Is former New York Giants great Michael Strahan making a comeback?

Last week after being asked to be an honorary captain Strahan had a twitter conversation with Giants spokesman Pat Hanlon where he expressed his potential interest.

The exchange between the two was quite amusing as Michael tweeted "Tell John Mara he could have thrown an offer to play this Sunday in there too, I have 25 plays in me easy.. Let's go!!". Pat Hanlon's reply was

10-12 plays is what you meant

Michael Strahan's comeback was

LOL!! I would surprise you

Obviously this conversation was all in good fun and after yesterdays article "Jim Harbaugh is a Disrespectful Whiny Jerk" I wanted to keep it nice, lite and fun.

Who can get upset about Michael Strahan? No one the guy is awesome. He was a Giants great and now has proven to be just as talented in front of the cameras for FOX. I do believe him when he claims to have 25 plays left in the tank. It would be a treat to watch him play for just one more game, especially a Super Bowl. Even though that's an impossibility he still has been an inspirational figure for our current players and has always provided much support for the GMEN.

Michael Strahan is a class act, I'm sure he would feel almost as much enjoyment in watching the New York Giants win a Super Bowl as he did when he played and won one.

If you are a football fan you should be following #92, his twitter is @MichaelStrahan. Spokesman @GiantsPatHanlon is also great especially for GMEN fans and make sure to add @GiantsKickoff as well! Here are the tweets.

New York Giants great Michael Strahan has been asked by owner John Mara to be an honorary captain this upcoming Sunday vs the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game. Joining number 92 will be Mark Bavaro and Rich Seubert.

The Giants have a handful of retired players who are considered "All Time" team greats. Lawrence Taylor, Carl Banks, Phil Simms come to mind right away and of course the great Michael Strahan! Other players like Mark Bavaro, Joe Morris, Maurice Carthon are also part of this select group.

Number 92 however is the most recent retired great and is also New York's 6th man (cheap use of some basketball terminology). On Thursday night Strahan tweeted the following:

As much of an honor that it is for Michael to be asked by John Mara to be an honorary captain it is also an honor for fans to have him be one. Strahan was not only a great player for the Giants but a leader. He played hard every game even when the Giants had horrible offensive teams who never provided the Giants a chance to win despite having good defensive performances.

He has shined as a football analyst for FOX and usually finds himself regulating colleagues who are doubters of the GMEN. However, he keeps it real and calls it how he sees it when the team isn't playing to it's full potential. It's going to be a privilege for fans to have Michael Strahan as an Honorary Captain on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers!

New York Giants great Michael Strahan showing his holiday spirit rocking an ugly Christmas sweater. The usually stylish Strahan poked fun at himself for wearing the sweater. Oh how New York misses his leadership and personality in that locker room.

NY Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora is back for the 2009 season after missing 2008 due to injury.

Number 72 anchors what some believed to be the best defensive front four in football, a few sports news anchors even went as far as saying this was the best front four in NFL history. I am sure they would like a do over on that statement as the G-Men have been less than stellar this season.

Osi is now in his seventh year and has had some success in the NFL. His best years however came when he played along side Michael Strahan which cannot be overlooked. In 2005 Umenyiora had his best statistical year raking up 70 tackles (48 solo) and an impressive 14.5 sacks. His second best year statistically came in 2007 where he had 52 tackles (40 solo), 13 sacks and helped the New York Giants win their third Superbowl.

When Strahan retired after 2007 most people figured the void would be filled by the talented tandem of  Osi and Justin Tuck. Justin seemed to always play second fiddle when analysts discussed the Giants front four but he proved last season to be an excellent defensive lineman. With the return of  Umenyiora and the added experience gained by Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka the front four was poised to be unstoppable in the minds of fans and analysts. No one stopped to think how huge a void was left by Michael Strahan who warranted a double team leaving opportunities for the rest of the defensive line. Most just figured Osi would easily take over and they wouldn't miss a beat.

