I would like to start by welcoming everyone to the Giant's first press conference of this season. My name is Duke Raoul, and as most of you know, I am the President & GM of the New York Giants organization. This will be the first of many conferences. The purpose of this meeting is to update the fans and media on the recent roster transactions, as well as give you a feel for the direction this organization is heading under my leadership. There will be a question and answer period after I am finished briefing you.
First of all, I would like to say that our team is determined to improve upon last years record and I fell that the organization has made some excellent off-season moves to improve the team's depth and talent. We finished last season with a 10-6 record and realize that we will likely need another 10 wins this season to represent the strong NFC East division in the playoffs.
I am going to be addressing many off-season transactions during this press conference. I will start with our trades, and then I will discuss our draft and free agent signings.
TRADES
We didn't feel the need to make many trades during the off-season. I only made the deals I thought would help solidify our defense and offense. My first move was to trade CB Will Allen to the Titans for young DT Albert Haynesworth. Hayneswoth improves our rushing defense and we were able to sign him to a 7 year contract. Allen will be missed, but his numbers last season were disappointing. He failed to get any interceptions and had some off-field issues to deal with. We also received a draft pick in this trade and the open CB position will likely be filled by one of our draft picks....more on that later. Tommy Maddox was acquired from the Steelers in exchange for disgruntled veteran Kurt Warner. We feel that Maddox well be an excellent back-up to Eli Manning and he can win us some games if needed. We also made a few minor deals for draft picks. We got rid of an upset player and a sheep lover, while improving in both talent and depth. I believe that we did a good job of addressing needs, while maintaining the core of last year's division winning team.
DRAFT
We went into this year's draft knowing the positions we wanted to fill with our two second round draft picks. We felt it was necessary to get a #2 CB and back-up HB. We were very pleased to find two hidden gems still available when it was our turn to draft. We took CB Marlin Jackson and HB Walter Reyes with these two second round picks. Jackson will get a chance to be a starting cornerback while Reyes will back up last year's leading TD back, Tiki Barber. We plan on getting the ball to Reyes on a regular bases as Tiki is getting older. The organization feels that this addition to the backfield will allow us to rest Barber more often, allowing him to make the most out of his carries. We also drafted a kicker and defensive end that will get their share of playing time. Kicker Nick Novak was projected to go in the 2nd round, but he did not get drafted until we took him with our 6th round selection. He will get his share of kicks in, but is not expected to started because of the addition of free agent Sebastian Janikowski.
FREE AGENCY
Now on to our free agent signings. I sat down with Coach Coughlin and the other coaches prior to this year's free agency period. We talked about our weaknesses and targeted a few areas of improvement. I feel that we did an excellent job of adding talented players to our organization, while not getting carried away in big money bidding wars. We signed a total of 8 free agents. We re-signed former Giant free agents Ron Dayne (HB) and Frank Walker (CB) to good contracts. They are familiar with our system and will get a chance to play. As I already mentioned, we were able to acquire the best available kicker, Sebastian Janikowski . Janikowski's long contract will keep him in New York for many years. The same goes for rookie wide receiver Terrence Murphy. We feel that we have invested some good money into this rookie and we have every reason to believe that he can put up some good numbers for us in the upcoming years. We feel that we have upgraded some positions with the additions of FB Heath Evans, RG Kynan Forney & RT Kevin Barry. The signing of defensive end Calvin Pace will give us some depth at the RE position while not hurting us financially. We feel that these players vastly improve our team and give us a great opportunity to be in the playoffs once again.
I know that our team is now one of this league's premier organizations. I feel our coaches and players are first class and we can make a good run at the championship. Our players have been working (and partying) very hard this off-season in an attempt to avoid injuries. We have spent many hours watching videos and studying our opponents....now its time to apply what we learned in the classroom to our pre-season games.
you won the division last year, despite significant changes on all the teams in your division, probably for the btter, can you still realistically win your division?
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David "The Hayemaker" Haye:21-1, 20 KOs
Undisputed World Cruiserweight Champion (WBA, WBC, WBO, The Ring Magazine Champion) World Heavyweight Title Fight: November 7
I honestly feel that our team has improved and will be more productive this season. I feel that we have upgraded many positions and that we match up well with all teams in our division and conference. We have signed many quality free agents and have added role players that will solidify us on both sides of the ball. We feel that we now have qualifty back-ups in case of injury and these roster moves will only help to improve our chances of winning.
We have kept the core of last years division winning team. Players like Manning, Toomer, Hilliard, Shockey, Petitgout, Barber, Strahan, Williams and Peterson are returning to our training camp and preseason looking better then ever. Many of our players progressed last year and show no signs of slowing down. We DO expect to contend for the championship this year and failing to win our division would be a huge disappointment to our players because they are committed to winning and excellence.
Will marlin jackson be the no 2 corner back for your team, or will he be a nickel back?
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David "The Hayemaker" Haye:21-1, 20 KOs
Undisputed World Cruiserweight Champion (WBA, WBC, WBO, The Ring Magazine Champion) World Heavyweight Title Fight: November 7
Marlin Jackson will be given the chance to be our #2 CB. He is expected to be one of our starting corners as long as he has a good preseason. We feel that he has great ability and only needs to work on his tackling and awareness. At 21, he is very young and his 6 year contract means that we are committed to having him as part of our organization for a long time.
Eli led us to a 10-6 record last year and we feel he is capable of improving on that this season. He finished last season as one of the top 5 leaders in passing yards and passer rating. Last year, Eli won the league's Best Quarterback award and finshed second in voting as the league's Offensive Rookie of the Year . We feel that Eli is capable of putting up huge numbers, but at the same time, he is also just as comfortable handing the ball off to one of our running backs. All of last year's key recievers are returning (Hilliard, Toomer & Shockey), so we expect good things from our offense. I would also like to point out that Eli and our WRs made a lot of progress last year and have only gotten better during training camp. I feel that our quarterback and receivers are among the best in the league.
We have also improved our offensive line. We traded away players that we knew would not progress and brought in some quality guys that have shown progression over the last couple of seasons. Luke Petitgout is one of the leagues premier left tackles. He will be a key part in helping both our running and passing game. Like I already mentioned, we brought in Kevin Barry (RT) and Kynan Forney (RG) to solidify the right side of our O-Line. I feel that the O-Line did a good job last year and that this years unit will provide our offense with the time and room they need to be effective.
None of that bull$#!+ is true the giants are gonna kick *** next year but we were 6-10, hilliards gona, we got karreem mckenzzie and bob whitfield and plaxico buress, and manning was not rookie of the year get ur facts straight
Text added by Swoosh76
To the Author of this post, this thread is for the SIM league, as in Madden 05 on XBOX....Duke was not talking about the Real NFL.
Are there any more questions?
--------------- Madden 2007 Next Gen football ---------
Nevermind, this was last season's opening PC....lol....I thought I had one prepared for the start of the 2006 season. Time to make a new one.
The simple fact is that he is a over rated piece of **** that can't cover. He makes bad reads on routes and lacks the ability to recover when he is beaten.
For Madden people the best way to explain it is that he has a very low awareness.
Well maybe its a link on google or something because that unregistered dude found it...
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David "The Hayemaker" Haye:21-1, 20 KOs
Undisputed World Cruiserweight Champion (WBA, WBC, WBO, The Ring Magazine Champion) World Heavyweight Title Fight: November 7
And lol, it was good but not 2000 and odd views good
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David "The Hayemaker" Haye:21-1, 20 KOs
Undisputed World Cruiserweight Champion (WBA, WBC, WBO, The Ring Magazine Champion) World Heavyweight Title Fight: November 7
Tetris Champion!
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