I know what you were thinking!
-
- April
- 29
Amid all this talk of wide receivers and the rookie linebacker, you were wondering just one thing.
What the heck are the Giants going to do with Mathias Kiwanuka?
That was it, right? Well, even if it wasn’t, I’m going to tell you, anyway. They’re going to leave him right where he is, as a featured player in the defensive end rotation. In other words, his days as a linebacker, which effectively ended last year when he spent the season at right defensive end for the IRed Osi Umenyiora, will now officially be over under new defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan.
Own opinion here, but that whole Kiwi-to-LB experiment under former DC Steve Spagnuolo failed. All it did was keep him from being the best defensive end he could be.
Now, he’ll get that chance as he comes in behind Umenyiora and Justin Tuck; no ands, ifs, or buts.
“He won’t, no,” Sheridan said when asked if Kiwanuka would head back to linebacker. “He is going to play defensive end. And that is a fair question. But no, he is going to play defensive end.”
Putting him at linebacker in 2007 was a curious move, anyway. They fell in love with his mobility. But in the end, Kiwanuka is what Ernie Accorsi drafted him as—a pass rusher.
“And you can never have enough pass rushers,” Sheridan said. “Specifically, just talking about him, when we played nickel defense, or sub-defense on third down, he is starting. And you are in that personnel group literally 50-55% of the time every game. At the end of the year we played over 1,000 snaps last year and we had over 500 snaps on sub – nickel personnel. So he is in essence a starter, even though with Osi and Tuck back now, they will be in a rotation at defensive end on first and second down.
“But when you get to third down, guys like that are starting for you. So no, he is going to be a defensive end. That is where he is going to play.”
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There’s an interesting little backstory to new assistant offensive line coach Jack Bicknell, Jr., whose father hired Tom Coughlin as a Boston College assistant and served as the Eagles’ coach when Doug Flutie threw his magical 60-yard Hail Mary pass to Gerard Phelan against Miami in 1984. According to Bicknell, Jr., one of the greatest pass plays in NCAA history might not have happened if not for the coach’s son, who was Flutie’s center. Oh, and what Bicknell, Jr. did wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
“I helped get Flutie flushed out of the pocket,” Bicknell said, laughing. “That timed up the whole thing.”
Basically, Bicknell missed a block because, according to him, the guard pulled out too quickly and left a clear pass-rush lane to the quarterback. Flutie took off and heaved it downfield and, well, you know the rest.
Bicknell was one of the last to know what happened, though.
“Greatest play in college football and I was on my back,” Bicknell said. “I was knocked right on my butt. I never saw it.”
EP
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 11:57 am by Ernie Palladino. 
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Ernie Palladino
Glad to hear that. Kiwi, Osi and Tuck have the potential to put a lot of pressure on the QB. As a LB,Kiwanuka was a very good DE.
I think Kiwi is a great guy to run some zone dog stuff with, since he moves well is space and has that freakish wingspan. But, yeah, he needs to be working from 3-point and kicking tuck inside on 3rd downs.
I actually dont think kiwi is that great of a pass rusher. Yes he got to the qb a few times, but most of the time, he looked dominated to me.
he’s more of a freakish linebacker to me, not strong enough to overcome the average left tackle. I actually agreed with spag’s move to make him into a linebacker.
I’m glad Kiwi is staying put at DE he always looked lost to me as a LB. With him on the d-line, Osi back, the additions of Boley and Sintim the Giants pass rush could be unstoppable next year.