Big Blue View
Kölnerbigblue asks: Ed, as a follow up to one of last week’s Mailbag questions, has there been any discussion on where Nagy will be on game day? While I appreciate coordinators getting a bird’s eye view of the field up in the booth, I prefer to see a coach directly interacting with the players on the sideline. I know there is no right/wrong answer, just preferences and coaching styles. What’s your opinion on this and what have you heard from this staff?
Ed says: Kölner, I don’t recall any discussion of that. I went back through some of the transcripts, and don’t see it discussed. I do think Matt Nagy’s history is calling plays from the sideline. Here is some really interesting research on the topic:
I am a big fan of coaches calling plays from the sideline where they can feel the game and interact personally with the players.
FirstWave asks: Please explain why some wide receivers, whether they be younger or older, cannot play special teams? What is prohibiting them? They are football players. Special teams is part of football.
Ed says: ‘First’, some wide receivers are really good special teamss players. Dalen Cambre and Ryan Miller on the Giants are good in that area. Ex-Giant Cody Core was really good. Devin Thomas, a wide receiver, was a good special teamer who made a massive fumble recovery for the Giants in the 2012 NFC Championship Game. Steve Tasker was a wide receiver who made the Hall of Fame as a special teams player.
Defensive players are generally more used to the contact, the physicality, the tackling that is required. Can you see Jalin Hyatt or 5-foot-9, 162-pound Calvin Austin defeating blockers and making tackles? I can’t. A team could put them out there to cover kicks or punts, but more than likely they would be a liability. It is really about the skillset and mentality.
Steve Williams asks: Hi Ed, I have a question regarding Marcus Mbow. Last season he showed promise as a rookie swing tackle and is the likely backup for both Andrew Thomas and Jermaine Eluemenor this year. However, one of the points that several people have recently made was that Mbow needs to increase his play strength along with adding some bulk. Based on the OTA’s this spring, did you see any indication that Mbow has in fact been hitting the weight room and the high-protein dinner table? And does his agility and quickness still look as good as it did at times last year?
Ed says: Steve, I seem to get a lot of questions about Mbow and whether or not he looks stronger than he did a year ago. It isn’t really a question I can answer heading into training camp.
Remember, there are no pads — thus no hitting — during spring practices. Understand also that media is only at the facility for a maximum of six spring practices — three OTAs and three minicamp workouts. We do not...
