Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
SportsTalk: Albert Pujols signs with the Angels and Prince Fielder joins the Tigers. Which team is better now?
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
Kobe Bryant hit a baseline jump shot with 4.2 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers wrapped up a six-game road trip by holding on to beat the Raptors 94-92 on Sunday, their eighth victory in nine meetings with Toronto
Arc's five up, five down: After No. 11 Michigan State's 58-48 upset of No. 3 Ohio State, you'd be a fool to discount the Spartans' national title chances now.
Miami coach Al Golden says the worst is behind him, but his headaches figure to continue now that former booster Nevin Shapiro, now in jail, says his involvement with the Hurricanes program will result in stiff penalties.
Golf's dream pairing - Woods and Mickelson - is on the course in the final round at Pebble Beach. Jason Sobel has hole-by-hole reports.
The United States completed a 5-0 rout of Switzerland in the Davis Cup on Sunday, with 19-year-old Ryan Harrison and John Isner winning closing singles matches.
Euro Roundup: First-place Manchester City won 1-0 at Aston Villa on Sunday on Joleon Lescott's goal in the 63rd minute, maintaining its two-point lead over Manchester United in the Premier League.
Tessa Worley of France fought off gusting winds to win a second consecutive World Cup giant slalom Sunday in the Andorran Pyrenees. Overall leader Lindsey Vonn was more than a second behind and finished eighth.
Robins: It’s the Year of the Dragon on the Lunar calendar, and this Chinese influence could extend to it also being the year of the Pekingese on the green carpet at the 136th Westminster Dog Show on Tuesday.
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The way Bulluck was talking warranted a double take. Shouldn’t this guy be a headhunting, smack-talking Jet instead?
“For everyone to be talking about Dallas, Washington, and Philadelphia and not talking about Big Blue is absurd,” Bulluck told reporters Monday, the same day that ESPN’s pre-season NFL power rankings came out ranking the Giants only the league's 16th best team. (On Tuesday, SI.com ranked the Giants 19th, behind even the Eagles, who are breaking in unproven quarterback Kevin Kolb.)
The rest of the Giants also may feel overlooked. But none of them have said it like Bulluck. It’s usually not their style.
Giants coach Tom Coughlin isn’t a man who encourages shoot-from-the-hip behavior. He doesn’t collect free spirits like the Jets garrulous head coach Rex Ryan does. Giants quarterback Eli Manning doesn’t draw much attention to himself, either. Manning used to be criticized as too phlegmatic until he led the Giants to arguably the best comeback victory in Super Bowl history against unbeaten New England. But even then, one of his most high-profile endorsements was for Oreo cookies. Not exactly edgy, right?
In a way, importing someone with Bulluck’s fresh attitude could be just what the Giants need going forward. He doesn’t have the psychological baggage his new teammates lug around. Hasn’t been scalded yet by the pressure in New York.
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The Giants became an afterthought and punching bag, even in their own city. Then the Jets went out and won the offseason in New York, too, because of all the aggressive roster moves they made.
The Jets keep harping about how they took a lead against the Indianapolis Colts into the third quarter of the AFC title game and fell just 30 minutes shy of the Super Bowl — a margin they think they can make up this year and win it all. But the Giants could tell the Jets something about presuming too much before they’ve actually done anything.
They could detail how having talent guarantees nothing.
The 2009 Giants had a lot of things that looked solid early but turned out lousy by the end of the season. First-year defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan showed none of his former boss Steve Spagnuolo’s magic for dialing up blitzes and defenses even before injuries bit the team and most of their free-agent signings fizzled. Now Perry Fewell, who was passed over for the Buffalo head coaching job, has taken Sheridan’s place.
The Giants’ veteran offensive line, another point of team pride, fell off, too. The Giants failed to have a 1,000-yard rusher for the first time since 2001 and the coaches now seem determined to cycle in younger talent. Running back Brandon Jacobs was only so-so and must prove that he deserves to be the Giants’ feature back. Ahmad Bradshaw, the Giants’ change-of-pace back, must stay healthy and produce more.
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If you were to trace the Giants’ slow slide from Super Bowl champs to that club that played beneath its ability a year ago, a lot of it started with losing Burress in November, 2008. They won their next game without him to improve to 11-1, then finished out the season a miserable 1-4, losing to Philly in the first round of the playoffs.
But a lot of other things happened to knock down the Giants since then — injuries, hope-crushing mistakes and turnovers, too many games where they knew their season or self-respect was on the line and they showed up inexplicably flat.
Bulluck, now 33 and only 90 percent recovered from ACL surgery he had just eight months ago, isn’t the second coming of Ray Lewis. But he is a better replacement for retired middle linebacker Antonio Pierce than the Giants had until now.
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If the new additions and comeback stories work out, and the tightly wound Coughlin isn’t undone by talk that his job is on the line this season, Bulluck could be right: Don’t sleep on the Giants.
The Jets may talk louder, but who can guarantee they’ll win more?
“I know this team as a whole has something to prove,” Bulluck said of the Giants. “A lot of people here know what it’s like to win. They’ve held that trophy up and they have rings at home that indicate that. No one is happy with just one …
“We might have to get three in my time here.”
Three titles? Bulluck was on such a roll, nobody bothered to remind him he signed just a one-year deal with the Giants. Let the man talk.
He can always claim you heard it here first.
Silva: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for NFC teams.
Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
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Biggest NFL training camp storylines From Ben Roethlisberger’s status to the Jets’ impending reality show, Gregg Rosenthal has you covered on what to watch. NBCSports.com |
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Wesseling: Each NFL team enters the offseason with a series of pressing needs. Sometimes a team can address them all, sometimes they ignore them all. But if a team's smart, they'll listen to us. These are the most crucial aspects for AFC teams.
Ryan Callahan scored for the fifth time in four days and defenseman Ryan McDonagh snapped a second-period tie to lift the New York Rangers to a 3-2 victory over the Washington Capitals on Sunday.
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