Due to a scheduling conflict, the NFL Draft i being moved to mid-May next year. Radio City Music Hall is instituting a spring show featuring the Rockettes, therefore bumping the draft back a few weeks.
Commissioner Roger Goodell stated today at the league meetings in Boston that the league may look to move the draft out of Big Apple in the near future if the RCMH situation goes on past next year:
“We haven’t found the location in New York that meets our requirements and where we think we can continue to grow the event. If we do, that will be one of the alternatives. I think one of the things we have to do at some point is start looking at other cities.”
Super Bowl L (50) to be held in February of 2016, will take place at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California – the new home of the San Francisco 49ers. It will be the first Super Bowl held in the Bay Area since 1985, when the 49ers defeated the Miami Dolphins at Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto.
Super Bowl LI will be hosted by the city of Houston at Reliant Stadium, home of the Texans. It will be the second time since the Texans joined the NFL in 2002 that the game will be held in Houston. The previous time was in 2004 when the Patriots beat the Panthers in a thriller.
Other quotes from Goodell’s presser:
On playoff expansion:
We asked the Competition Committee to look at it. There was a lot of discussion. We had a report briefly at the March meeting. We are going to continue to have more dialogue with the Players Association, which is a big part of that discussion, and the second is with broadcast partners. Yes, we are continuing discussions on that but not today.
On the future of the Pro Bowl, including the site:
We committed to Hawaii, as you know, for the 2014 [Pro Bowl] game. It will be the week before the Super Bowl. Our intention is to keep it in that time period. We think that it works well from a season standpoint and finishing the season on a high note with the Super Bowl. There is interest in potentially bringing it back to the mainland in multiple sites as early as the following year.
The big focus we have had now is how to make the game more exciting from a fan’s perspective. One of the concepts that was discussed today is the idea that the players are selected as they are now with a vote from players, coaches and fans but the actual teams are drafted by captains. That is an idea that came from our players. We are continuing to have dialogue with the players on that idea. We think it is exciting. It could have some fun attached to it. It is something we may do this season.
On the NFL’s partnership with Microsoft and the in-stadium fan experience:
[It helps] in multiple ways, and it is not just the Microsoft agreement. One of the things that we updated our membership on today was our mobile partnership, which is currently with Verizon, and where we are with those discussions. Also we talked about where we are with trying to use the technology that Microsoft can bring to the table, that Verizon can bring to the table, and other technology partners to make the experience in the stadium better. We have to solve the Wi-Fi problem and the DAS problem, which is to try to bring in more capacity so people can use their phones and their mobile devices in our stadiums. We want to be able to use that content in the stadiums to give them unique experiences. That is the really key thing for us. We want to make that experience in the stadium the best ever. I believe there is nothing better than being at an NFL stadium with 75,000 people excited and passionate about their team and about the game. From using scoreboards to using technology that Microsoft can help with by creating more interactive experiences that they will be doing on XBOX that we might be able to do with mobile devices in the near future, we are going to allow fans to have a better experience to stay connected. This is even when they are at their games with their fantasy football teams, for example, or following what is going on around the league and watching highlights from other games. We will use the scoreboards for that, but we will also allow them to use their mobile devices. We think mobile is a huge opportunity for our fans to get closer to the game and a huge opportunity for the NFL.
On the options to modify the structure of the NFL season:
[The options] are all on the table. As I have said before, I think the structure of the season is something that we consistently reevaluate. I have been quite open about [indicating that] we have to address the quality of the preseason. I hear from fans consistently that they want to make every NFL event more valuable. They see the preseason as being less valuable to them because they don’t see the best players and the games do not count. We have to address that, whether we are looking at 18 [regular-season games] and two [preseason games] or 16-and-two and expanded playoffs. They are all on the table and things we are going to evaluate.
Below are our latest Giants’ “hot seat” candidates for the upcoming season…
DE Justin Tuck: It’s a make-or-break year for Tuck (we think) as he enters the final year of his contract. He has had two subpar seasons and a third could either den him packing or into retirement. There is also the possibility of him returning at a reduced price, but what point would that serve?
WR Hakeem Nicks: With Victor Cruz most likely scoring a sizable deal, Nicks needs to stay healthy and produce big numbers if he hopes to get a matching one. If he doesn’t, the Giants will dodge a bullet by signing him to a modest contract. They may also let him try the free agent market and get him back even cheaper, depending on his health.
