A defense of.. (long, opinionated, unedited)
Aug 12, 2019 10:05:01 GMT -5
wahl35, gmen46, and 1 more like this
Post by grizz299 on Aug 12, 2019 10:05:01 GMT -5
Davis Webb, Darian Thompson,Owa Odighizuwa, Jay Bromley, Damontre Moore, Jayron Hosley, Jerel Jenigan, Chad Jones, Ramses Barden,
There's a lot of ways to make a point but the above keeps things in context and provides a platform. We’re looking at a pretty dismal list of football players and for ten years the Giant have struggled to find late round talent while important third round picks have netted the team nothing but lost hope and worthless investments.
Alex ogletree waxed enthusiastic recently about the future he sees for BJ Hill, last year’s third rounder. He said that Hill could be a "special player" and went as far to say that the rookie who recorded 5.5 sacs in his first year had the potential “to be great”. We've heard the same thing being said about Lorenzo Cartier. Indulge me: Read that opening list again. Compare ten years of failure with Gettleman’s first year that produced two potential pro-bowler types out of the third line.
In a sea of opinions and “wait and see’s” that’s as close to factual as you can get and only a member of The Not So Secret Nihilist Society could fail to recognize that we've been the beneficiaries of extraordinary drafting - which, of course, they will do.
Extend the idea and note that Hernandez and Saquon Barkley were on the front side of those two brilliant third round picks, and then round the achievement with the back side and the freebies named Haley and T. Davis (both likely starters in year two of their careers). Note RJ Macintosh and you're looking at as close to perfection as it gets.
The Nihilists are going to harp on a fourth rounder for Lauletta. They're arguing from "Need" not logic. The NFL world knows the odds are long at finding a startling qb at that level, but it happens, and the rewards potentially so great that you can take a gamble - IE great potential payoff for low investment with a high and acceptable risk factor. When it fails, it has to be viewed in that perspective... and also from the framework that 50% of the top five picks for QB don't work out. Moreover, the kid was 9 for 12 the other night for 116 yards and capped it off with a very nice touchdown throw. Point being, he might still bring back a fourth round pick.
In analyzing Gettleman: the OBJ trade looks good, even if still inconclusive; The Vernon salary dump (" how did they find a way to get rid of that salary” said one commenntator) brought back a all star and great leader at a critical position ; and the man's second year draft looks early on to be even more brilliant.
Just consider this year's freebies: Jake Carlock (S.), Connerley (lb'er), Alex Wessley, Reggie White Jr. (WR's), and Conrad (TE). No small accomplishment that and it is virtually unprecedented; The Giants are finding superb talent at the tail end of the draft. How many steals can you find before the Justice Dept. labels you a "brigand" and arrests you for larceny?... Because Ballytine, Darius Slayton, Chris Slayton all - at this writing at least- look like "steals ' with picks 6 through 8. And I’ll go as far as to say that Ballytine has the making of an all pro.
It is too early - in spite of that 5 for 5 brilliance the other night - to label Daniel Jones as the second coming but based on everything we know at this writing he’s certainly not the wasted pick that has been relentlessly sold here ...........!!! Dak Lawrence - again, as of this writing - looks like a steal at 17. Baker and Ximenes worthwhile investments. Against this list of inarguable achievements we have the din of The Nihilists. They are led by two good guys in Nico and Callie - guys who are personal, literate and contribute without assailing character and making it personal But even these good guys have lost credibility - and I say that without rancor or personal disregard. If a case can be made against Gettleman, we haven't heard it and they're not making it. Maybe the genesis was the Barkely / Darnold case (though I think that's the pimple not the condition / the symptom and not the disease ). To review: Darnold had a very high upside and was playing the more important position. He also had a down side, his last two years produced something like 18 turnovers in 11 games - this in a warm climate while relatively small size 9 hands, suggested that this might be a problem playing in the Northeast. In a league where 50% of the top picks at QB fail, Darnold was an even higher risk. The alternative was as safe a pick as we might ever see at a position of lesser importance.
The omnipotence that hindsight gives suggests that Darnold is not the turn-over machine we saw in college and that he’s a superb prospect. It’s not that the Nihilists were wrong, it’s the vehemence of their stance. They didn’t see it as a close call, they’ve labeled it as total folly, called Gettleman a fool and an embarrassment, labeled the organization that’s won two superbowls in the last decade and had one playoff appearance as “worse than the Browns” who have’t had a winning season in that span.
They have a need to deal in absoutes and extremism, there is no other side, their world is not nunaced, there’s no shadows or greys.
Their vehemence extends to every issue and their stance is predictable. Cite the Cowboys year where Ezekial Elliot drove them to a remarkable 13-3 record (something we’ve achieved only twice in our proud history) in spite of a rookie quarterback who was aspiring to get to “ordinary”. Well first it’s because of the line, the line that was there when Romo was the quarterback and Bryant and Witten in their prime. “Well it was a supberb defense”. And they convince themselves, in spite of all the hard evidence. The idea contradicts there main thesis. Exceptions can’t be noted because then maybe Gettleman is not the fool they want/need him to be.
It extends to every argument and keen intelligence is used to defend a position rather than examine it. I know where they are going to be on the OBJ trade – on the side that makes the organization look bad.
The contradiction between “ you always take the QB” in 2018 and “you take Ross over Jones in 2019, is little noted and never explained. And certainly The fourth edge rusher and third linebacker taken in 2019 is not the prospect that Saquon wss just 12 months earlier. Doesn’t matter, juxtaposing the contractions is effortless.
“Gettleman has no plan” became a repeated campaign promise. While he almost seamlessly acquired huge people on both sides of the line to fit his “hog Mollie” words. He’s built an offense around the line, built the defense around the line. And acknowledged the new football that says an edge rusher isn’t as important because the qb is getting the ball out so fast ,so get hybrid blitzers and good cover guys.
Building a good lockerroom and getting rid of the complainers, securing maybe the best player in football over an iffy QB, freeing up cap for next year, hog mollies on both lines, a QB for the future, scoring on almost the draft picks and unaccountably and unprecedently on most Un-drated F.A picks and WR Free agents….… All seamlessly and all part of a plan that doesn’t exist in their mind or their attention.
It’s a heck of a thing to claim that posters you like and respect “have no creditability”, so I almost feel like offering an apology. What I’m not going to do is speak to the small brained would be genius who plays the role of cynic absence the cognency of his betters. They don’t deal in thoughts an words, theire strength is the personalization and infantile game of name calling they contribute nothing but a need to denigrate. That’s a thread for someone else, they are better left unacknowledged and unnamed and the board should have spared us them before now anyway.