Giants Lose a Close One

Last week the Giants had a good first hal and a bad second half. Today the script was flipped, but the result was still the same. The Giants havce started 0-2 6 out of the last 7 years. Let's see if the what comes next can be different. There a signs.

Giants Today

In a few hours the Giants, after a short week, will take on the Bears in Chicago. If they have a good game plan and if the players took the corrections to heart after Monday night's lost, they really do have a chance to win this one.  Their OL is also bad, and Mitch isn't Big Ben. If the Giants can do a better job of protecting Daniel Jones and give Saquon some room, the Giants can and should win.

This Week on the Blog

Alright, the Yankees are playing like Yanks again.  The Giants are tried to play like Giants again.  Kravstov is crushing the KHL, and the Knicks are the focus of unsettling rumors. Let's see what's coming up.

Yankees: Now this is much more like it. The Sanchino struck last night to tie the Sox, then the Yanks won it in extras. Not as much fun as putting up double digits on the Jays who were "buyers" at the deadline, but great for a strirring Friday Night. The Yankees magic number is 2. Let's hope the Yanks can stay hot though the sxpanded playoffs.

Giants: Monday night's game was a lot closer than the media is portraying. If the Giants had a good week of practice, they should be in good shape for an upset Sunday. The Bears OL is vastly weaker than the Pittsburgh OL and the firm of Lawrence and Williams could do big business.  The left side of their D was targeted successfully by the Lions.  Also, Trubisky is Trubisky. We'll see how Joe Judge Giants bounce back tomorrow, and they really have a chance to win this one.

Rangers: the big story has been Kravstov. But the big NEED is a 2 C who, like Mika, can pass and score. Having high skill wings like Bread, Kakko, Kravstov and in 17 days, Laffy(!) demands a high skill C like Mika Zibanajed.  Not sure where they will find one, but they must. It would also be good to find a LD, but that can be managed from the system a lot better than 2C (unless Chytil blossoms).  We'll see what the plan is, and details could start emerging any day now.

Knicks: Seems like another offseason of cap games coming up. Do we really want what's left of Chris Paul?  Wasn't Melo supposed bring him along 2 or 3 contracts ago? Yup. When will the actual team building start?  Ever?

There we have it. Yanks are back! Giants have a chance. Rangers have some needs.  Knicks need to rebuild -- please!  Hope you have a great week and a great Autumn. 17 days till Laffy!

Kravstov: The Revenge?

So, the Rangers loaned Vitali Kravstov to the KHL. Now he's owning it. Vitali has 5 goals in the first six games inccluding two last night. That's unheard of for a 20 year old, and you'll recall that his Draft +1 season in the KHL was age significant and he is way aheand of that pace.  He's playing with confidence and physicality. He's running Traktor's first power play from the right half wall. And he's being defensively responsible.  First, this is great news for the Rangers and second, why couldn't they let him do those things for Hartford? Whatever they did shut off his confidence and his game disappeared. Now it's back. They better get the recipe.

By the way, after the weirdness of last season, a lot of the prospect pundits have practiced large scale revisionism. Some have even downgraded VK from top 6 potential, while others have said he can't skate, when in fact he's alway had plus speed. There are times when fast athletes move more slowly and that's when they're not sure or uncertain and thinking too much.  You see it in football and hockey. To play fast you need confidence and certainty and when you're too discombobulated, you don't have either.

Kravstov has both now, and the Rangers have to feed and nurture them.  He's once again a top prospect.

The Judge Giants Had to Start Somewhere

It was a tough game last night against what might have been the toughest opponent the Giants will face all year. They'll never have to break that ice again.  It wil hard work for the players andn coaches as the season rolls on, but that first one, even as a loss had to be gotten out of the way. It's Chicago next and hopefully, Coach Graham will have a plan that looks to confuse Trubisky, and let's hope the Pittsburgh tape shows the Giant D how close they were to even more sacks.  

Coach Garrett needs to find a way to get the running game going against the Bears and henceforth. Not having the run option really hurt last night. A team with Saquon should never be shut down like that.  Also, when the run option wasn't working, they needed to start varying DJ's platform and not allow him to become a sitting who gets hit 22 times.