DT Linval Joseph: By the time the season gets here, Joseph may have already gotten unseated as a starter by one of the new faces. His performance the past two seasons has been statistically acceptable but, in reality, he’s been extremely pedestrian. He needs to escalate both the effort and the results if he’s going remain a Giant after this season.
CB Corey Webster: The Giants are hoping CWeb can redeem himself from a god-awful season, but he won’t get much rope from the coaches. With basically one year left on his contract (next year is a player option), he’s simply got to play better or begone.
RB Andre Brown: If he can play a whole season, he wins. If he doesn’t, he loses. Brown has had nine lives already in this league and the Giants have given him three of them. He’ll need to show them a lot more than he has in the past if he wants a fourth.
DE Jason Pierre-Paul: Which JPP will we see in 2013? The unstoppable 2011 version or the marginalized 2012 one? The prediction is a composite of both. JPP can only achieve so much with his raw ability, now he needs to overcome opponents’ game=planning schemes by honing his skills to get to the next level.
Clouds and rain in the forecast here in the Big Apple today. If you’re wondering what the Giants are up to, here it is. They will be at TPC for OTA sessions on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
Scheduled OTAs (voluntary): May 22-23, May 29-31, June 3-7
Mandatory minicamp: June 11-13
Don’t expect WR Victor Cruz to be at TPC anytime soon. Although there have been reports that he and the Giants are close to contract agreement, Mike Florio of PFT reports things between the two are “moving slowly”:
Cruz, who has not yet signed a one-year, $2.879 million restricted free agency tender, has been staying away from the team’s offseason workouts as he pursues a long-term deal. He reportedly wants more than $10 million per year; the Giants at last word were in the $7 million annual range.
The next pressure point comes on June 17, when the Giants can rescind his tender offer and replace it with a 10-percent raise over his 2012 salary of $540,000, which equates to $594,000. Doing so would likely inflame the situation, causing Cruz possibly to hold out through Week 10 of the regular season, sign the tender, finish the year, and become an unrestricted free agent in 2014.
Both the News and the Post have features this morning on rookie safety Cooper Taylor, who at 6’4″ is has piqued the in the interest as being unusually tall for the position.
Virginia Tech’s Alonzo Tweedy, one of the nation’s top special teams players, will vie for a roster spot this summer.
Jim Mancari, Contributor
Though it’s a bit early to tell, Victor Cruz may go down as one of the top undrafted free agents in Giants’ history.
Hall of Fame defensive back Emlen Tunnell is also on that list with his 79 career interceptions.
The Giants have four undrafted free agents who will compete for a spot on the 53-man roster. They are:
Charleston Southern cornerback Charles James; Ohio State linebacker Etienne Sabino; Virginia Tech safety Alonzo Tweedy; and Louisville running back Jeremy Wright.
Of this group, who has the best chance to crack the opening week roster?
The guerrilla-style media entity TmZ caught up with Giants’ co-owner Steve Tisch as he was getting into his car in LA this weekend. Tisch believes that LB Aaron Curry could become a “game-changer” for the Giants. In an unfair question about Tim Tebow, Tisch responded by taking the high road….
From TmZ.com:
The New York Jets DESTROYED any chance Tim Tebow had to be a successful QB in the NFL … this according to NY Giants co-owner Steve Tisch.
“I think him going from the Broncos to the Jets was not in anybody’s best interest,” Tisch told TMZ on his way out of Dan Tana’s in L.A. Sunday night.
“Had another team picked him up after the Broncos, maybe he’d have a career.”
AW SNAP!!!!!
So where will Tim end up? Tisch says Timmy should ignore the offers from the Lingerie Football League and focus on getting back into the NFL … at least for now.
Giants Rookie MiniCamp: What We Learned
John Fennelly , Executive Editor
Now that rookie minicamp has come and gone, what have we learned, if anything?
Well, for starters, the team showed us they are still not content with the interior of the defensive line and their linebackers.
At DT, they added another veteran this week in journeyman Frank Okum which now gives them eight DTs heading into minicamp next month. Linval Joseph is currently the only DT on the roster that has played a full season for the Giants.
Markus Kuhn has ten games under his belt and Marvin Austin has played a total of eight. Veteran Shaun Rogers missed all of last season with blot clot issues. Cullen Jenkins and Mike Patterson were scooped up in free agency after Philadelphia released them and Jonathan Hankins was selected in the second round of the draft in April.
