saying dead money isnt a bad thing, but cap savings, and what those savings can allow you to do, are more important than dead money... not to mention the extra benefit of getting an unwanted player off your books once and for all