The Two Running Back System is here to say, methinks. Fanball.com says:
October 9, 2007 9:38 AM ET
Giants: Coughlin pleased with backfield combo
The News
Giants head coach Tom Coughlin is pleased with how the combined backfield of Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward fared in Week 5. "As I have said many times, the more good football players you can have, the better off you are going to be," Coughlin tells the team's official web site. "I thought yesterday Derrick Ward's first half was very good and the experience he had with the ankle that kind of set him back and hobbled him up a little bit. I thought that Brandon's second half was strong. So the combination worked very well." The Giants running backs rushed for 171 yards and two touchdowns against the Jets.
Our View
Provided Ward is able to continue working through his ankle soreness, we expect the Giants to use both he and Jacobs as the season rolls along. Jacobs will be the better fantasy back, but people should realize that this probably won't be a one-man show.
That's largely fantasy oriented, but it helps to point out that this is the way things are right now. Bad for fantasy players but good for teams who don't want to run down their stars (I'm looking at you Herminator).
Newsday says that the 3 books the Giants currently have out are not distractions in the locker room. Sure, that's because the team has won three in a row. They lose on Monday to the crappola Falcons and you know what? Someone will say it's a distraction.
Here are the books, which I haven't read but that won't stop me from commenting:
- The GM: The Inside Story of a Dream Job and the Nightmares that Go with It
This one looks the most interesting. It's a dream job but take out stock in Maalox. It's always fascinating to see a relatively unvarnished version of what goes on behind the scenes and this appears to be that, judging by the fact that some folks are pissed off about it. Angry people usually means a better book (see also the new Charles Schultz biography.)
- Tiki: My Life in the Game and Beyond
Maybe it's because I'm not a fan of his personality off the field but this holds almost no interest for me. Why bash the coach and then come out with some lukewarm nonsense about how you didn't hate the guy? How are you planning to establish yourself as a legit newsperson, even a sports newsperson, when all you talk about is your own team and how they aren't all that good? To be fair, the "Eli's a bit of a weenie" routine has died down, but I agree with Arthur Staple of Newsday when he says that "Barber has made himself irrelevant by speaking out too much for a retired guy." I'll go further and say too far, period.
- Inside the Helmet: Life as a Sunday Afternoon Warrior
Assuming life suddenly got longer, I might be more inclined to read Strahan's book than Barber's. But not much more. Strahan seems to have convinced the NFL and many fans that he is as good as Lawrence Taylor. He's not. Lawrence Taylor was possibly the best defensive player ever. And right now, Strahan isn't even the best player on his own team; Osi looks like he's going to have a nice career ahead of him if he stays healthy, and Tuck seems to be a good fit as well. He can't even claim to be acting as a mentor because of his bizarre hold out that wasn't a hold out; frankly, it looked like he just wanted to hang on the beach and try to get Pam Oliver's phone number. None of this is based on reportage, so take it for what you will, but Strahan seems a little bit off and his book, which apparently only barely covers his tremendously ugly divorce, hardly seems like must-read material. Is it possible that his wife made up all of the things she said about him? Sure it is. But there's still the holdout, the fake sack of Bret Favre to break a record, and the fact that he appears intent on convincing people that he's better than one of the greatest players of all time.
So right now the Giants have as many books as they have wins. Hopefully they'll keep winning, but the number of books will stop at three. If it keeps going, eventually we'd get something by Jeremy Shockey, and nobody in the publishing world wants that to happen.
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