The Friday Five with BBV’s Ed Valentine

For those who are new to the blog, every week during the preseason and season, Ed Valentine, the editor of Big Blue View, and I do a feature call “The Friday Five.” We ask each other five questions about the Giants and the mini interviews are posted on our respective blogs.

Below are the quetions I asked Ed — and his answers. You can see what he asked me and what my answers were by visiting www.bigblueview.com.

What’s the one thing you are looking for from this team on Saturday?

On Saturday? How about no one gets carted off the field with a season-ending injury? I’d settle for that. Seriously, though, I think you have to watch for which one of the wide receivers carries their training camp work into a game.

Are Special teams special this year?  Give me your prognosis.

Well, you know I have never been a Tom Quinn fan. That said, I’m optimistic about those groups this year. I think the addition of Steve Weatherford (who will, of course, take the job from Matt Dodge) is huge. I think the return of Domenik Hixon, the drafting of Jerrel Jernigan and the seeming improvement of Darius Reynaud give the Giants real return weapons. I think the new kickoff rule, putting the ball at the 35, will be a huge help to Lawrence Tynes and the kickoff coverage units. Plus, I just see more speed and athleticism in general on the roster, which has to help.

Based on what you’ve seen so far, who’s your dark horse to make this roster?

Well, Henry Hynoski, aka the Hynoceros, is no longer a dark horse. So, I will go elsewhere for that one. I am actually going to go with Andre Brown, though maybe he isn’t a dark horse, either. Let me put it this way — between Andre Brown, Da’Rel Scott and Charles Scott my ‘dark horse’ pick is that one of those guys is knocking DJ Ware off the roster.

What do you think people should make of the team’s decision to anoint Mathias Kiwanuka as the starting linebacker ahead of Clint Sintim?

Well, many Giants fans want to turn that into an opportunity to crucify Sintim. I think the drafting of Sintim, a 3-4 guy who just doesn’t seem comfortable or explosive in a 4-3, was a mistake. Really, though, I love the decision. Kiwanuka is a terrific player, and no matter how they use him the Giants are better with him on the field than with him on the bench. So, I see this as a smart move.

Am I the only one who has just a tad of concern about the defensive line?

Well, you might not be the only one. I, however, am not really joining you with that concern. I know you are talking primarily about the defensive tackles, so let’s go there. I think Chris Canty is a better player than people give him credit for. He doesn’t put up big numbers, but he does consistently swallow up double teams and let other guys make plays. I’m excited about the potential of Linval Joseph and Marvin Austin, though both are obviously unproven. Rocky Bernard is another guy Giants fans have loved to hate, mostly because of the original free-agent contract he signed. But, Bernard is not a bad player. Besides which, we all know we are going to see a whole lot of three — and maybe four defensive end packages.