Jerry Reese spoke with Mike Francesa Monday on WFAN. Here is the audio link.
In trying to review the Super Bowl XLVI run, we laid out 10 things that we observed.
“3) THE GIANTS GOT LUCKY. LUCK IS 20% OF FOOTBALL.“
Reese and Francesa both acknowledged the “LUCK” needed in winning this title.
Reese: “We got a little bit lucky, got hot at the right time… rather be lucky than good … Some times you get lucky like that. We were very fortunate. We got lucky with Victor (Cruz). He deserves most of the credit, Tom Coughlin and his coaching staff deserve a lot credit as well…. We are very fortunate… Again, you have to have a little bit of luck.”
In a relatively short interview, General Manager Jerry Reese mentioned being lucky and fortunate a total of seven times. There are more than a few takeaways from this. Reese demonstrated tremendous humility and gratitude. This is the mark of a professional who is willing to acknowledge that he was not solely responsible for this. He cited numerous times the efforts of the players, the efforts of the coaching staff and also gave a lot of credit to Marc Ross and the player development unit. I have faulted Reese in the past for not owning up and taking responsibility for when personnel inadequacies went bad (ie preseason 2009 at Safety, which led to the subsequent CC Brown debacle), but it is a tremendous sign of his character to deflect praise and acknowledge the good fortune this franchise definitely had in getting this title.
Remember, we also said in the same post nearly the exact words of Reese:
“4) It is better to be lucky and good than unlucky and great.”
The Giants were lucky and good. Do you want to know what unlucky and great is? It is when Sheldon White gets called for pass interference, the real horror that sets up the Flipper Anderson TD two plays later that beats us in the 1989 (1990) playoffs. Luck evens out in the long run. This title the Giants have collected is payback for the shafting we got elsewhere. Madden: “I don’t think that’s interference… You can’t make that kind of call…”
Reese reviewed the 7 Draft Picks:
Wilson– Hard-nosed, tough. Reese echoes Wonder’s sentiment that he is very well rounded and can do many things.
There were not any “elite” pass rushers in the 2012 draft.
Randle– did not benefit from a good LSU QB. Reese says Randle has the route tree experience. Separately, Wonder disagrees with this, which is why he had Randle rated lower.
“We thought it was a WR draft. There’s always enough players.” This confirms what we said when reviewing the WRs earlier in the month, that Mario Manningham was let go because the Giants were confident the Draft would generate a WR.
Hosley– if a couple of inches taller and a few more lbs, that he’d be a R1 player. Plays with confidence. ‘He’s going to make noise in the secondary.’
Why didn’t Fleener get drafted at the end of R1? Reese did not have him rated as a R1 player. Reese also made reference to the hyperbole of Graham and the NE Tight Ends, that the media and the mocks were probably caught up in the recent draft successes of 2010, but that it was now 2012. When we reviewed the TE’s before the draft, we noted this as well, urging against Fleener or a high TE pick.
Robinson– the R4 pick. Big weight, height, speed 4.57, long arms. Late bloomer, the sky is the limit for him. Freakish physical assets that JPP has.
Mosley– can play RT or Guard, big tough, hard-nosed, like Diehl.
McCants– really long. Strictly a Tackle. “Smart and tough” attribute important for your Offensive Tackle.
Kuhn– DT, gym rat, tough also.
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