Who is going to be the "Middle of the Field" Patrol Man ? ..

but I don't think he's that guy. Behre has a reputation as a big hitter - he might be better in that role than you think.

Hoping Landon Collins steps up his game now that he has a year of experience.

"He's the only man fast enough, tall enough and experienced enough to possibly deal with the myriad of NFL pass catching tight ends that are more-and-more featured by many teams."

GP COMB TOTAL AST
10 4 3 1
6 11 6 5
Career 16 15 9 6

I mean, shit, with that kind of 'experience', we should be getting his bust ready for Canton.

Seriously, Manny. What are you talking about?

What are you talking about Manny?? Now I will lose sleep over who is the Middle of the Field guy?? Up there with is Cruz coming back? Will Vernon be a flop?
I'm wondering that maybe Eric might start banning football posts for a while until at least training camp opens

In comment 13012037 jjgmrg901 said:

Quote:

What are you talking about Manny?? Now I will lose sleep over who is the Middle of the Field guy?? Up there with is Cruz coming back? Will Vernon be a flop? I'm wondering that maybe Eric might start banning football posts for a while until at least training camp opens

His question is valid. The answer? That's up to you.

Cooper Taylor has more experience cashing NFL checks than tackles. No kidding.

And are you really surprised that a well known, traditional box SS was ineffective as a centerfield type FS? Blame Spagnouolo for that fiasco.

are going to make us forget about the gaping holes at MIKE and FS very quickly this season.

Good lord, the negativity surrounding this talented young player puzzling. As the first rookie in team history to start all 16 games he was 20th in the league in tackles, 4th among safeties, with 9 passes defensed while playing out of position and some lack of talent surrounding. He's a bright spot on this defense. I simply don't get it.

He's the only guy with the skills, apparently.

In comment 13012134 UberAlias said:

Quote:

Good lord, the negativity surrounding this talented young player puzzling. As the first rookie in team history to start all 16 games he was 20th in the league in tackles, 4th among safeties, with 9 passes defensed while playing out of position and some lack of talent surrounding. He's a bright spot on this defense. I simply don't get it.

Well said uber. The stupidity around here lately is really astounding.

In comment 13012134 UberAlias said:

Quote:

Good lord, the negativity surrounding this talented young player puzzling. As the first rookie in team history to start all 16 games he was 20th in the league in tackles, 4th among safeties, with 9 passes defensed while playing out of position and some lack of talent surrounding. He's a bright spot on this defense. I simply don't get it.

He dropped a potential game-winning interception. Therefore, he is a bust, or, as radar put it, he's "awful."

who would knock Collins and then suggest that the guy who can't even stay healthy enough to play should replace him.

That border-line cynically has to be scraped from the bottom of the crusty & smelly trash can to save the day. That's how desperate this problem is.

As far as Landon Collins is concerned, I remain a big fan and hope that he can evolve to be a whole lot better COVER safety than he's ever been (including who he was at Alabama - which was not very good)

Hopefully, our linebacker corps can symbolically "tear the bandages off" and collectively be the sideline-to-sideline presence that keeps our intermediate zone secure. They sure haven't been, for a while.

The others mentioned:

Behre; forget-about-it, he's a willing big hitter but undersized (5'10") to deal with guys that are 6'5-6'6"+ and 50 - 70 pounds heavier than him

Goodson; he's a classic run-gap MLB penetrator. He'll be an outstanding pro, but not one that you want pass protecting all day

Darian Thompson; I'm very excited to see him on the team. I think he's going to be the best free safety on the team since the great Spider Lockhart. I want him in the deep zones, stealing the ball, not wrestling with tight ends.

In comment 13012095 GMenLTS said:

Quote:

are going to make us forget about the gaping holes at MIKE and FS very quickly this season.

Yup.

might just be a great combo. The question will be how long does it take him to acclimate.

I stand by the idea that LB will shake out with 3 talented starters there.

Manny is a national treasure

I think Thompson is going to compliment Collins very well. Their skill sets should mix nicely.

When I watched him during the Shrine Game practices I said to myself that I hoped the Giants would draft him. I thought he could be another Kam Chancellor (and so did Gil Brandt).

But, Good Lord, the guy is the very definition of injury-prone. He makes Gerris Wilkinson look like Iron Man. This year, he shows up healthy at the first OTA...and suffers a sports hernia, so he misses the rest of the spring workouts. Come on, man!

In comment 13012183 Klaatu said:

Quote:

In comment 13012134 UberAlias said: Quote: Good lord, the negativity surrounding this talented young player puzzling. As the first rookie in team history to start all 16 games he was 20th in the league in tackles, 4th among safeties, with 9 passes defensed while playing out of position and some lack of talent surrounding. He's a bright spot on this defense. I simply don't get it. He dropped a potential game-winning interception. Therefore, he is a bust, or, as radar put it, he's "awful."

I hear you. As illogical as it is, I've no doubt there are people out there who would have a different outlook on him had he held on to the ball and left the field as the hero instead of the goat. I realize it wasn't perfect, but Collins was one of the few bright spots for the defense last year, if you consider the context. I'm expecting a big jump from Y1 to Y2 for him.

There is a lot of fanboy ignorance surrounding Collins. This is a young player on the rise who will surprise a few people this season.

Like I said, I remain a big fan, but most of what I see of him is someone who is TRAILING receivers (especially tight ends), making sure tackles but not ripping at the ball; basically an after-the-fact type player.

As far as playing out of position, I don't understand what that means; he was playing safety all year.

