Wilson has career day in Giants 52-27 win over Saints

Twenty minutes before the Giants and Saints kicked off Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins completed their comebacks to get within a half game of the Giants.

Now the Giants were officially in a must win game.

After Eli Manning threw his 14th career interception returned for a touchdown, MetLife stadium was about as quiet as it has ever been. Manning threw a pass behind Jerrel Jernigan, and Saints corner Elbert Mack picked it off and took it back for six.

On the ensuing kickoff, the stadium erupted as the speedy rookie David Wilson took the kick back 97 yards to tie the game at seven.

The Saints then handed the ball back to the Giants after Saints fullback Jed Collins was stripped by Antrel Rolle.

Manning led the Giants on a 35 yard scoring drive capped by a touchdown pass to tight end Martellus Bennett.

The Saints made it a one point game with back to back field goals, but Eli and the Giants offense executed another one of their patented two minute drives. Manning found Domenik Hixon in the back right corner of the end zone to give the Giants a 21-13 lead at the half.

The Giants defense, who played with a bend but don't break mentality, stepped up and forced two more turnovers in the second half.

Stevie Brown intercepted Drew Brees' first pass of the second half after it was deflected by Antrel Rolle and Jimmy Graham. Brown's sixth pick of the season set up a David Wilson touchdown to make it 28-13 Giants early in the third.

Trailing 35-13 in the third quarter the Saints put together a quick scoring drive ending with a Darren Sproles touchdown to cut the lead to 35-20. The Saints picked off Eli Manning again, and another Darren Sproles score made it an eight point game.

On the ensuing kickoff, the Saints kicked it short to keep it away from the speedy Wilson, but Jerrel Jernigan took the return deep into Saints territory to set up a Victor Cruz touchdown and give the Giants a 42-27 lead.

The Saints threatened to cut into the Giants lead, but Stevie Brown picked off his second pass of the game at the Giant eight yard line, and returned it 70 yards down to the Saints twenty two yard line.

Up 45-27 in the fourth, the Giants let their first round draft pick display his talents in the backfield.

David Wilson broke through the Saints defense and ran 52 yards for his second rushing touchdown of the night.

Wilson finished the night with a franchise record 327 total yards (100 rushing and 227 return yards) and three total touchdowns.

Victor Cruz had another big game for the Big Blue pulling in passes for 121 yards and a touchdown.

Eli Manning, who looked shaky at points in the game, finished 22 of 35 for 259 yards, four scores, and two picks.


Drew Brees threw threw for 354 yards, and hit eight differen receivers, but also threw two more interceptions. Brees has thrown 16 interceptions this season, two more than he threw all of last year.

If there was a game ball to be handed out tonight it would most certainly go to rookie David Wilson, but Wilson would have to share that with his kick return squad for opening up those lanes for him.

The Giants are 8-5 and maintain their one game lead in the NFC East with three games to go.

The Giants will travel to the Georgia Dome next week to take on the Matt Ryan and the 11-2 Falcons.

Dallas will host the Pittsburgh Steelers while the Redskins travel to Cleveland.

New York Giants Draft WR Rueben Randle in 2nd Round

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With the 63^rd overall pick, 31^st in the 2^nd round of the 2012 NFL Draft, the New York Giants selected Wide Receiver, Rueben Randle of LSU.  The Giants were in need of a WR after Mario Manningham left this offseason via free agency with the San Francisco 49ers.  This was not only a value pick for the Giants, who contemplated drafting Randle with their first round pick, but also a pick that filled a need.  This is the earliest the Giants have selected a WR since drafting Hakeem Nicks in the first round of the 2009 NFL Draft.

Randle is 6’2” tall and weighs 210 pounds.  Randle was able to produce on an LSU team that focused on the running game and defense, with 917 yards and eight touchdowns on 53 receptions.  Overall, Randle finished his three season at LSU with 93 receptions for 1,634 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Scouts had only positive things to say about Randle. “Randle is a confident pass catcher with strong hands.  Can make tough catches over his head.  Consistently shoes ability to snatch on the run.  Outstanding body control to adjust.”

