Saturday Reading

Giants

Raanan NJ.com: Just how bad are the Giants injury woes
http://www.nj.com/giants/index.ssf/2015/07/just_how_bad_are_the_giants_injury_woes.html

Gabriel NFP: 2015 Season Preview New York Giants
http://www.nationalfootballpost.com/2015-season-preview-new-york-giants/#st_refDomain=t.co& st_refQuery=/8Cg4Q7GW3F

Reyes USA Today: Giants Offseason report: Giants look to build on momentum from 2014
http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/giants/2015/07/03/offseason-report-eli-manning-victor-cruz-odell-beckham-new-york/29689005/


NFL

Sessler/Orr NFL.com: Four irresponsible early July predictions
"The Giants don't generate headlines like the Cowboys and Eagles, but New York has something scary cooking on offense. A healthy Odell Beckham, Victor Cruz and Rueben Randle give Eli Manning one of the league's top receiving trios, while Shane Vereen is an underrated free-agent addition. The NFC East looms as a dogfight and Big Blue will do enough to squeak into the show."
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000500046/article/four-irresponsible-early-july-predictions

McCown B/R: How much do physical attributes matter for first round NFL draft picks
http://m.bleacherreport.com/articles/2513228-how-much-do-physical-attributes-matter-for-first-round-nfl-draft-picks

DETROIT
Katzenstein Detroit News: Rookie Lions corner Carter would love a chance at slot
http://www.detroitnews.com/story/sports/nfl/lions/2015/07/03/rookie-lions-corner-carter-love-chance-slot/29678359/

NEW ORLEANS
Erickson NO Advocate: His first step — getting on the field — complete, Saints rookie Andrus Peat focuses on his footwork to get where he needs to go
http://theadvocate.com/sports/saints/12819960-123/his-first-step-getting

PHILADELPHIA
McManus Phil mag: Opening for Barner?
http://www.phillymag.com/birds247/2015/07/03/eagles-wake-up-call-opening-for-barner/

SAN FRANCISCO
Maiocco CSN Bay Area: 49ers vets face competition to hold onto roster spots
http://www.csnbayarea.com/49ers/49ers-vets-face-competition-hold-roster-spots

WASHINGTON
Clarke Wash Post: Offseason questions: Will Redskins fans see CB Deangelo Hall back on the field this season?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/football-insider/wp/2015/07/03/offseason-questions-will-redskins-fans-see-cb-deangelo-hall-back-on-the-field-this-season/

Draft

Eckel NJ.com: Clemson tackle Isaiah Battle could be perfect for Eagles, Jets or Giants
http://www.nj.com/eagles/index.ssf/2015/07/clemson_tackle_isaiah_battle_could_be_good_for_eag.html

Campbell Walter Football: Scouting report preview for Bama LB Reggie Ragland
http://walterfootball.com/scoutingreport2016rragland.php

Zierlein NFL.com: Top 10 CFB DBs to watch in 2015
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000000500065/article/vernon-hargreaves-iii-leads-top-cfb-dbs-to-watch-in-2015

History

RIP M.L. Brackett who was a member of the 1958 Giants, also was with the 1956 Chicago Bears. He was 81 years of age
http://m.legacy.com/obituaries/gadsdentimes/obituary.aspx?n=ml-brackett& pid=175203203& referrer=0& preview=True

Brackett was candid about his time in Chicago and New York in a 2012 interview with Chris McCarthy at Alabama's Garden-messenger.com:

"Brackett ended up getting drafted by the Chicago Bears [in February of1956], setting up a negotiating showdown with coaching legend No. 3, George Halas.
“There were no agents in those days, and right from the start we didn’t agree on money. In the meantime I talked to Toronto of the CFL, who offered me a guaranteed, two-year contract of $15,000.”

Brackett informed Halas of the offer, who asked Brackett to drive to the Windy City to hammer out a deal. It was not a smooth give-and-take session.

