No Strahan, No Tryouts
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- August
- 26
Keep cool, gang. No Michael Strahan, still. But at least Tom Coughlin was happy with Justin Tuck, who came up with four tackles, a sack, and a hurry in the first half against the Jets.
Tuck isn’t Strahan yet, but he’s a very athletic kid who worked well inside and out in a rotation last year. If Strahan doesn’t get back—I still believe he’ll be in in time for the Sept. 9 opener—the job at LDE will probably fall to Tuck. He’s learned quite a lot his first two seasons, so there’s a good possibility the sky won’t fall in if Strahan ultimately decides to pack it in.
Which I don’t think is happening.
Which means Strahan and Tuck would rotate.
Which would be fine.
There was one piece of sad news from Coughlin’s follow-up conference. E.J. Underwood, a good-looking cornerback, will have surgery on a fractured jaw incurred on the play where the Giants were awarded a safety. That’s a serious deal, since you can’t really have contact until the jaw heals. Ask former Giants quarterback Kerry Collins, who was out a month after Bill Romanowski broke his jaw in the 1997 preseason. And his job didn’t involve tackling.
Looks like IR for Underwood. Tough break. He was having a good camp.
As for starting weakside linebacker Kawika Mitchell’s strained groin, it looks like he’ll miss the preseason finale in New England, but could return in time for Dallas.
Coughlin also said don’t expect any kicker tryouts this week, even though Lawrence Tynes and Josh Huston combined to miss three of four attempts. He’s going to keep working with both of them, and said that Tynes’ second miss from 43 yards was the result of a bad snap.
If anyone’s job is in immediate danger, then, it’s third-round pick Jay Alford’s short-snapping job. Coughlin said he had other options there, such as Shaun O’Hara and Grey Ruegamer. Zak DeOssie, the team’s current punt-snapper, did not appear to be an option.
Ciao for now.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, August 26th, 2007 at 6:21 pm by Ernie Palladino.
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Ernie Palladino
Too bad to hear about Underwood. I hope no matter what they keep him on contract. I had a team mate in high school who played through having a broken jaw and he was never the same. You have to remember that its your face. An injury like that affects your mind as much as your physical. Dude was all-section and almost all-state and after that he lost all of his scholarships and had to walk-on in college. His luck didnt change either because although he started as a freshmen he f’d his knee up and his career was over. Hopefully Underwood will give it the time it needs and in a month or two he’ll be healed up.
As far as LDE goes, I’m very happy with Tuck. He’s one guy I knew could step up. I hope Strahan returns because bottom line is we’re better with him than without him but even if he’s in a rotation I suspect Tuck will be a big ‘under-the-radar’ guy for the Giants this year.
I agree it’s good that Tuck is back and in good health.
I also think Strahan’s act is getting as old as he is. He’s somewhat like Tiki, but not totally. He’ll report, the Giants may cut his fine in half, and then we’ll see
how much gas he has left in his tank.
There’s no guarantee he’ll be fine. He could be half
of what he was before the injury, and age is also a factor working against him.
A rotation with Tuck seems the best way to go.
Del:
Glad to have you back. What? Three or four posts and no literary or film references? Well, guess it’s preseason for everybody!
Ahh…But Ernie is a man for all seasons.
Or is that “seasonings?”