Kerry Rhodes and Osi Umenyiora Discussed in Improbable Trade

Two blogs are throwing around the idea of the Jets and Giants making a trade that would send safety Kerry Rhodes to the Giants and defensive end Osi Umenyiora to the Jets. The Giants and Jets blogs at SB Nation started this idea and I jumped into the comment discussion below the posts. It was interesting to see what the fans of the two teams had to say about the wild idea.

Fans were split about the proposed “fake” trade and it is highly unlikely a trade of this nature would occur. That being said, if hypothetically the trade was made of Rhodes for Umenyiora straight up, who would have gotten the better end the deal?

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Giants Lose to Broncos on Thanksgiving

The Giants can see the NFC East slipping away and so could the entire nation on Thanksgiving. In the Giants’ Thanksgiving night loss to the Broncos, Kyle Orton outplayed Eli Manning, Knowshon Moreno outplayed Brandon Jacobs, Brandon Marshall outplayed Steve Smith and the Broncos’ defense outplayed the Giants’ defense. This added up to a 26-6 win for the Broncos.

Both teams have had similar seasons thus far starting the season on long win streaks and struggling since. The Broncos started out 6-0 before losing four straight games before this one. The Giants started out 5-0 and have since lost five of six including the loss on Thanksgiving.

“We’re a good football team,” Osi Umenyiora told the Associated Press. “We just played bad today. …From here on out, every game is a must-win.”

The Giants can’t afford to play “bad” anymore. Not with the Cowboys and Eagles in the division. The NFC East is the most competitive division in the NFL with the AFC North a close second. The Giants’ next two games are pivotal as they host the Cowboys and Eagles in back-to-back weeks. They can either remain in the division race or fall far behind.

At 6-5, the Giants are going to need to win at least three more games to have a shot at a playoff birth. Four wins would put them at 10-6, which may lock them into a wild card. Four wins won’t be easy. After the Cowboys and Eagles, the Giants have to play the Redskins, Panthers and Vikings. None of those opponents are going to lay down for the Giants.

Giants Lose to Saints Week 6 Notes and Quotes

Eli Manning yelled at Ahmad Bradshaw after Bradshaw missed a block in pass protection. Very un-Eli like.

Drew Brees torched the Giants secondary for 369 yards and four touchdowns.

“At this level, if you’re going to stop the pass, you’ve got to get pressure,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “You’ve got to force the quarterback not to throw it on his tempo.”

“Yeah, I didn’t see this game coming. I didn’t see 48 points,” Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce said. “And I didn’t see Drew Brees being able to complete passes at the rate he was completing them.”

Osi Umenyiora said, “It’s still early in the season and anything can happen. I’m just real happy this happened to us now, rather than later. Because later would’ve been a real disaster.”

Osi’s Touchdown Helps Giants Beat Skins

Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora lead the Giants to a 23-17 win over the Redskins. Tuck recorded 1.5 sacks and Osi forced a fumble, recovered it and took it to the house for six points. Eli Manning hit 20 of 29 passes for 256 yards with a touchdown and interception. The Giants went up 17-0 in the second quarter and never looked back. 

It was a game we’ve come to expect from the Giants. They had great play out of the irdefense, Eli did enough to propel the offense, but what wasn’t normal was that they didn’t excel in the running game. Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw combined for 106 yards on 28 carries. 

Manning hit Mario Manningham for a 30 yard touchdown down the right sideline in the second quarter that highlighted the Giants day on offense. Steve Smith caught six passes for 80 yards and Kevin Boss caught three for 62 yards. Eli spread the ball out, completing passes to seven different players.

The Giants go on the road for the next three weeks playing at Dallas, at Tampa Bay and at Kansas City. All are winnable games. With Osi back at full strength, the Giants defense is poised for a big season.

Giants, Umenyiora Issue Resolved

Osi Umenyiora was greeted by “Missing” posters when he returned to the Giant’s facilities on Tuesday.  The reward on the posters for finding Osi was $1 million.  Osi would probably like the reward for himself as he will be paying a fine for going AWOL on Monday after being criticized by first year defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan.  

On Tuesday Osi said, “The issue was so stupid and so trivial.  It was nothing that should really escalate to that point. And I was the one who made it go that way. I’m happy the way everything got resolved. I came back in and got everything straightened out.”

Thankfully, all parties involved can joke about it now.  It’s training camp, Osi is allowed a minor slip up.  Camp is difficult for players and I’m not making excuses for Osi but I’d rather see him walk away rather than staying and escalating the situation further.  

Giants coach Tom Coughlin said, “He indicated he knew he was wrong. He apologized. … I just think he got emotional. And he did something he wished he didn’t do. But he did.”  Later he added, “I’m very confident that’s not going to happen again.”

The Giants have put up with enough off the field issues lately that they just want to put this behind them and move on toward the start of the season.