Meat and Potatoes Football, bullbrown rules

1) Patrick Crayton hates the Giants. Brandon Jacobs hates the Cowboys. DeMarcus Ware hates the Giants. Chris Canty is being asked to hate the Cowboys. What else is new?

2) Lots of turnover in the Giants roster. Gone are Douzable and Reyes. The Giants have flopped a set of Johnsons (Michael, Bruce, Gartrell). Wonder color on the new roster addition:

RB Gartrell Johnson: a STEAL off the waiver wire..solidly built 5-10 or so 220-225….quick and strong…was a FOURTH round pick… Chargers SCREWED UP trying to “store him” on practice squad…like Jets did with Derrick Ward…hope he does as well !!

Separate and independent confirmation from Cody:

“I love this G Johnson kid. GREAT addition; I remember watching him @ Colorado St. He can run straight through people. I think this is a total steal. GMen were at the right place, right time with this one. Reese is a total stud. He isn’t the fastest guy out there – but he is a one cut runner (perfect for the Giants run blocking scheme) and will absolutely run through people. He might be a factor and I think he can definitely play the Brandon Jacobs bone-crusher role for those inevitable weeks that B.J. is nicked-up. The lesson as always: In Jerry R we trust.”

We have noted this before. It is not as if the Giants need a RB and then look at who is out there. They are constantly evaluating other team’s rosters and practice squads so that they are ready when (a) a player goes down on their team or (b) someone else cuts a player of interest from one of the other 31 rosters. It shows in the way they got Hedgecock, Hixon, Ward and now Gartrell Johnson.

We play the Chargers later this season. Ya think Johnson is going to be fired up and have something to prove? He needs plenty of carries that game.

The Giants also added two new players to its practice squad..
TE Bear Pascoe: rookie “journeyman” type TE who won’t amount to anything…but maybe gives them some blocking depth if needed
CB Michael Coe: 190 lb… mediocre…played some for Colts…won’t provide anything

3) Oh yah, I forgot. Will someone pls explain to me the insanity of the ruling/rules where Louis Murphy (where did you hear that name before?) catches his first of two rookie TD passes on Monday night, only to have it disallowed? You catch the ball with possession, you get two feet in bounds, that is a catch. This is ludicrous. It is enough to drive Al Davis insane. Oh wait, he already is.

4) Speaking of insane, Michael Crabtree needs his head examined. He drops from where he is expected to go, ~3rd to 5th in the draft, to the 10th spot and gets selected by the 49ers. So now he wants Heyward-Bey 7th-draft-pick money. YOU WERE PICKED 10th! Get over it. This is right in line with Jerry Rice’s rant on the state of the WR in professional football. Nothing professional about it.

If Crabtree keeps cutting his nose to spite his face and re-enters the draft in 2010, he’ll blow all the countless millions he would have made this year and will not even be able to work out for any of the other 31 teams. PLUS, and this is where it gets really browned up, he’ll drop in the draft FURTHER next year and then… he’ll want SOMEONE ELSE’S MONEY ABOVE HIM AGAIN?!!! He and Plaxico should compare notes- they’re both WR divas without a team, out of football, trying to save themselves thousands when it ends up costing them millions. Our free advice to Crabtree, a la Adam Schiff (Steven Hill) of Law and Order: “Make the deal.”

5) Don’t look now, but here comes Shockey in Week 6. I’ll never forget the quote he made after around 3 or 4 seasons in NY when asked about his latest injury. Paraphrased, he said that you were not playing hard enough if you were not playing hurt. Whereas everyone else in the NFL was trying to take care of their bodies, Shockey was looking to pound on enough opponents to make sure he was not. Maybe Brees and Payton have been reprogramming that pea brain: “I’ve come to realize that being healthy in this game is a privilege,” he said. “You’ve got to work on it to earn that privilege.” I was always a big proponent of Shockey while he was here. He was not coached properly. Where was the coaching staff to knock some sense and discipline into someone who openly admitted he needed to be playing hard enough to assure he was hurt? Yah, and I could see Parcells tolerating that, as well as those 1st down celebrations. Not. The revamped TE hosts the Giants Week 6.