When we had the so-called NASCAR defense in the high point of Coughlin's tenure, they were mostly big, versatile guys. Strahan, Tuck & Pierre-Paul were the heart of that. Osi Umenyiora was the only one who would really be classified as an Edge nowadays, and that's what Thibodeaux, Burns and Carter all seem to be. You get good tackles, ends who can also shut down the run, and linebackers who can cover and tackle, and a solid secondary, and maybe one or two edge guys at the most. It's not like Burns & Thibodeaux stacked all that well this past year. In fact, the pass rush was positively anemic and they were not all that impressive against the run. There are only two edges from which to rush the passer, and the third will be trying to tiptoe around the pile double team holding up Lawrence. The philosophy of seeking pass rushers led to trading for Burns and then overpaying him an extension, so we're back in cap hell. And, it's starting to look like, drafting Thibodeaux in the first place. It kind of feels like Schoen was trying to flex in his first draft, matching the two best draft picks of his predecessor, who happen to be the two best players left on the team (Lawrence and Andrew Thomas), by drafting a DL & OT. And they really have not been that good.

While I'm on-board with the draft philosophy stuff, the other important part is talent evaluation, as well as contract negotiation and budgeting, and Schoen is dogshit at all of those skills. Take him out back, put him in the same hole as Hoffa, and promote Brandon Brown already. Neither Schoen nor Daboll should have got another year. With the combination of the record, and the clown show revealed by Hard Knocks, Schoen should have been gone, and each year, Daboll is exposed in new ways. First, there was the gutless finish to the season against Philadelphia, the next year, his failure to prepare for the QB injury disaster and last year, the kicking debacle. His rep is as a supposed QB whisperer, but with two exceptions, no QB he has coached as been very impressive. There was someone, I think Hurts, from his one season at Alabama, who was starting for Ala-freaking-bama before Daboll joined the staff, and then Josh Allen, who was already good enough that Buffalo traded up to get him, and has not shown any sign of missing his guru. They need to hire a coach with a defensive background to replace him! The last head coach who was a defense guy before getting the big seat was Bill Parcells.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Since Phil Simms was drafted in '79, the Giants have drafted tons of ball handlers with their top pick and two of them played in Super Bowl victories. For the running backs we had Butch Woolfolk, George Adams, Rodney Hampton, Jarrod Bunch, Tyrone Wheatley, Ron Dayne, David Wilson & Saquon Barkley. Adams and Hampton got rings, but Adams missed the whole 1986 season on IR, and Hampton got hurt in the playoffs and missed Super Bowl XXV. Not their fault, but the Giants did fine without them. Dayne played in their loss in XXXV, the only Super Bowl where the Giants offense didn't get a rushing TD, or even score. Barkley is great, Wilson was talented, but they didn't make the Giants win. For receivers we had Mark Ingram, Derek Brown, Thomas Lewis, Ike Hilliard, Jeremy Shockey, Hakeem Nicks, Odell Beckham, Evan Engram, Kadarius Toney and Malik Nabers. Ingram and Nicks are the only two first round ball handlers to play in a Super Bowl win. Shockey, like Hampton, got hurt down the stretch and never played in their Super Bowl win when he was with the team. Beckham, like Barkley, only saw a single playoff season with the Giants. Nabers is supposed to be in his league talent-wise, but Beckham showed a lot more in his injury-delayed rookie season than Nabers has so far. The closest resemblance, IMO, to date, is with Evan Engram, given their shared propensity for critical fourth quarter drops, especially against division rivals. Even with quarterbacks. Since Simms, the Giants have used first round draft picks directly on Dave Brown, Daniel Jones and Philip Rivers. Equally ringless, all of them. Fuck, Rivers never so much as threw a pass for the Giants, and they didn't win a single game where he took the field!