The New York Giants reported to training camp this week along with the rest of the NFL. With that, my buddy Joe and I scheduled the new season of our now annual four-week NFL divisional previews. The NFC will be here again during the week while Joe covers the AFC over at A Hoosier on the Potomac on weekends. I think Joe said he was going to run his columns on Sundays, but don’t hold me to that. Mine will run on Thursdays.
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| Live shot of Eli Manning and the NY Giants in training camp. |
Let’s do it!
That path? Stick with 37-year-old Eli Manning, solidify the supporting cast around him, try to win. Then, hope that one or both of their two young developmental quarterbacks, each a mid-round draft choice, becomes capable of keeping them out of what GM Dave Gettleman refers to darkly as “quarterback hell” once Manning’s time is up.
I am cautiously optimistic about the future of QB Davis Webb within the Giants’ organization. I also like the approach they’ve taken philosophically, i.e. take some developmental prospects who have all the physical tools and then actually take the time to develop those prospects. Not a lot of teams are good at that. But given the risks inherent in spending a high-round draft pick on a presumed starter, it strikes me that anything you can do to manage that risk is a good idea. However, most of football’s punditry absolutely killed the Giants for doing it this way.
2. Gary Clark Jr.
Clark appears in Episode 2 of the new season of Netflix’s Luke Cage. Sally and I just started the new season, and we both really liked his scene. He had two songs, and they both perfectly set the mood for a very violent, very moody finish.
So, of course, we looked him up, and it turns out that he’s playing the Capitol Theater in Westchester County in mid-September.
3. See photos from the new She-Ra series helmed by Noelle Stevenson (Entertainment Weekly)
First look at She-Ra and the Princesses of Power! ✨ pic.twitter.com/NvC56z97cz— Noelle Stevenson (@Gingerhazing) July 16, 2018
I’ve seen a lot of ranting about the “drama” over She-Ra, but I’ve not seen any of the actual drama itself, all I’ve just seen is the ranting. Which makes me think that there is a massive overreaction to a relatively small minority opinion, however weird.
Welcome to America.
I don’t know what my girls will think of She-Ra. With a high schooler and an eighth grader, we may well be past She-Ra’s target audience. Alas.
If you want to start a debate that might turn into a bar fight this weekend, just go up to a group of people and ask them who the best quarterback in the NFC East is. The one reason we're ranking this division so high is because it feels like the NFC East has the best group of quarterbacks of any division in the NFL, behind only the NFC South.
These guys had a lot of good things to say about the various NFC East teams considering how poorly most of the division was ranked in the first round of NFL power rankings.
5. Checking in on the competition
Here it is - the 2018 @American_FB preseason poll! @UCF_Football highlights the East Division and @MemphisFB is picked to top the West Division. #AmericanKickoff pic.twitter.com/DRmqIGHt8i— The American (@American_Conf) July 24, 2018
The @MountainWest preseason media poll is out. @AF_Football picked to finish 5th in the Mountain Division behind the unanimous pick in Boise State. #MWFB #LetsFly https://t.co/ocYrGMDJJ9— YardsandStripes (@YardsandStripes) July 24, 2018
This is what happens when there’s not any news about Army Football. For what it’s worth, the prognosticators are mostly selling on the competition right now. Air Force especially has come in for a lot of predictions in the 4-8 range.
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Next Week:
Tuesday. Army Football Preview: STAP. In which I give you some pre-season film study. No really.
Wednesday. #SBRLLR: Duty – Honor – Country (Part 4). A pivotal piece of a pivotal chapter and arguably the best race of my Army Swimming career.
Thursday. NFL Preview: NFC East. The Eagles won the offseason. But then they also won the Super Bowl, and that sucked. Lots of folks think they can do it again.
Friday. 5 Things on a Friday. No idea what we’ll talk about. Tune in to find out.
Saturday. Swim Across the Sound. That’s not a blog post. I’ll be swimming across Long Island Sound for charity with my teammates. Help us#BeatCancer right now!
Sunday. NFL Preview: AFC East. Joe takes on the Pats and the also-rans of the NFL’s most lopsided division. That’s over on A Hoosier on the Potomac. Check it out.
That’s all I’ve got. See you then!
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