“Halas’ offer was ridiculously lower than Toronto’s was, and I responded that I wanted a $2,000 bonus and a new car above and beyond the contract. He told me he couldn’t meet my demands, so I told him I was going back to Alabama and he had three days to agree to my terms. That was on a Friday, and Monday afternoon at 4 p.m. he called me and said we had a deal.”

Brackett started as a rookie for the 1956 season, playing at weak side linebacker and long snapper on a Bears team that went 9-3-1 and lost to the New York Giants in the league championship game. “It was a much bigger adjustment from college to the NFL as it was from high school to Auburn,” said Brackett. “The mental part was the most difficult thing, because the terminology was very involved and specific. It was a lot of information to process.”

Chicago fell to 5-7 the next season, during which Brackett suffered a knee injury and wore a cast on his leg for eight weeks.

Brackett soon had a change of venue, as the Giants needed a long snapper and the Bears deemed him expendable. Chicago traded Brackett to New York just prior to the 1958 season, giving him an up close taste of the Big Apple.

After saying goodbye to teammates that included Ed Brown, George Blanda, Zeke Bratkowski, Harlon Hill, Jim Dooley, Bill George, Rick Cesares and Willie Galimore, (Halas, Blanda and George are in the NFL Hall of Fame), Brackett took a bus to New York’s training camp at Bear Mountain in the Catskills.

Although he played only one season in Gotham, Brackett made no bones about his time in the Empire State.

“We were one big happy family with the Bears, but I hated playing in New York. I got along with my teammates and coaches, but it was just too cold for me and we didn’t have thermal clothing like they have now. It was also too crowded for me, and I didn’t like riding the subway or taking a ferry in order to get around. It was also a dangerous place back then, and the Giant players were told always to travel en mass. I do have some nice memories, though, like seeing the 1958 World Series and playing in Yankee Stadium.

“The guys from the South usually hung together, but there were only a few on the Giants at that time. Conerly was from Mississippi, and he was a super-nice guy.”

Two iconic coaches awaited Brackett in the Bronx – offensive coordinator Vince Lombardi and defensive coordinator Tom Landry. Jim Lee Howell was the Giant’s head coach.

“Coach Howell was very articulate and represented the Giants very well, but he really was just a figurehead,” said Brackett. “Lombardi and Landry were the ones who ran the team. To play for Lombardi, you had to treat every play like the last play of a game. He expected perfect execution, and after we were able to that, it still wasn’t enough. We had to sprint wherever we went and had to wear helmets all the time. He had his game face on when we took to the field, but in the locker room, he’d sit with us and ask about our families. He made an effort to get to know his players.

“Coach Landry, on the other hand, was a bit of a loner. He used to be a player coach for the Giants, and at that point he was trying to distance himself from the guys he played with, like Andy Robustelli and Rosie Brown. It wasn’t until a few years later that I realized that he wanted to separate Tom the coach from Tom the player. Unlike Lombardi, he’d allow you at your own level, but he’s run you off in a minute if he felt that you weren’t performing to his standards.”

Brackett’s 1958 teammates included a who’s who of NFL legends – Robustelli, Brown, Frank Gifford, Charlie Conerly, Sam Huff, Fuzzy Thurston, Jim Catcavage, Dick Modzelewski, Jim Parker, Don Maynard, Emlen Tunnell, Jim Taylor, Jack Kemp and Kyle Rote.

Brown, Gifford, Huff, Maynard, Robustelli, Tunnell, Landry and Lombardi are all in the NFL Hall of Fame.

“Gifford would have been an All-World if he’d played in the single-wing [formation], and Taylor was the toughest running back I ever saw. Even if he had a clear shot to the goal line, he’d veer off and look to run someone over. Rosie and Jim were the best offensive linemen I ever saw.”

As for the Greatest Game Ever Played – the NFL championship on Dec. 28, 1958 at Yankee Stadium between the Giants and the Baltimore Colts – Brackett knew going in that it would be his last.

“I had decided before the season that I was going to retire. I was going to retire the year before, but I’d just gotten married and I wanted my wife to see what the NFL was all about. I played on two injured knees for two straight years, and I knew when I got traded that I wasn’t coming back.”

