Big Ben Tuesday: Knicks in Trouble, Decision Time for Giants

Ben Whitney, Giants, Kincks, Joe Schoen, Shedeur Sanders, Jalen Brunson, Pistons, Meet-The-Matts, #GoogleAlerts
Mara, Schoen & Brunson all feeling the heat;

New York, NY: The Knicks choked one away on Monday and are in danger of a first round knockout. The NFL draft starts Thursday and the Giants’ have the keystone pick. Has Joe made up his mind?

Knicks Stink it up at Home

The Knicks might be in trouble. They head to Detroit lucky to be tied at one after being outplayed for most of both games at MSG. If not for a big run in the fourth quarter if Game 1 led by Cameron Payne, they’d be in a huge hole. The Pistons are a bad matchup for the Knicks – young, athletic and active on D.

The Knicks were stagnant on offense in Game 2, as every player missed more shots than they made. Only Deuce McBride contributed points off the bench. It was bizarre that Payne, the Game 1 hero, only saw four minutes in this one, with the way the offense was going. Poor decision by Thibs.

A first-round knockout would be devastating for a franchise that went all-in least offseason.

All Eyes on Joe

After Thursday, I’ll finally be able to stop talking about the Giants’ draft options. For once they seem to have not given away their draft plans. At this moment it seems like they’re not going to take a QB at 3, but the last minute workout with Shedeur means they haven’t ruled it out.

To paraphrase Dan Orlovsky, I can’t recall many GMs saving their jobs with a defensive end. That may be true, but many a GM has lost a job by reaching for a mediocre QB.

In today’s NFL, your franchise is basically at a standstill if you don’t have a QB. Let’s say the Giants don’t take a QB at 3 and they aren’t able to get possible Day 2 targets like Jalen Milroe.

And let’s say they do take Carter and he helps improve the defense, Russell is decent, and they win 8 games. Well, they would still need a QB and now have a middle round pick.

Are they better off rolling the dice with Shedeur and hoping it works out?

Ghost of Drafts Past

Orlovsky also said that it’s tough to analyze Sanders because Colorado ran so many quick bubble-screen type plays and because the offensive line was so bad. Half the time the ball was either out of his hands immediately or he was running for his life. It’s hard to get a feel for a QB that way.

That means you won’t know until you stick him out there. Is Joe willing to make that bet? I no longer think so, but he’s thinking about it. I can feel it. Maybe he can trade down a few spots with a team desperate for pass rush help and take Sanders a little later. But Seattle, New Orleans, and Pittsburgh are three teams that definitely could take him if Schoen passes. Those teams could also take Milroe from the Giants, as could the Browns, who pick first in the second round, just ahead of the G-men.

Intriguing af, to say the least. The same goes for our guy tomorrow, Angry Ward.

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About Ben Whitney 463 Articles
Ben Whitney comes from journalistic stock. Aside from his brothers, rumor has that his great-great grandfather was the youngest brother of Eli Whitney and covered the earliest "rounders" games. Big Ben is also another New York Rugby Club player/pal of Different Matt, Short Matt and Junoir Blaber. He likes film noir discussions, has twin girls and took up ice hockey after retiring from rugby.