Giants defensive line key to another run
Football Betting Lines
02/05/2012 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - At one point in his life, Jason Pierre-Paul didn't want to be a football player. But after a broken leg ended his basketball career in high school, Pierre-Paul made a decision that sent him on a path to winning a Super Bowl.
Pierre-Paul played at two junior colleges before transferring to South Florida in 2009, where he was named a First-Team All-American.
Because he played in just 13 games for the Bulls, NFL teams were hesitant to take Pierre-Paul until the Giants finally selected him with the 15th overall pick of the 2010 NFL Draft.
The gamble paid off.
Just like the their Super Bowl run four years ago, the Giants got instrumental help from their defensive line during a 2011 postseason that ended Sunday in another title at the expense of the New England Patriots.
With fellow defensive ends Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck plagued by injuries all season long, Pierre-Paul emerged as one of the top players at the position in just his second season in the NFL.
Using unparalleled athleticism, Pierre-Paul recorded 16 1/2 sacks to go with 86 tackles during the regular season and was named to his first Pro Bowl.
After Tuck and Umenyiora finally got healthy once the postseason rolled around, the Giants had another fearsome threesome at the defensive end position.
Four seasons ago, it was Michael Strahan, Umenyiora and Tuck who wreaked havoc in the backfield during the Giants' memorable postseason run. Strahan was in the final year of his career while Umenyiora was still in his prime. Like Pierre-Paul this season, it was Tuck who emerged as a pass rusher that year.
During the magical ride, the Giants recorded eight sacks in the postseason, including five during their Super Bowl XLII win against the Patriots.
Against New England, the Giants at times used all three defensive ends on the defensive line at once, with Tuck playing the defensive tackle position.
Tom Brady, who was sacked just 26 times that season, had no answer as the Giants' persistent pressure knocked him down again and again.
This time, it was Umenyiora, Tuck and Pierre-Paul who terrorized their opponents in the backfield during an eerily similar postseason stretch.
The Giants notched 11 sacks during this year's postseason, with Tuck getting two in the Super Bowl.
New York didn't have the gaudy sack numbers like it had in Super Bowl XLII, but Brady was forced to continually elude pressure all game long.
Pierre-Paul was consistently getting his hands up to swat away passes. Tuck's second sack came on 3rd-and-10 with 39 seconds left in the game, which forced New England to use its final timeout. Umenyiora had a silent game, but led the Giants with 3 1/2 sacks during the postseason.
At 23, Pierre-Paul has just scratched the surface of his potential on a path that began with a broken leg.
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It took Rob Gronkowski nearly an entire half to make his first catch in the Super Bowl. The injured Patriot, who set the tight end record for receiving yards and touchdowns during the regular sea
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over.
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Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Eli Manning and the New York Giants did it
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Ahmad Bradshaw scored on a six-yard touchdown run with 57 seconds remai
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Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The New York Giants lost tight ends Jake
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Ballard went down with a left knee injury early in the fourth quarter. Re
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Brady's
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - It took Rob Gronkowski nearly an entire half to make his first catch in the Super Bowl. Later, the injured Patriots tight end was several tortured inches away from snaring a Hail Mary pass that would
Manning wins another Super Bowl MVP >>
Indianapolis, IN (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Is Eli Manning elite? That's likely no
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Manning won his second Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award Sunday after
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A contingent of former FCS players are reveling in the New York Giants' 21-17
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The Giants' roster inc
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(Sportsbook Betting Lines) - How many times does a gambler like a horse and wish the
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questio
Farrington expected to become VMI's defensive coordinator >>
Lexington, VA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - VMI is expected to name Jeff Farrington as
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Farrington became Mercer University's defensive coordinator last July as it
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FOOTBALL BETTING : Crabtree's base deal: six years, $32 million
In the wake of the news that the 49ers have signed receiver Michael Crabtree after an extended holdout, there has been not a hint of the dollars to be paid to Crabtree.
And since this means that his agent hasn't leaked the numbers, it means that his agent feels no specific motivation to do so.
Possibly because his agent isn't all that thrilled to have his name on the deal.
So the numbers will come from sources other than Crabtree's agent. And we've gotten our mitts into them.
Per a league source, Crabtree has signed a six-year, $32 million contract. (The total includes guaranteed money, base salaries, and the one-time incentive based on achieving minimum playing time.)
The deal also includes $17 million in guaranteed money.
As reported elsewhere, the deal can void to five years based on performance triggers, wiping out a final year base salary of $4 million. But they won't be easily reached.
The source tells us that, in his first four seasons (including 2009), Crabtree must either qualify for two Pro Bowls, or he must qualify for one Pro Bowl in one year and he must participate in 80 percent of the offensive snaps in a separate year in which the team makes the playoffs.
In other words, if in 2010 he qualifies for the Pro Bowl and the team makes the playoffs and he participates in 80 percent of the snaps, he'll still need to make it to the Pro Bowl or achieve the 80-percent/playoffs in another season.
Since the chances of Crabtree making the Pro Bowl or participating in 80 percent of the offensive snaps this year is roughly zero percent, he'll have three years to get it done.
And it won't be easy. Frankly, he'll be hard pressed to make it to one Pro Bowl in three years with the likes of Larry Fitzgerald, Calvin Johnson, Anquan Boldin, Steve Smith, the other Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, DeSean Jackson, Johnny Knox, Percy Harvin, Greg Jennings, Roddy White, T.J. Houshmandzadeh in the same conference for sportsbook betting.
So, by all appearances, it's a six-year deal. And at $17 million in guaranteed money, the per-year guarantee is a tepid $2.83 million per year.
There's another problem with the deal -- it has no mid-tier incentive package. Instead, the additional $8 million that Crabtree can earn (pushing the max value to six years, $40 million) requires the kind of unrealistic, mega-star performances that no rookie is likely to ever achieve.
So while the contract paid to Packers defensive tackle B.J. Raji covers five years and pays $22.5 million, he has the ability (if he's a solid player) to make up the difference between his base deal and Crabtree's five-year, $28 million haul via the mid-tier incentive package in Raji's deal.
And unless Crabtree meets the performance thresholds necessary to void the sixth year, he'll be stuck under contract for another year at a base salary of only $4 million.
There's one other area of concern with the deal. Crabtree, per the source, received no option bonus. Instead, he has significant money tied to a fairly new device known as a "discretionary salary advance," which unlike an opition bonus is subject to forfeiture if Crabtree decides in a year or two that he wants to hold out for a better deal. (We're also told that the 49ers have included language that would make certain escalators subject to forfeiture, too.)
Meanwhile, the deal falls well short of the mark for which Crabtree and agent Eugene Parker were aiming -- the five-year, $38.25 million contract paid by the Raiders to receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey, the seventh overall pick in the draft.
Even if Crabtree successfully voids the final year, he'll make more than $2 million per year less on average than Heyward-Bey.
Thus, as we explained earlier in the day, this is a deal that Crabtree could have done in July, which would have given him a much better chance of making a contribution to the 49ers during his rookie year.
So while the final outcome can be described as win-win, the broader view suggests that it's really a lose-lose situation.
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