For the Giants, it should still be a Nicks and Cruz game. But it isn't.
All teams have injuries. Most teams have injuries and the players get back at some point to top tier production. Sometimes 1 guy here and there doesn't. But for the Giants, 3 Blue Chip WRs were cut down in the beginning of their prime. Not in the middle. In the beginning.
And add to that Safety: Kenny Phillips is 30. Chad Jones is 28.
5 players who got hurt in the last 5 years who never got back. 4 of them top guys for us. One was a very good prospect.
I wonder if anyone will chance him.
444 yards and 4 touchdowns in four games.
His last year with the Giants, more than a few here claimed that he was intentionally playing poorly out of spite for the Giants signing Cruz to an extension before Nicks. But that would have been crazy since it was his contract year and he had every incentive to be at his best that year.
Nicks really had almost no chance in saving his career with the Colts in 2014. T.Y. Hilton was the OBJ of the year for Andrew Luck. He was targeted almost twice as much as Nicks and came through with a 1448, 6 TD year.
Reggie Wayne was the 2nd receiver, usually acting from the slot. Wayne was in his 14th and last year with the Colts. He didn't have the speed or explosiveness of a younger man, but Luck knew him very well and he caught 64 passes, although only for 799 yards.
The killer for Nicks was the tight end, Cory Fleener. He had the receiving abilities that Eli would love to find an a TE. He caught 51 passes for 772 yards, with 16 catches of over 20 yards and a team leading 8 touchdowns.
Nicks, the outsider in this group, didn't get thrown to much over the previous three. He had to make an impression in the few chances he had, and he didn't do so. After a while the Colts started swapping in Donte Moncrief, a rookie who caught 14 balls more than Nicks despite being targeted 20 less times.
So that was it for Nicks in Indy, and his signing by the Giants last year, giving Nicks a chance to play again with the QB who had at the time had completed more balls to Nicks than to any other receiver.
If Nicks couldn't do well with Manning, than there must have been something wrong with Nicks other than his confidence, but I have never heard what his injury was and when he received it.
Chad Jones was the next Ed Reed but bigger...
David Wilson was the next Barry Sanders.
Will Hill was John Lynh with a bad pot habit.
A lot of overrating the past on this thread.
Smith, Cruz, Manningham, Nicks are the ones that bother me. The Giants have been excellent at finding and developing WR talent only to watch their prime years be cut down by injuries.
Snee should've been just finishing up this year and Diehl maybe a year ago as well as Baas.
Quote:
David Wilson was as bad a draft pick as Rocky Thompson.
At least Wilson had the Olympics to fall back on. Oh wait...
He was a rookie + 5 games before he went down. And that 2nd season was alongside an historically bad offensive line. No one is saying he was definitely the next Tiki, or even on par with his contemporary in Tampa Bay.
We're talking about potential. And he mostly definitely had loads. Bizarre how some including you characterize him as a joke.
I do find it hard to understand why his ball security continues to be discussed. The guy fumbled three times in his brief career. To me, he didn't have time to show if that would have been an issue or not.
NotForLong