Randle should have no problem fitting in with this Giants team.  With the loss of Manningham, the Giants have a hole on their offense that Randle can come in and compete to fill.  He has experience playing both flanker and split end in college and has good size. The Giants do have other players that will compete with Randle including Ramses Barden, Jerrel Jernigan and Domenik Hixon so a job will not just be handed to him.  The Giants were able to add another talented receiver to their depth chart at the very least and someone who can have a big impact later down the road.

The Giants are a team that competes every season, so they are looking to add people who are ready to contribute right away with their top picks.  They very well may have found someone to fit that profile in Randle.  Marc Ross, director of college scouting, says Randle is NFL-ready.

“I really didn’t think there was a chance we were going to get him,” Ross said.  “Actually, we talked about a little about him yesterday with our pick.  Reuben is an NFL-ready receiver.  What I mean by that is this guy is strong, he can catch the ball, he is a good route runner and has got position-savvy.  He knows how to get open.  To me those are the successful receivers in the NFL.  Our guys that we have now, Hakeem and Victor, you put them on at the combine, you won’t notice them but if you put them on the football field, they just take their game to another level and this is hoe Rueben is in our eyes.”

Ross later added, “The way LSU plays, they run the ball and they play defense … so he didn’t get a lot of chances.”

It was a rough wait for Randle.  He was not consoled by the fact that the Giants had considered him with their first round pick, because that meant another full day of sitting around and waiting in the green room.  He was the last player remaining in the green room at the draft.  “I wasn’t trying to worry myself with the whole situation,” Randle is quoted as saying. 

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Randle was relieved when he received that call from Tom Coughlin at the end of the 2^nd round.  “He just asked me if I was ready to come in and compete,” Randle said in reference to his conversation with Coughlin.  Randle told the reporters interviewing him that he indeed was.  Randle could not have ended up in a much better situation, getting to join the reigning Super Bowl Champs and having a chance to come in and contribute right away.  He also gets to play with one of the premier quarterbacks in the NFL in Eli Manning, giving Manning yet another option on offense to go along with first round pick David Wilson. 

New York Giants Draft Preview: Special Teams

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This is the 6^th installment in the series of posts breaking down the Giants position by position for the upcoming NFL Draft.  The next position up is special teams. 

The Giants depth chart currently includes Kicker Lawrence Tynes, Punter Steve Weatherford, Long Snapper Zak DeOssie, Punt Returner Domenik Hixon, and Kick Returners Jerrel Jernigan, Da’Rel Scott and D.J. Ware.  Will Blackmon is the only current special teamer still on the free agent wire for the Giants.

Last season the special teams saw a vast improvement throughout all aspects in 2011 compared to 2010.  One area that saw a glaring improvement was in the punting game.  After beating out Matt Dodge in training camp, Weatherford provided clutch and outstanding punting.  Tynes was efficient, going 19-24 on his Field Goal attempts and kicking 34 touchbacks.

The coverage teams were also vastly improved.  Neither the punt return or kick off coverage allowed a return touchdown on the season.  A reason for this was the infusion of young talent through the draft in Greg Jones, Jacquian Williams and Tyler Sash and the signing of undrafted free agent Mark Herzlich. 

At times superstars Jason Pierre-Paul and Justin Tuck were seen on the special team units attempting to block field goals and punts.  Giants’ fans will remember JPP blocked field goal against the Dallas Cowboys in week 15 that very well could have saved the Giants season.  Let’s not also forget to mention Corner Back Justin Tryon, who contributed in his short amount of time before suffering a season ending injury.  I distinctly remember the play he made on a punt against the Miami Dolphins and Reggie Bush.  It was the play Tryon sadly got hurt on, but he was still able to make the play and stop the explosive Bush. 

