Letters to the Editor: February 27, 2013
Ted M. writes…
My plea is for the Giants to pass on Manti T’eo if he remains on the board, in any round, when the Giants select.
Not only is he under-sized and slow, but anyone who watched him against Alabama must realize he is not of NFL caliber. I don’t think he made an impact tackle in that game. His tackles were all from behind or the side, and 8+ yards down the field. That dude Lacy (Alabama running back) ran over him several times, one on one. There is no way he can defeat an NFL lineman’s block and get to a runner.
I won’t even speculate on the strange character issue that comes with this player. I refer to the phantom girlfriend. This from a star at ND where every co-ed in the university would likely swoon at the idea of a real date with him.
The Giants have drafted players before, with issues. I don’t question that motivation. But this guy cannot play at the NFL level, and that was on display vs. Alabama.
If we draft him, it will be a poor sign for the Giants’ personnel evaluations. In really hope we are smarter and better prepared than to fall for the ND hype.
I would take any player, at any position, from that Alabama team before I would take Manti. His inability to make any plays in that championship game was both shocking and a revelation. – Ted M.
Ted, my best guess is that the Giants will look at re-signing Blackburn and Rivers and not spend a first round pick on Manti T’eo. For what it’s worth, I’m not ultra-impressed with him as a linebacker – and I’ve looked at some of his game tape beyond the championship game. As for the fake girlfriend controversy, there have been guys who have gone through a lot worse as far as off-field issues. Anyway, we’ll see – free agency before the draft, as I’ve been saying.
Terry D. writes…
Can’t help but wonder why the Combine and maybe all NFL teams place so much emphasis on 40 yard sprint times? Literally agog!
The players only do it twice in a full straight line sprint. Whereas in strength assessment bench press they are rated by number of reps they do of 225lb lift. The more strength reps accomplished one might guess the stronger upper body re handling blockers, tacklers, RBs, etc.
Back to the 40-yd sprint. Why don’t they expand that 40-yd “test” to perhaps 10 consecutive reps which would define some game sequence conditions to determine stamina and repeat “speed” characteristics/capability value? What do the coaches say evaluating these hundreds or tenths of a second in 40-yd times differentials as it relates to game execution/repetitiveness for the various positions?
I think the player’s Tape Records in play are the best evaluator of their talent. However, I can understand that a player prospect might be able to improve their value with sterling times/stats in the Combine if they did not play in a top conference or against other teams of high quality play for Tape analysis value.
Terry, this is only a guess, but the combine puts all the players at each position on even field. It’s like taking standardized testing to get into college – you use one set of criteria to rank the candidates. As for the 40-yard times, I’m wondering if that’s been determined as the average number of yards a player must run on any given play. To run back to back 40-yard dashes wouldn’t really accomplish anything as in the NFL plays have a few seconds in between them.
Also in football, sometimes a hundred or tenth of a second can mean the difference between a missed tackle and a tackle for a loss. So yeah, these stats, as insignificant as they might sound to you, are important.
The other issue with relying just on the players’ game tapes is what if he played in a different system than the one the interested pro team is running? How to you determine if he’ll be a fit? You have to have some sort of standardized numbers to make that determination.