Nursing a calf injury, Brackett didn’t see much playing time during the contest, which Baltimore won 23-17 in overtime.

Brackett was blunt and to the point as why New York lost the game.

“We were physically beaten up going in. The two games before that were against Cleveland and Detroit, and both were very physical games that were played in brutally cold weather. Basically we were worn out by the time we played the Colts.”

Brackett believed to this day that the Giants would have won the game if Gifford had converted a crucial third down play in the fourth quarter.

“Gifford’s carry was mishandled by the game officials,” said Brackett. “The referee actually took the ball from the spot and threw it to the line judge, so no one had an accurate idea after that of where exactly Gifford went down. Then Howell calls for a punt, and after they kicked the field goal to tie the game the Colts overpowered us in overtime. The air seemed to go out of Yankee Stadium after Gifford’s play, and the players were spent.”

Brackett recalled that he was one of the last players to leave a very solemn locker room, but was privy to a prediction that was right on the mark.

“I was sitting by myself and [longtime television broadcaster] Chris Schenkel came over. I told him that I was heading back to Alabama, and he told me right then that in the future, thi game would be call the greatest game ever played.”

Brackett last year attended the game’s 50-year reunion in December, one of five members of the ’58 Giants to show up. He was also interviewed by Gifford for the latter’s book about the game and was mentioned in a recent ESPN documentary about the game.

Back in Etowah County in 1959, Brackett worked briefly for Republic Steel before spending two years at Emma Sansom High School as a teacher and coach. He then returned to Etowah for three years to teach and coach."

The Giants scored 24 points on this great defense in a upset victory but were one of the worst all time in this defensive category, all in the space of 4 seasons, Football perspective explains:

Stuart Football Perspective: Single season leaders in estimated points per estimated drive allowed
http://www.footballperspective.com/single-season-leaders-in-estimated-points-per-estimated-drive-allowed-dpped/

Stuart Football Perspective: Single season cellar dwellers in estimated points per estimated drive allowed
http://www.footballperspective.com/single-season-cellar-dwellars-in-estimated-points-per-estimated-drive-allowed-dpped/

Giants Birthdays 7-4 to 7-10

7-4
Erich Barnes LDH NYG 1961-1964 7-4-1935
Frank Cephous RB D11 1984 NYG 1984 7-4-1961

7-5
Kevin Boothe LG/C NYG 2007-2013 7-5-1983
John Johnson DT NYG 1969 7-5-1941
Frank Youso RT D2 1958 NYG 1958-1961 7-5-1936

7-6
Matt Bahr PK NYG 1999-1992 7-6-1956
Nat Behre S D5 2014 NYG 2014 7-6-1991
Fred Dryer RDE D1 1969 NYG 1969-1971 7-6-1946
Chandler Fenner CB NYG 2014 7-6-1990
Brandon Jacobs RB D4 2005 NYG 2005-2011 2013 7-6-1982
Billy Taylor RB/ FB D4 1978 NYG 1978-1981 7-6-1956
Dave Whitmore S D4 1990 NYG 1990 7-6-1967

7-7
Greg Mark DE D3 1990 NYG Training camp 1990 7-7-1967
Joe Prokop P NYG 1992 7-7-1960

7-8
Andy Headen OLB D8 1983 NYG 1983-1988
7-8-1960

7-9
Bill Johnson P NYG 1970 7-9-1944
Weston Richburg RG D2 2014 NYG 2014 7-9-1991
Bob Schmidt OL NYG 1959-1960 7-9-1936
Omar Stoutmire FS NYG 2000-2004 7-9-1974

7-10
Andy Haase TE NYG 1998 7-10-1974
Ryan Hale DT D7 1999 NYG 1999-2000 7-10-1975
Herb Johnson HB NYG 1954 7-10-1928
Malcolm Scott TE D5 1983 NYG 1983 7-10-1961
Jerry Shay LDT NYG 1970-1971 7-10-1954