Did he buy into the pre-season hype? Where is the physicality at? Through 7 games Osi has 3 sacks and 14 tackles (9 solo), this isn't what Big Blue fans expected from our talented Defensive End. Mathias Kiwanuka has out played him with 19 tackles (15 solo) and 3 sacks. Umenyiora has been a non factor this season, a game can go on without his name even being mentioned, not even to say he put pressure on the quarterback.

It is surprising to see number 72 being manhandled by opposing linemen in the trenches, maybe he needs some of that 5 hour energy drink he promotes to get him going. What ever he needs I hope he finds cause Tuck cannot do it by himself and Michael Strahan isn't coming back!

Carlos Caicedo
GiantsKickoff.com - Copyright 2009

GiantsKickoff.com

The New Orleans Saints dismantled the New York Giants defense. Defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan was truly clueless during the week 6 game played at the Superdome on 10/18/09 where Big Blue lost 48-27. Michael Strahan does not agree with my criticism, I had an exchange with him through Twitter which I will share with my readers within this article.

It almost seemed as if Brees and his wide receivers were playing catch during a practice session and not involved in an actual NFL game. Sheridan who is in his first year as our defensive guru was less then impressive with his game plan and play calling on Sunday.

Big Blue has yet to have a dominant game versus a good team, sure they can get 6 sacks and 3 fumble recoveries versus the Oakland Raiders but they have not been able to do much when playing tougher opposition. They did not play well versus the Cowboys, they did not record a sack in that game and versus Drew and his high powered offensive attack they were able to get just one sack on the only play where they actually pressured the Saints QB.

The way to beat New Orleans is to apply pressure on their talented quarterback so that he does not have all day to set his feet and pick apart the defense. By doing this you force him to make uncomfortable throws which can result in turnovers or just plain and simple lost of downs to give our offense back the ball. Our defensive coordinator kept a pass rush of only 4 most of the game and it was not working, why would he not go to plan B? Did he even have a secondary plan? Before the season started some people were calling the Giants defensive line one if not the most talented in NFL history! Are the players and their coordinator drinking too much of the Kool Aid and believing the hype?

There is no question that Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Mathia Kiwanuka are talented but they have not lit it up this year when it counts. They got manhandled by the Saints offensive line and instead of getting some help from Sheridan he just kept the same game plan. Why not blitz more often? I do not believe in having a blitz happy defense but if you cannot put pressure with your front four then you need to alter the plan a bit.

The secondary was picked apart and just toyed with by Drew Brees who went 23/30 for 369 yards and 4 touchdowns. New Orleans receivers were wide opened all game long and Sheridan's defensive squad looked dazed and confused out there. I cannot put a ton of blame on the secondary who is banged up and missing key players in Aaron Ross and Kenny Phillips. When a QB has so much time to throw it is very difficult for a corner to stay with a receiver for a long amount of time.

I was on Twitter (GiantsKickoff is my name on Twitter) and had a great exchange with one of my all time favorite NY Giants player, the great Michael Strahan. He does not agree with my comments on Bill Sheridan and I respect what he has to say being that he would know more than me when it comes to these things. Here is my exchange with Michael Strahan.

I wrote:
@michaelstrahan Where was the New York Giants pressure at on Brees? Horrible job by Sheridan!

He replied:
michaelstrahan @GiantsKickoff can't put it all on Sheridan. Rushers have to win their one on one battles to get to QB!! Didn't do that today

I wrote back:
@michaelstrahan You are 100% right but it wasn't working Michael, shouldn't Sheridan have changed things up a bit?

He replied:
michaelstrahan @GiantsKickoff when your getting your butt whipped man to man there's nothing Bill Sheridan can do. Defense just took a beating today

I agree with Michael Strahan regarding the beating our defense took and respect his point of view. Fans tend to look at losses from a different perspective and I am no different than any other fan. We can all be Monday Morning Quarterbacks and truly know nothing of what we think we know. I guess just maybe we were spoiled when Steve Spagnuolo was the Defensive Coordinator and would create schemes to disrupt the opposing offense in which Strahan was a huge part of. This game was truly frustrating, the inability of the New York front four to put pressure on Brees cost us the game. Bill Sheridan is the architect of the defense so he has to take some of the heat as well.

Carlos Caicedo
GiantsKickoff.com - Copyright 2009