Hankins is expected to play an integral part of the team’s DL rotation. Who’s playing time will he be cutting into, though? My thoughts are Joseph will be seeing less reps. He is the lone survivor from last year’s group that got pushed all over the field and the coaches now have some viable bodies to replace him with.
It really was meant to be an open discussion to see what the fans thought about the subject and really just to start thinking about it long-term. Of course, we are blessed to have a quarterback like Eli Manning, and based on his durability, there should be no reason that anyone other than Eli will be Big Blue’s starter behind center for at least the next five–plus years.
In the post, I wrote:
It’s tough to imagine a Giants’ team led by someone other than Manning, but that reality will come to fruition at some point, and the Giants must be prepared with a plan.
Big Blue can look at this issue in one of three ways.
The team can either draft and develop a quarterback over a few years, draft a quarterback the year Manning decides to retire or sign or trade for a quarterback when Manning hangs up the spikes.
Drafting Syracuse’s Ryan Nassib in the fourth round looks like a steal based on his talent, but the timing of it is still very strange. I really didn’t think this would be the year the Giants would draft a quarterback.
We want Victor Cruz to be proud to be a New York Giant, be proud of his contract…The New York Giants want him back as badly as we’ve ever wanted anybody.
We’d like this thing to be settled and over with…
— Tom Coughlin on Victor Cruz
Pat Summerall 1930-2013: John Madden Pays Tribute to His Partner and Friend
John Fennelly , Executive Editor
John Madden and Pat Summerall were broadcast partners for over two decades, setting the standard and creating the model used in almost all current-day NFL television broadcasts.
It was a relationship that got off to an untidy start. In 1981, CBS paired the laid-back, revered Summerall with Madden, the former Super Bowl-winning head coach of the Oakland Raiders, who was known for his assertive, surly, plain-speaking manner.
I asked Summerall if he could imagine at the time how big a star Madden would become.
He said, “At first, I didn’t think he was going to make it.”
There first game Madden worked with Summerall was in steamy Tampa Bay. Immediately, Summerall was faced with the quirks that would cause him to endear himself to Madden.
“The press box was at the top of the stadium,” Summerall said. “John was afraid of heights. It was a hot day and he sweated right through his shirt. “
Their relationship became a special one, even though the two were cut from different cloths. Summerall was the man’s man: former player, hard drinker, tough veneer. Madden was outgoing, garrulous with afflictions unbecoming of man of his stature. He was afraid to fly, and traveled to games by bus. The vehicle became known as “The Madden Cruiser.”
Yesterday, Madden delivered a teary eulogy for his friend at a memorial service in Plano, TX. From David Moore of The Dallas Morning News: To read more of this story, click here
The NFL released their full 256-game regular season schedule tonight. The Giants will appear in primetime five times this season, despite not qualifying for the playoffs last year.
Outside of their required home-and-home contests vs their divisional opponents (Cowboys, Eagles, Redskins), the Giants will face the NFC North (Bears, Lions, Vikings, Packers) and the AFC West (Broncos, Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders).
By virtue of their second-place finish in 2012, the Giants drew the other NFC second-place finishers from last season (Seahawks, Panthers).
Home: Cowboys, Redskins, Eagles, Packers, Vikings, Seahawks, Broncos and Raiders Away: Cowboys, Redskins, Eagles, Bears, Lions, Panthers, Chiefs and Chargers
Giants 2013 Regular Season Schedule
Week 1: Sept 8: @ Dallas 8:30pm NBC* Week 2: Sept 15: BRONCOS 4:15pm CBS Week 3: Sept 22: @ Carolina 1:00pm FOX Week 4: Sept 29: @Kansas City 1:00pm FOX Week 5: Oct 6: EAGLES 1:00pm FOX Week 6: Oct 10 (Thurs): @ Chicago 8:25pm NFLN* Week 7: Oct 21: (Mon) VIKINGS 8:40pm ESPN* Week 8: Oct 27: @ Philadelphia 1:00pm FOX
Week 9 BYE
Week 10: Nov 10: RAIDERS 1:00pm CBS Week 11: Nov 17: PACKERS 8:30pm NBC* Week 12: Nov 24: COWBOYS 4:15pm FOX Week 13: Dec 1: @ Washington 8:30pm NBC* Week 14; Dec 8: @ San Diego 4:25PM FOX Week 15: Dec 15: SEAHAWKS 1:00PM FOX Week 16: Dec 22: @ Detroit 4:05 FOX Week 17: Dec 29: REDSKINS 1:00 FOX
