McNally did a hell of a job with Giants O-line this year

[inmate running the asylum]

We underestimated the Giants this year again. Jim McNally did a hell of a job with their O-line. Reminded me of the Hogs in Joe Gibbs rookie year, when we had 4 rookies starting on our O-line.

Too bad we didn't get the same results with our O-line this year, although by the Houston - Dallas game it was not as bad as everyone made it out to be. When you rush for 247 yards against the 11th ranked Houston defense and hold Glover and Ellis (Dallas) to one sack, you've got to be doing something right. :laugh:

The full story of the Giant O-line is below. Wipe that smirk off your face Tom Giants fan. :laugh:

Patchwork O-line came together for McNally

ESPN.com

Nearly 40 minutes after the New York Giants had secured a playoff spot last Saturday afternoon, Jim McNally strode through the team's locker room in near anonymity, clutching a copy of the game plan that had gashed the proud Philadelphia Eagles defense and wearing the same "what, we worry?" grin he had strapped on in the opening days of training camp.

Six months ago the Giants reported for camp with only two returning line starters, tackle Luke Petitgout and center Dusty Zeigler. Petitgout was moving from right tackle to the left side. Zeigler was trying to recover from controversial "microfracture" surgery on his knee. Gone were veterans Lomas Brown, Glenn Parker and Pro Bowl guard Ron Stone.

Typical of McNally, long regarded as one of the NFL's premier offensive line assistants, he simply shrugged and got to work refashioning the unit.

And the result of his labors?

"Phenomenal," assessed Giants general manager Ernie Accorsi following the Saturday overtime victory that earned New York a wild-card berth. "Nothing short of phenomenal, what he's done with that group.

"In camp, I went to him and said, 'Look, we don't have a lot of (salary) cap room, but we can get one veteran guy for you.' There were still some players like Ben Coleman, guys like that, out there in free agency. He just shook his head. He felt that he could get it done with the younger guys."

The so-called younger guys comprise a quintet that, even in the faceless universe of offensive line play, has managed to raise anonymity to new standards. It is a nondescript but overachieving line with maybe one Pro Bowl-caliber player in Petitgout. It is a group whose sum is far superior to the individual components.

For much of the season, it has been a group with just one starter from 2001, and with zero starters at the positions they played a year ago. In addition to Petitgout, the starters were left guard Rich Seubert, center Chris Bober, right guard Jason Whittle and right tackle Mike Rosenthal. Zeigler, as it turned out, was able to play in just two games before going on injured reserve.

Entering the season, only Petitgout, the Giants' first-round choice in the 1999 draft, had more than nine starts on his professional résumé and had virtually no experience at left tackle. The other four players totaled 14 starts. Bober and Seubert had no starts and just 18 appearances.

Three of the players -- Seubert, Bober and Whittle -- entered the league as undrafted college free agents. Bober was supposed to audition at tackle until Zeigler's injury forced him to center. Rosenthal probably would have lined up at guard if everything had gone according to plan, but he settled in at right tackle in the shuffle that produced a massive overhaul.

Despite all the jerry-rigging, however, the Giants enter Sunday's playoff game at San Francisco with one of the top-performing lines in the league. It is not happenstance that New York has a 4,000-yard passer (Kerry Collins), a 1,300-yard rusher (Tiki Barber) and a 1,300-yard receiver (Amani Toomer). Neither is it an accident that the Giants surrendered only 24 sacks, the fifth fewest in the league, or tout an offense statistically ranked No. 6 overall.

For all the hand-wringing done by the pundits in assessing the Giants' line this summer, for all the naysayers who suggested Collins might need to raise his personal insurance coverage, few blocking units have played better than the New York quintet in 2002.

It is not, as McNally pointed out Saturday, a particularly mammoth bunch. At an average of 306 pounds, the five starters rate at about the middle of the league in terms of size. But as evidenced by Saturday's victory, in which the Giants blew huge holes in the Philadelphia front seven by running plenty of counter plays and a few traps, the New York line is very athletic. And there is no doubt about their work ethic, one that reflects the demands of McNally, who doesn't tolerate slackers.

“ What he's meant to us you can't put into words. He's gotten more out of us than even some of us thought he could. ”

— Giants RT Mike Rosenthal

A 23-year league veteran, McNally's first pro job was with the Cincinnati Bengals, and he still derives great satisfaction from detailing the exploits of his former Bengals charges. Ask him about Anthony Munoz or Bruce Kozerski or Max Montoya, and settle in for a while, because McNally doesn't mind revisiting what each of those players meant to him.

He might have to become equally adept, though, at discussing his current group. It is a unit that has been transformed from chicken feathers to chicken salad in a remarkably short span.

Known for years by his nickname "Mouse," McNally has a line that is providing him a chance to roar.

"They work hard," McNally said of his charges. "And they're very smart. I don't think you can play in our system without having some 'smarts.' They are solid athletically, not big, but big enough. I really like them. And I like some of the young guys behind them. It's a bunch that can do a lot of things, like with the pulling and trapping we did (Saturday). If we can keep these guys together for a while, they're going to be very good."

Maintaining the status quo will be one of Accorsi's offseason challenges. Petitgout and Rosenthal are eligible for unrestricted free agency in the spring, and Accorsi acknowledged Sunday he "has to find a way" to retain both tackles.

This is a group that figures to validate McNally as a line tutor who, along with the great Jim Hanifan of the Rams, rates as one of the best mentors of the last two decades.

"What he's meant to us," said Rosenthal, "you can't put into words. He's gotten more out of us than even some of us thought he could."

That doesn't mean that, even with the success of this season, McNally is all that well known nationally. In fact, one large newspaper in the Southeast on Sunday referred to him as Dave McNally. So perhaps, no matter what he accomplishes, McNally will be able to stroll right through the locker room largely unnoticed.

If that's the case, it won't bother him even a little.

"Hey, I'm closing in on 60 (years old)," he said. "I've been around the NFL for 23 years now. I've learned you get more pleasure from winning football games than anything else. The attention? I couldn't care less. I know what my job is, I try to do it well, and that other stuff can take care of itself."

[Atlanta Skins Fan]

I'm really confused. Everyone here has told me that our cr@p interior OL play this year (excepting Tre) wasn't Helton's fault. Even forgetting that Helton signed off on most of the player acquisitions, I thought that Helton also had some responsibility for coaching these guys. But everyone tells me that Helton just got dealt a rotten hand, and that's all there is to it.

The poor New York Giants actually think their OL coach turned a bunch of no-names into a dominant unit. Ha ha ha. The joke's on them. Next thing, they'll be convincing themselves that their consensus 4-12 team is going to the playoffs this year.

[just skins baby]

If Loverne is still here next year, I hope somebody gets him some batteries for his hearing aids so he can remember and hear the snap count.

It seemed like every nice drive we would get going, he would come up with a false start.

Does anybody know where you can find penalty stats like that?

I checked the NFL site but didn't have the time to really get into penalties on individual players.

[SB33]

ASF

Helton is not as good a coach as Russ Grimm, McNally, or the ex Dallas OLine coach now in SD. Is he the worst in the league? I think not, however if there is a better one available I would agree that he should be replaced.

[Tom [Giants fan]]

Why would I smile??? Just because these guys average about 2 or 3 years in the league??? Well, I look at it like this. Either they had beginners luck this year or the Giants have an offensive line that is only going to improve and become a dominant force over the next several years. Well, at least I can dream of the latter until September!!