T-Rock's Take on the Giants

We know the four teams on the Giants’ preseason schedule, but only one of the dates and times of the games. That one is in Week 2 of the preseason when the Giants will host the Colts at 8 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 18. That game will be televised nationally on FOX.

As for the other games, the schedule is a bit nebulous. The Giants open on the road against the Steelers and will play at some point...

Mike Patterson played next to Cullen Jenkins when the two were Eagles. Now they may be doing it for the Giants.

Patterson, a defensive tackle who was cut earlier this offseason by Philadelphia, is expected to visit with the Giants Tuesday and could sign as a free agent. If he does he would join Jenkins, also a defensive tackle, who signed a three-year, $8 million deal with the Giants last...

It’s been a while since I’ve seen him referred to in headlines as “the other Steve Smith.” Then again, there haven’t been a lot of headline mentions in the last few years for the former Giants Pro Bowler whose career as fizzled since he left the team as a free agent just prior to the 2011 season. In two seasons since he signed with the Eagles and then the Rams he has played in 18 games and caught...

The inevitable has become official. The imminent has become now. Osi Umenyiora is a member of the Falcons.

The defensive end signed a long-anticipated deal with Atlanta this evening, reportedly a two-year contract that will end his career with the Giants. A 2003 draft pick, Umenyiora played 10 seasons with the Giants and leaves the team with 75 career sacks, fourth-most in franchise history...

The Giants will wear white pants for the first time this century in 2013.

The team announced on Tuesday that it would use an alternate uniform for select games in 2013, but the change will take place below the belt only. For the first time since 1999 the players will wear white pants. They have worn only gray pants for the last 13 seasons.

The white pants will have a thin red stripe...

The Giants’ offensive line appears to be 80 percent complete. Left tackle Will Beatty signed a long-term deal earlier this offseason, veterans Chris Snee and David Baas are coming off surgeries but expected back at right guard and center. And today the Giants agreed to terms on a one-year deal with free agent Kevin Boothe to return, presumably as the starting left guard.

That leaves just one...

David Diehl seems to realize that his 2013 salary will be tied to Victor Cruz in a very big way. If the Giants are to sign the wide receiver to a long-term deal, then it seems very likely that Diehl’s will be one of the contracts where management goes to look for the money and cap space. It could mean a reduction in the base salary of $4.475 million Diehl is due to earn in the last year of his contract.

But...

The new rule aimed at preventing NFL ballcarriers from initiating contact with the crown of their helmet outside the tackle box is not popular with Giants running backs past or present.

David Wilson, last year’s first-round pick and this year’s projected starter, said today that he doesn’t like it.

“But the rules are the rules,” he said. “It’s the game I like and they keep modifying...

The NFL meetings began with Steve Tisch worried that the worst would happen when it came to Victor Cruz, that another team would swoop in, make him an offer the Giants might not be able to match, and they would lose him as a restricted free agent.

They ended with Tom Coughlin taking a different perspective on the matter.

The Giants coach said he is not at all concerned that Cruz will...

Tom Coughlin is the oldest head coach in the NFL. Mathematically, anyway.

“I’m younger than most of the guys in this room,” he said, scanning the ballroom where the NFC coaches breakfast was held this morning. What he meant, of course, is that he’s in better shape than a lot of them. And at 66 – he’ll turn 67 in August right before the season starts – he is showing no signs of slowing down.

“I...