Giant Football Blog

Mara always had Reese's back

The critics questioned his every move, but there was one very important person still standing in Jerry Reese's corner.

Giants owner John Mara spoke highly of his general manager Tuesday, highlighting Reese's leadership skills and his unwavering confidence in his vision for the franchise.

When the Giants were 7-7, it seemed all hope was lost. But as always, Reese saw an opportunity; one he knew his players wouldn't squander.

"I can't say there were a lot of people, with the exception of maybe our general manager, who thought we were going to be here," Mara told a small group of reporters at media day.

Reese, as Mara put it, is the eternal optimist, the guy who believes the Giants will weather adversity and win, even when it seems unlikely. (continue)

 

Reese looking a little smarter with each passing week

If you thought the criticism from the media or talk-radio callers was harsh this summer, Jerry Reese says you should’ve heard some the messages left on his voicemail. Every move he made – or, more to the point, every move he didn’t make – was met with an army of angry critics.

There were even a few doubters down in his own locker room.

“I think everybody had a little part of them that said, ‘What is he doing?’” admits Giants defensive end Justin Tuck. “It wasn’t that we didn’t trust him. It’s just human nature. You see what Philly did. You see what other teams did to improve their rosters. In the back of your mind everybody had a little doubt.

“Obviously he’s proven that he’s smarter than the average bear.”

That’s one good way to put it, as Reese’s surprising Giants begin the second half with a game against the 49ers on Sunday afternoon, armed with a 6-2 record and looking every bit the true contender the general manager guaranteed they’d be. All those moves he made and didn’t make this summer seem to have paid big dividends for the Giants, proving, as Tuck says, that Reese still has his “golden” touch.

But as King Midas sits in his office overlooking the practice field, not far from the phone on his desk that once spit venom in his direction, Reese swears he feels no urge to say “I told you so” to the world. Not now, with so much of the season remaining, and not with a Giants team that has a history of second-half fades.

The GM who four years ago won a Super Bowl as a rookie, says the hammering he took in July and August is a pitfall of the job. (continue)

Mara defends Reese over Boss and Smith defects

Just so everyone in the organization receives a chance to provide their side of the story on Kevin Boss and Steve Smith’s departures from the Giants, chairman John Mara spoke about both players leaving during an interview with ESPN Radio today.

Mara understood why they left and spoke fondly of both players, but he defended his organization. He said Smith was offered a long-term deal last season and that Boss’ agent verbally agreed to a deal with the Giants before accepting a bigger offer from the Oakland Raiders.

 Smith's exodus to the Eagles has particularly rankled fans, but Mara indicated that last year’s proposal to Smith was “a huge deal that would have made him one of the highest-paid receivers in the league.” (continue)

 

Reese has a plan, not sure if its to win games though

Jerry Reese called free agency a "dog-eat-dog" endeavor. It just so happens that in this case, the Giants were Steve Smith's Purina.

Smith signed with the Eagles, leaving the team cold without allowing them to counter an offer from Philadelphia. Tom Coughlin seemed to take that personally when he spoke Thursday morning, but Reese looked at it more from a business perspective in the afternoon.

"I'm not blindsided or surprised by anything in free agency," the Giants' general manager said. "I don't want to get into a 'he said, she said' situation, but you do expect some feedback. Again, nobody owes you anything in free agency and I'm not surprised by anything."

The "he said, she said" is about Coughlin's statement that the Giants had an understanding with Smith and his people that they would be kept abreast of the market for the free-agent receiver. Smith's agent, Ben Dogra, has denied in an interview with the Star-Ledger that any promise was made. (continue)

 

Giants will be ready for the free agent frenzy

Whenever the NFL gets its act together there will be no lurching back to business. It will be a whirlwind swim-or-be-eaten dive into the free agency waters and Giants general manager Jerry Reese has promised "We'll be ready to pounce."

The Giants will have to get their own house in order with five key players -- Steve Smith, Mathias Kiwanuka, Ahmad Bradshaw, Kevin Boss and Barry Cofield-- before they venture outside.

Two of them, Kiwanuka and Smith, would be in high demand elsewhere if not for serious injuries that undermine their value. Kiwanuka is one of the most versatile defensive linemen in the NFL. He was the Giants best defender after three games last season, recording a team-high four sacks. He missed the last 13 games with a herniated disk in his neck. Kiwanuka opted not to have surgery, was cleared back in February to return to football activity and should be all-systems-go for training camp. (continue)

Osi clarifies Reese comments

Osi Umenyiora said his affidavit that will be part of the players' antitrust lawsuit against the NFL next month was not meant to paint Giants general manager Jerry Reese as a liar, but rather to show that Reese is unable to keep promises he made because of the lockout.

"I felt like this is the time period in which a deal was supposed to be renegotiated or I was supposed to be traded to another team as per our conversation," Umenyiora said Friday in a phone conversation from his home outside Atlanta. "But none of that can happen because we're being locked out." (continue)

Jacobs should get more carries in 2011

Giants general manager Jerry Reese seconded Tom Coughlin's assessment that Brandon Jacobs needs to be more involved in the offense next season.

"I can see that," Reese said from the NFL Scouting Combine this morning. "I think Brandon ended up with maybe 150 carries (147). Maybe he should be a 200-carry guy. We gave Brad (Ahmad Bradshaw) probably too many carries (276). He’s a little tough guy, maybe too tough for his own good. You like that about them, but you give those little guys too many carries, at the end of the season, you can start to see them slow down." (Newsday)

 

Reese thinks MLB might be on current roster

With the release of Antonio Pierce and no obvious replacement on the roster, it would seem as if middle linebacker is a logical position of need for the Giants in next month's NFL Draft.

Not necessarily, according to GM Jerry Reese.

"Well, I think there's good players in the draft at that position, but we think we have some players on our team," Reese said yesterday on Sirius NFL Radio. "Last year everybody said, 'You need receivers, you need receivers.' I said, 'We have some young receivers; let's see what they can do.' "

Reese proved to be correct in his assessment of the Giants' young receivers. As far as middle-linebacker prospects, Reese said, "We have Gerris Wilkinson, Clint Sintim ,Jon Goff, Bryan Kehll. We have some guys on the roster right now we hope will step up. But we'll continue to look for that position in free agency and the draft." Continue

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