The return game was the only thing that was not so stellar for the Giants. They averaged only 6.1 yards per punt return and 23.3 yards per kick return.  Hixon is a capable return man and his return is nothing but positive for the team.  But he is a huge injury concern, and the other main kick and punt return men all either left the team in free agency or remain unsigned.  Hixon, Jernigan and Scott are all capable of being good return men because of the tools they posses.  Ware also has experience as a kick returner.

The last time the Giants selected a special teamer in the draft was 2010 with Matt Dodge and we all know how that ended up.  Don’t expect the Giants to take any special teamers outside of possibly an electric return man.  The Giants are more than set at Kicker, Punter and Long Snapper.  Some possibilities are Arkansas’ Joe Adams who led the FBS in yard per punt return at an average of 16.9 or Keshawn Martin from Michigan State who was mentioned earlier in the WR post.  Another return man to keep an eye on is Florida’s Chris Rainey, who is dangerous in space and is capable of being a good return man in the NFL. I would put the need for a special teamer at a 4 for the Giants, only because it would be beneficial to add a spark plug in the return game.  Other than a returner, the need for special teamers would be a 1 on a scale on 1-10.

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New York Giants Draft Preview: Wide Reciever

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This is the third installment in the series of posts breaking down the Giants position by position for the upcoming NFL Draft.  The next position up is Wide Receiver.

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The depth chart for the Giants at WR includes Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz, Domenik Hixon, Jerrel Jernigan, Ramses Barden, Isiah Stanback and Dan DePalma.  The Giants also have Michael Clayton who is currently still an unrestricted free agent. 

Going into this season, the Giants will employ one of the best receiving tandems in the NFL in Nicks and Cruz.  Cruz could experience a rough path this season, at least at the start, as teams now start to focus game plans on him more than last season when he really came out of nowhere.  Another thing on the agenda for the Giants will be to find that third weapon with the departure of Mario Manningham.  The front office is hoping that the available in house options of Jernigan and Barden are ready to assume bigger roles and step up much like Cruz last season.  Do not put it past the Giants to throw these guys into the fire and let them work.  Eli Manning has a knack for developing receivers and turning them into valuable weapons. 

This is a huge opportunity for Barden.  The Giants selected him in the 3^rd round in 2009 out of Cal Poly.  The Giants were hoping he would replace the void of size and a red zone threat after Plaxico Burress was sent to jail.  Barden has not yet shown his full potential whether it is because of injuries or just not enough of an opportunity.  But in limited action he has flashed good hands and obviously has the size. 

Jernigan has experience working the slot in college at Troy University.  A full training camp and off-season under the watch of the coaching staff will do him a lot of good. 

Hixon will also have his fair share of opportunities to take over the third receiver role, but cannot have much trust put into him.  He is coming off his second ACL surgery in as many seasons, so a slow easy process of working him back into the lineup will probably ensue this season to help ensure there are no setbacks.  Last season, Hixon had the first crack at securing the third receiver job until the knee injury ended his season and opened the door for Cruz.

The last time the Giants selected a WR was last years draft with Jernigan.  Before that it was Barden, both 3^rd round picks.  The Giants could use another receiver this year even if it is just for depth because both Mario Manningham and Devin Thomas left via free agency and played key roles on the team.  Thomas was also the main kick return man for most of the season, something the Giants could look for in the WR they have on their board.  The Giants are not going to break their philosophy of taking the best player available, but there is a good chance that player could be a WR.

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Two potential targets for the Giants are Kendall Wright out of Baylor and Stephen Hill of Georgia Tech.  Currently, both are rated to get taken before the Giants selection at 32.  It would be a pretty safe bet though that if either of them fall that is the player the Giants will select.  More realistic options later in the draft include New Jersey product Mohamed Sanu from Rutgers Keshawn Martin from Michigan State.  Adding a WR definitely would not be a bad thing for the Giants, so I will rate the necessity of adding a WR at a 6 on a scale of 1-10 because of the ability Eli Manning has to develop what they already have.