Giant Football Blog

Reese remains calm

Nearing the midpoint of their season, riding a two-game losing streak and facing a trip to Philadelphia for a tangle with their fierce NFC East rival, it sure appears to be a crossroads moment up ahead for the Giants.

Three players who were supposed to anchor their defense -- linebacker Michael Boley, cornerback Aaron Ross and defensive tackle Chris Canty -- are getting healthier, but not enough to play this Sunday. It's a tenuous time around the Giants, but the architect of the roster is keeping calm.

"You have to win the game some kind of way, you have to manufacture some wins if you have to," GM Jerry Reese yesterday told The Post. "I don't think we're in a panic stage. We're 5-2, we're No. 1 in our division. Continue

Reese thinks this is his best Giants team yet

Jerry Reese likes the look of this Giants team he's assembled. In fact, he thinks there's a chance he'll like it better than his last two teams.

"People like to compare teams to the Super Bowl team (in 2007) and the team that won 12 games last year," Reese told the Daily News. "This team has a chance to be better than those two teams."

The third-year general manager wasn't making a prediction, but he was talking up a roster many others have downplayed in recent weeks. He sees beyond the health problems along his defensive line and the unheralded receiving corps that lost both its starters from last season. Continue

Reese plans on having Plaxico back, however....

Giants GM Jerry Reese said yesterday the team is prepared to go into the 2009 season with Plaxico Burress on the roster.

"It doesn't slow down our process," Reese said at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis of the uncertainty his troubled receiver faces with a court date in Manhattan on March 31. "We are going to move forward as if he will be there. If he's not, we'll play it both ways. It really doesn't affect our preparation moving forward. We're going to play it both ways."

Burress is facing two felony gun possession charges and is likely to enter a plea. Continue

Jeremy Shockey 'shouting' mad, feuds with GM Jerry Reese

Jeremy Shockey has "an issue" with the Giants, and it seems to be getting worse. The angry tight end took his feud with the team to a new level this week, when he apparently had a heated exchange with Giants GM Jerry Reese during the team's three-day minicamp. A team source confirmed there was an argument between the two, although when it occurred isn't exactly clear.

Shockey has been present for the entire mandatory three-day minicamp, which began on Wednesday and concluded yesterday afternoon. However, he refused Tom Coughlin's orders to join the rest of his teammates on the practice field even though everyone of his injured teammates was there. Continue

Jerry Reese at ready with Giant plan

As Michael Strahan stood on the podium for the final time at his retirement ceremony, Jerry Reese sat nearby and occasionally nodded, smiled or laughed. However, the Giants GM didn't shed any tears. Neither he nor the Giants are crying or panicking as they face life without Strahan. Reese was prepared for this very day.

While the loss of a defensive end such as Strahan would be a blow to any team, the Giants are stocked with pass rushers because Reese and his predecessor Ernie Accorsi anticipated life without No. 92. They drafted Osi Umenyiora in the second round in 2003. They selected Justin Tuck in the third round in 2005. And even with those two and Strahan, Reese surprised some by taking Mathias Kiwanuka with his 2006 first-round choice. Continue

Jerry Reese not silent this time around, signs Sammy Knight for Giants

Last year, it took Giants GM Jerry Reese three weeks to sign his first free agent. This year it only took him four days.

Reese brought in his first reinforcement Monday when he signed former Jaguars safety Sammy Knight, an 11-year veteran to replace Gibril Wilson, who signed with the Raiders when free agency opened. Knight signed a three-year deal worth $5.15 million and got a signing bonus of $1.25 million. That's quite a bargain compared to the six-year, $39 million contract (with $16 million) that Wilson got from the Oakland Raiders on Friday night. Continue

Giants GM Reese unlikely to chase free agents

It was around this time last year that Giants general manager Jerry Reese started getting serious flak for his job performance. We're talking nasty letters, even nastier phone messages and plenty of skepticism about his ability. Guess that Super Bowl victory answered those questions, don't you think?

Reese made only one key free-agent signing last year, and even giving Kawika Mitchell a one-year deal at the veteran minimum drew criticism. After releasing a handful of players that included left tackle Luke Petitgout, the first-year GM wasn't very popular among Giants fans. Continue

Reese tries to repeat Giant success

Jerry Reese is trying to play hard-to-get at the NFL Scouting Combine but is having little success. Everywhere he goes, someone is bearing down on him offering up a healthy dose of congratulations.

"A lot of 'attaboys' here, a lot of pats on the back," the Giants New York Giants general manager said yesterday during his press briefing in Indianapolis. "You try to run from people so you can watch the players. Everybody's happy for us. It's exciting to be on top in this environment right now, but you can't pat yourself on the back, you have to move on and try to get ready for a new season." Continue

A Giant success

There is no rest for the weary, not even for the Super Bowl champions. And so, Giants general manager Jerry Reese and his entire scouting department yesterday were gathered together at Giants Stadium for the first day of pre-draft meetings, five days after the Giants New York Giants shocked the world with their 17-14 upset of the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

It would be perfectly understandable if, before getting down to plotting their initial strategy for the NFL Draft on April 26 and 27, the men responsible for putting together one of the best draft classes in team history - at least as far as immediate contributions - took time to bask in the glow of a job well done. Continue

Reese of mind

As Jerry Reese sat in the stands at the University of Phoenix Stadium yesterday gazing at the horde of media scurrying around to interview his players, he couldn't help but remember his first few days as the Giants general manager. "I have a friend who called me and said, 'They didn't give you any days in shorts. They put you right in full pads.' I had to hit the ground running,"Reese said. "But that's part of the job."

Reese won't make one tackle or catch one pass Sunday when the Giants meet the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, but his imprint will be all over the game. Perhaps no general manager in sports has had a better season than Reese, who has quieted any concerns that emerged when he was hired to succeed Ernie Accorsi last year. Continue