They'll see the film andn make some adjustments. But now they are in season after their crazy offseason and things will only get better.

Giants Lose a Tough One

Okay, so the Giants lost. But it was a terrible matchup for their first game, and if they'd made a few more plays here and there, they probably would have won. On their first possession of the game, the Steelers muffed the punt and the then Jones appeared to throw an incompletion.  Replay showed it was a fumble that Nick Gates recovered for a TD. Judge didn't challenge and that's on him. They kicked a field goal. Later in the first Jones hit Slayton for a long TD. Early on the D was really flying around and looking like they knew where they should be.

The second half was frustrating. The running game could not get started and Saquon only had one big catch and some good blocks,  Evan Engram was a disaster, He had 2 or 3 drops and got called for a specious OPI, but he and Saquon have to make plays for the Giants to win any games.  Jones was good, but he made 2 mistakes, one was a line of scrimmage INT on an incredible play by Watt who elevated. The other came in the third quarter when the Giants were winding up a 19 play scoring drive.  Jones had to roll right and rotate left to make a pass.  As he did Dupree hit his passing arm and the ball floated into the endzond for an easy pick.

Still the Giants drove again late and Jones hit Slayton with a laser for their second TD of the night. They missed the 2 pointer, and also didn't recover the onside kick, which was meaningless after they failed to covert the two pointer.

We'll probably have more thougthts as the week goes on, but it was not like most Shurmur nor McAdoo losses.

Giants Game Day

The Joe Judge Era begins in a few hours. After the past two Errors, let's hope for a refreshing change and a team that looks coached. They're going against Pittsburgh team that's been playing the same shemes forever, and thus will have lot more muscle memory that the Giant who have two new schemes they'll use for the first time tonight. Not the easiest assignmnet. But Judge seems like the real thing, so the only thing I'm looking for this season in progress.  It took Parcells a few years start winning and Coughlin had a tough first year before making the playoff in his seecond.  So and upset would be great, and let's go Giants, but progess is what we should all be looking for in either event.

UPDATE: Golden Tate is out tonight,

This Week on the Blog

Alright, this past week so the Yanks finally show signs of life, the Giants name their roster and practice squad, the Ranger lay low and the Knicks do nothing. At least the Giants are starting. Let's see what else is up.

Yankees: The Yanks have won three in a row and got great starts from Cole and Tanaka, and need Montgomery to folow suit today. Every time I worry that the Yanks are blowing it, I just look at this crazy year and be thankful that we at least have the Yankees back. I've missed the Yankees minor league system this year, but hopefully, things will be back to normal soon. The Yanks should start geting some talent back in the next week or two.

Giants: the Giants will host the Steelers on Monday Night. While the consistently good Steelers seem like a brutal first oponent for the Joe Judge Giants, it probably couldn't be a better test. Back in 2008 the Giants played the always physical Steelers and beat them up, They also beat up the Ravens. That's the physicality that's been missing over these lousy years, and win or lose Monday night, let's see if the physicality is back because that will be the most reassuring sign that the Big Blue Wrecking Crew will be back in the near  future.

Rangers: In less than 2 weeks, on September 25th, the NHL buyout window will open. Unless Henrik Lundvist retire, which he should, the Rangers will probably buy him out. A trade is unlikely because of Hank's NMC, high salary, steep decline and a goalie glutted market. Buyouts are brutal because they double the remaining cap years - remember Dan Girardi? The Rangers are still dealing with that cap charge. Let's reiterate that over the next few flat cap years picks are nore valuable than contracts for middling RFA's. Going forward, the Rangers should trade all RFA's that aren't cup core. And they should start doing that this offseason,.

Knicks; The Knicks need a great plan. We'll see if they can come up with something.

So there it is. The Yanks are waking up., the Giants are starting up, the Rangers are paying and the Knicks are hopefully not screwiing up.

And hopefully, nothing is screwed up for you.   Have a great week.

Yanks Finally Win a Game

And a child shall lead the way. Deivi Garcia pitched 6 strong and ended the Yankee losing streak tonight. Gleyber Torres may finally be waking up and had a double and a bomb. LeMahieu also homered and had a good game. So congrats to Deivi for his first win. Let's go, Yanks. Time's a wasting!