E-GIANTS
Dave Klein was the Giants' beat writer
for The Star-Ledger from 1961 to 1995.
He is the author of 26 books and he is one of
only four sportswriters to have covered all the Super Bowls.
Dave has allowed TEAM GIANTS to reprint some of his articles.

By DAVE KLEIN
There are a couple of things that should be aired now, before the crush of free agency and the draft overwhelms all of us.

For one thing, what the hell is taking so long to re-sign linebacker Nick Greisen? Don't the Giants want him? Is he asking too much money? He was arguably one of just two outstanding linebackers on the defense last season and the first-and-only once middle linebacker Antonio Pierce was hurt.

Greisen played weakside and then moved to the middle. He tolerated snubs and insults, sat on the bench in 2004 while Kevin Lewis started all 16 games in the middle -- and was then cut last summer to make room for Pierce. Who knows? If Greisen had played the middle in 2004, would the Giants have been so frantic to sign Pierce in the first place?

Then this year he was listed as the backup weakside backer to Barrett Green. Remember him? Signed two years ago as a veteran free agent, keeps getting hurt, dropped into head coach Tom Coughlin's doghouse for a while, hesitated on surgery, finally had it, missed way too much time.

Is he coming back next season? Sure, who else would have him?

Meanwhile, March 3 draws ever closer, and that's when all the teams can talk to a guy like Greisen. He will attract much interest; not as much as Pierce did last year, nor as much as San Francisco's Julian Peterson will this year, but a lot. He will get one of those four-year offers for $9 million or more. But it had better be from the Giants or they'll be losing yet another home-grown (they drafted him) product who will almost certainly find a starting job in the NFL.

That would necessitate finding another veteran linebacker, when one is already in place, one who knows the system and who has thrived in it. Where's the sense?

Aside from Pierce, the defensive ends, Michael Strahan (who'll be 35) and Osi Umenyiora, tackle Kendrick Clancy (if he's re-signed) and an occasional burst of competence from strong safety Gibril Wilson, this defense isn't all that good to start with. It would be self-defeating to allow Greisen to wander off to another team -- especially a team in the NFC East.

Next, the Eli Manning bashers are in rare form these days. Sure, Ben Roethlisberger got to -- and won -- Super Bowl XL. But his performance was not, shall we say, super. He didn't play well, but he was surrounded by a team that played exceptionally, inordinately well, and so he got the ring.

Now they're giving Eli the finger.

Right, even Giant fans, especially those who weren't wild about the trade of 2004 that brought him to East Rutherford after San Diego anointed him as the first overall pick in the NFL that day.

There were many who wanted the Giants to hold tight, resist the temptation and draft Roethlisberger. There were many who thought Eli wasn't the answer, and it remains a mystery that of all those so-called experts not one of them worked for a team, had scouting experience, was familiar with the position and the evaluation of talent or had ever been inside the workings of a team.

Still coming in are queries about the relative merits of Manning vs. Roethlisberger, who is the better quarterback, who will be the better quarterback, who will have the better career? While it is too early to answer such subjective questions, suffice to say that your correspondent thinks Eli is going to be a full-fledged superstar with more escape-ability than his older brother, and that Roethlisberger is going to be a very good, very fine, very productive quarterback who will have tons of success but no flair.

Eli has the flair, and that will breed the success.

Now what Eli needs is a few things from the Giants, like another wide receiver with great speed who can actually catch the ball and stay healthy. Like a long, serious discussion with the one he has, Plaxico Burress, on subjects ranging from "try hard all season", "don't embarrass me with temper tantrums on the field" and, while you're at it, "don’t blow off the final team meeting of the season."

Do you think Plax was sulking because the Giants didn't look very good in their sole playoff game? Well, he didn't catch a pass that day, so perhaps he should look to himself first.

Eli can also use some help on the offensive line, notably at left tackle. That isn't going to happen anywhere near as fast as help for the wide receiver spot -- you can almost assume that if they find the one they want, the Giants are going to make the grand old man, Amani Toomer, a reserve.

And perhaps, just maybe, Eli can sit down with the offensive coordinator (that would be John Hufnagel) and find out whether he can call a pass on first down just once in a while, as well as varying the calls that have become so predictable that defenses are actually anticipating them.

Funny thing, Coughlin has moved assistant coaches around the fired a few and lost a couple and still Hufnagel remains unblemished, unmentioned in any negative fashion and still firmly in control of the offense.

So here we are, Giants. Get Greisen signed, get Eli happier and then the 2006 season might be even more productive than it was last year.

Check out Dave's website at E-GIANTS where you can subscribe to his newsletters which run much more frequently than what is available here.
- Team Giants

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