The drop against the Pats, that's just a moment. I don't hold that against him (OBJ, the best player on the field dropped two crucial game deciding passes, nobody's on his case.)

Taylor, as flea-bitten as he is; if he could just shake off those insects and return to what he was at Richmond

In comment 13012402 Manny in CA said:

Quote:

As far as playing out of position, I don't understand what that means; he was playing safety all year.

It means he was a strong safety playing a lot of free safety as a rookie.

In comment 13012089 Victor in CT said:

Quote:

And are you really surprised that a well known, traditional box SS was ineffective as a centerfield type FS? Blame Spagnouolo for that fiasco.

Yeah i don't get the critiquing of a SS playing bad as a FS. Especially a rookie

Seemed like a big kid who could play safety and initial talk was he may be able to play LB also.

Then came reality. Cooper Taylor is not a football player. At least not for the NFL. He is always injured and cannot be counted on. IMO, the Giants should quickly cut ties to him as they did last year and seek out his replacement.

With all the DBs and LBs the Giants have right now, there should be at least 1 guy who is a capable center fielder. Of course, he'll get injured too.

that some people here realize Collins was a SS playing FS. I don't blame Spags, I blame Reese for the talent Spags was given. Collins hustled, played hard and oh BTW for you un-football educated, trailing a WR/TE is a known technique so it maybe by design.

95% of MLB do not man the middle of the field. Week after week TE & RB's are open in the middle.

Last year, due to injuries, the Giants had Collins, Merriweather and Dahl all play FS - this also with Unga as a MLB. There might not have been a slower group

Teams routinely set their TE out wide and forced our slow S to cover and it was a disaster

Collins is a SS. Anyone who emerges this year at FS will be dramatically more athletic than Dahl & Merriweather - that is a big deal. Unga not playing MLB is even a bigger deal

what a week, first Brexit, and now a "black hole" right in the middle of the Giant's defense.

And neither was he, as he explains in the following article.

http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2016/06/kind_of_lost_as_an_nfl_rookie.html

Sure, he was forced to play Free Safety, so what ? - Safeties, supposedly are faster than linebackers (and hopefully have better cover skills). If tight ends and running backs are running loose, who else is it the main responsibility to cover them ?

Collins, complained about being tagged as a "box" safety before the 2015 draft (and he tumbled down the draft board because of that).

http://mmqb.si.com/2015/05/20/landon-collins-new-york-giants-nfl-draft

I don't think he did too much to dispel that image, in his rookie season. The good news, he's young and talented and it looks like the Giants landed an excellent true Free Safety in Darian Thompson.

If he flops, there always Cooper Taylor (sigh).

In comment 13012699 djstat said:

Quote:

that some people here realize Collins was a SS playing FS. I don't blame Spags, I blame Reese for the talent Spags was given. Collins hustled, played hard and oh BTW for you un-football educated, trailing a WR/TE is a known technique so it maybe by design.

Are we going to blame Reese for Thompson,Behre and Jackson having season ending injuries as well?

Wake me up when Cooper Taylor See's the field again and
actually stays on it and to top it off make plays .
I don't knock the Kid I hope he gets healthy he does have
size speed ratio..
But your Dead wrong on Collins who is my darkhorse Pro-Bowl
player . Especially if D. Thompson progresses to the starting FS .. We seem to have most of the Pieces .
Goodson may end up starting midway through the season just
watch his tape he is great run stuffer does not waste steps
Kennard is a Big key as well .

Collins a miserable failure at this?
UberAlias : 9:12 am : link : reply
Good lord, the negativity surrounding this talented young player puzzling. As the first rookie in team history to start all 16 games he was 20th in the league in tackles, 4th among safeties, with 9 passes defensed while playing out of position and some lack of talent surrounding. He's a bright spot on this defense. I simply don't get it.

From the L.O.S. to 20 yards behind it failed, time-after-time, including Mr.Collins, so I'm not just picking on him.

The "whole world" knew that the Giants were set to pick Leonard Floyd, to be the key guy in solving this problem (the Bears took care of that by leap-frogging us) ....

And, "Stickman Floyd" wasn't even the best man for the job, this year, seriously injured Jaylon Smith and UCLA's Myles Jack (who faces probable micro-fracture surgery were better) ...

The 4th best option, LB Darren Lee (drafted by the Jets) is probably 2-3 years away. It just "wasn't in the cards ", last year for the Giants.

So, best hope in this area in 2016 is to have a collective marked level of improvement from our linebackers and safeties, which was MEDIOCRE in 2015.

effect that the duo of Snacks and big Hank could potentially have on the D's ability to pass defend the middle of the field.

Not to mention a healthy and focused JPP and Vernon continuing his level of play from the last half of '15.

A dominant front four, hell a very good front four, changes everything.

The front four shutting down the run game and pressuring the QB does make things easier on the back seven, what I'm talking about is the FUNCTIONAL as well as the physical breakdowns that we witnessed from that "back seven" all year.

But, back to the original question - who is going to be that middle-of-the field enforcer ? - that guy who is going to negate Tony Romo's go-to guy (Whitten); Kirk Cousin's go-to guy (Jordan Reed); Sam Bradford's go-to guys (Ertz/Celek).

I don't think that question has definitively been answered in this discussion; all we have is hope from a guy who describes himself as "lost", last year (Collins) and another who figuratively injures himself just getting out of bed (Cooper).

Cooper Taylor (what's with these guys with two last names) ?