Giants sign Jerome McDougle

The Giants have reached a one year, $1 million deal with former Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Jerome McDougle. McDougle was released by the Eagles on Saturday. He had 2.5 sacks this preseason. McDougle was drafted 15th overall by the Eagles in the 2003 NFL draft and played college football at the University of Miami.

Defensive tackle Rodney Leslie will be released to make space for McDougle on the roster.

This move makes a lot of sense to me. The Giants needed another pass rusher and they got a veteran with potential. McDougle never lived up to the hype in Philly, but suffered many injuries and only played 33 games in 5 seasons with the Eagles. Maybe reuniting with his old defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo can do the trick and get his career back on track.

Giants practice squad (minus one)

The Giants have announced these will be seven of the eight practice squad members:

QB Andre Woodson
CB Geoffrey Pope
OL Na’Shan Goddard
OL Kurt Quarterman
DT Jeremy Clark
WR Marcus Monk
DE Wallace Gilberry

The eighth player was supposed to be WR Brandon London, but unfortunately for us he was claimed by the Miami Dolphins.

Giants won’t extend Pierce?

Antonio Pierce isn’t sensing the Giants want him as their linebacker for the future. Pierce has said “it does tick me off” that the Giants won’t discuss an extension with him. Pierce has three years left on his current contract.

“It’s not about wanting to redo your contract, it’s about wanting to end your career somewhere,” Pierce said. “I do have three years on my contract, but I don’t plan on playing just three more years. That doesn’t mean you want to make $7 million or $8 million or some crazy pay raise. You want the security that you’re going to be here. I don’t want to play for no other team.

Pierce has never viewed himself as the leader of the defense. He led by example.

“Well, when I came (here in 2005) I never tried to proclaim myself a leader,” Pierce said. “I did it all by example. I stepped up when I needed to step up. And with Strahan, I never felt like it was just one leader. It was always me and Stray. Whenever we walked out that tunnel, we always said, ‘It’s up to us. We’re the two that are going to make this ship sail smooth.’”

I love Pierce, but my opinion on this all depends on how much money he wants. Pierce does seem like he leads by example, but I also look at him as the emotional leader of the defense.

He’ll definitely have his oppurtunity this season to impact the defense as a leader and defensive general. The losses of Osi Umenyiora, Michael Strahan, Kawika Mitchell, and Gibril Wilson will all play a role. This is a great opportunity for Pierce to make an impact on young linebacker Gerris Wilkinson, who is now starting.

Giants place Whimper on IR

The Giants final roster move came by placing Guy Whimper on IR to get the team down to 53 players. Whimper suffered a broken foot during the preseason game against the Patriots.

Also, Anthony Wright was placed on IR, not released.

The Giants will likely have to reach injury settlements with both players because both of their injuries don’t sound exactly like season enders.

Giants roster cuts

The Giants have made 22 roster cuts so far. They’ll need to make 1 more cut to get down to 53 men. The following players have been cut (thanks to Mike Garafolo for the list).

*QB Anthony Wright
*QB Andre Woodson
*FB Robert Douglas
*WR Marcus Monk
*WR Brandon London
*TE Eric Butler
*TE Jerome Collins
*OL Kurt Quarterman
*OL Na’Shan Goddard
*OL Andrew Bain
*OL Digger Bujnoch
*OL Cliff Louis
*DE Wallace Gilberry
*DE Alex Morrow
*DT Jeremy Clark
*DT Ogemdi Nwagbuo
*LB Tank Daniels
*LB James Terry
*CB Geoffrey Pope
*S Stuart Schweigert
*CB Darren Barnett
*K Josh Huston

I wrote earlier regarding the cuts of Woodson and Wright…

Most of the other cuts were expected, but I’ll miss Brandon London. He looked good in camp and preseason, but there are just so many players vying for a spot. Hopefully he makes the practice squad.

The Giants now have 54 men on their roster if you include the addition of James Carney. Here’s a look at the roster. Thanks to Garafolo, again.

So far, the roster looks like this:

QB (2): Eli Manning, David Carr

RB (6): Brandon Jacobs, Ahmad Bradshaw, Derrick Ward, Danny Ware, Reuben Droughns, Madison Hedgecock

WR (6): Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer, Steve Smith, Mario Manningham, Domenik Hixon, Sinorice Moss

TE (3): Kevin Boss, Michael Matthews, Darcy Johnson

OL (9): David Diehl, Rich Seubert, Shaun O’Hara, Chris Snee, Kareem McKenzie, Guy Whimper, Adam Koets, Kevin Boothe, Grey Ruegamer

DE (4): Justin Tuck, Mathias Kiwanuka, Dave Tollefson, Renaldo Wynn

DT (4): Fred Robbins, Barry Cofield, Jay Alford, Rodney Leisle

LB (7): Antonio Pierce, Danny Clark, Gerris Wilkinson, Chase Blackburn, Bryan Kehl, Zak DeOssie, Jonathan Goff

CB (6): Aaron Ross, Corey Webster, Kevin Dockery, R.W. McQuarters, Sam Madison, Terrell Thomas

S (4): James Butler, Michael Johnson, Kenny Phillips, Sammy Knight

K (2): Lawrence Tynes, John Carney

P (1): Jeff Feagles

Count ‘em up: That’s 54. Somebody’s still not safe.

Huston cut, Carney on the way

The Giants have cut K Josh Huston, who was supposed to fill in for the injured Lawrence Tynes.

According to Mike Garafolo, the Giants have shown some interested in 44 year old K John Carney. Carney’s agent has confirmed the Giants will sign him.

Madison, McQuarters, Moss make team, Woodson and Wright cut

Sam Madison and R.W. McQuarters were thought to be in jeopardy of losing their job just a few days ago, but have made the 53 man roster, according to NFL  Network’s Adam Schefter.

Sinorice Moss also made the team.

The Giants have decided to enter the season with just two quarterbacks: Eli Manning and his backup David Carr.  Anthony Wright and Andre Woodson will be cut.

I never really believed Madison and McQuarters would be cut as some others specualted.  Both are good leaders for the secondary and McQuarters can contribute on special teams.

Moss probably won’t see much playing time, even though he made the team. I can’t see him playing much with Burress, Toomer, and Smith already above him on the depth chart. Hixon outperformed him in preseason and there’s still Mario Manningham, who is also a big play threat like Moss.

I can see why the Giants decided to carry two quarterbacks instead of three. They had a lot of bubble players and it doesn’t really make sense to carry a third quarterback that won’t really be able to contribute this season.

I’m upset to see Wright and Woodson go, though. I liked Wright more than David Carr. He looked better early on in preseason and is more familiar with the playbook.

I really loved the Andre Woodson pick when the Giants drafted him at the end of the sixth round. Woodson has a lot of potential and I think he could have been groomed into a successful quarterback that could have been used as trade bait, similar to the way the Falcons traded Matt Schaub to the Texans.

I’m still not sold on Carr. It really irks me whenever I see him stand in the pocket forever just holding the ball. His pocket presence really bothers me, but other than that he can be a good backup quarterback.

Diehl honors fallen high school player

David Diehl wore a piece of tape with the number 57 written across it during last night’s preseason game. Diehl doesn’t wear number 57. What did it stand for?

Matt Gfeller, a 15-year-old Eagle Scout, died last weekend after suffering an on-field head injury. Diehl didn’t know Gfeller personally, but wanted to honor him by wearing his number on his tape.

“He had so much life ahead of him. It’s unbelievable. It’s sad,” Diehl said. ”What better way to honor a football player than to put his number on your tape?”

Diehl’s agent, Peter Schaffer, is a close friend to Gfeller’s family.

Gfeller was also an Eagle Scout, motivated, focused, and a hard worker. His bedroom was a shrine to football.

“He has always been ‘The One That’s Coming,’ the next great football player at Reynolds, and he was,” Propst said. “They live in this beautiful house, and he had this piece of paper taped on his door with his football goals, and his No. 1 goal was to start at Reynolds as a sophomore.

“He had a sign over his door that said ‘Football is my life.’ He was very serious about it, and he would text message or call me about every day over the summer. He would leave me messages like, ‘Coach, I am sorry to bother you, but I really need to talk to you about something.’ And it would be about some step he was working on. And I would say, ‘Matty, you need to stop reading books and just play football.’”

Rest in peace, Matt. My condolences to his family and friends.

Brief Giants injury update

Dave Tollefson had a stinger in his shoulder.

Guy Whimper left Thursday night’s preseason game with turf toe.

Domenik Hixon underwent X-rays after experiencing back spasms Thursday night.

Glenn “Digger” Bujnoch was injured during the fourth quarter and needed to be carted off the field.

Post Game: Preseason week 4 Patriots @ Giants

The Giants (2-2) defeated the Patriots (0-4) 19-14 in the final game of the regular season.

Mario Manningham looked excellent for the Giants. He ran crisp routes, made plays when he needed to, and had 5 receptions for 41 yards. Darcy Johnson snagged a nice catch from David Carr for a 26 yard touchdown. Johnson rammed over multiple Patriots defenders and had, in my opinion, the play of the night.

Carr played the majority of the game for the Giants and went 20/29 with 192 yards passing and two touchdowns. Andre Woodson also had some playing time, but didn’t attempt a pass and fumbled twice. Carr faced pressure, like always, but did enough this game to earn himself the job as backup quarterback. Woodson seemed nervous on the field, but should still get a roster spot based on his potential. I get the feeling Coughlin isn’t a fan of him, though.

Brandon Jacobs looked excellent on his three carries, amassing 32 yards in limited action. Ahmad Bradshaw struggled and hasn’t looked the same this preseason. He had 12 carries for 30 yards, which just 2.5 yards per carry.

Mathias Kiwanuka had a sack back at defensive end and so did Dave Tollefson.

Josh Huston missed an extra point after Carr threw a nine yard touchdown pass to Sinorice Moss. Huston made his other extra point attempt, a 20 yard field goal, and a 30 yard field goal.