After last year’s wildly successful draft that saw Aaron Ross, Steve Smith, Jay Alford, Kevin Boss and Ahmad Bradshaw all contribute to the Giants’ Super Bowl run, New York could afford to take some risks. This year’s edition was more about creating depth and looking toward the future.

Overall, the Giants addressed the few concerns they had, especially after an off-season that saw them lose three starters on defense. What they received were prospects with the raw talent to produce but some gaping holes in their skill sets. But they are Super Bowl champions, and they clearly aren’t setting out to remake the team right away.

Drafting Miami safety Kenny Phillips with their first pick will soften some of the blow of Gibril Wilson’s defection to the Oakland Raiders. Phillips is athletic and smart and has the kind of speed to cover wideouts as well as the agility to make open-field tackles. The knock on him is that he’s a little raw in reading coverage, but with New York signing Jaguars veteran Sammy Knight to shore up the safety position for the next few years, Phillips can develop and mature.  read more »

If Hillary Clinton doesn't make it this week, SNL's Amy Poehler will begin doing Ralph Nader impersonations instead. She's already been practicing, you see. This sounds funny, like the movie Baby Mama! [NY Daily News]  read more »

A spokesperson for the McCains said that the intern that was supposedly responsible for recipes lifted off of the Food Network site, has been "dealt with swiftly," which we find scary. [AP]  read more »

Sen. McCain may have called his wife the c-word in 1992 after she suggested he might be balding. To her credit, she wasn't exactly wrong. [NY Daily News]

Recently rehabilitated Kirsten Dunst was spotted dining with co-star Ryan Gosling at Freeman's restaurant on the Lower East Side on Saturday. [P6]  read more »

Who is that guy?

His name’s Eli.

When’d we get him?

Four years ago.

That’s not Eli. Eli threw interceptions. Fumbled. Missed wide-open receivers. Wore lead cleats.

Same guy.

Impossible.  read more »

How ironic that on a night that Tiki Barber used halftime to revisit his stinging comments regarding Eli Manning’s leadership last August, the Giants lost 22-10 in a game in which they needed him the most.  read more »

If Eli Manning thought the pressure was unbearable last week in Chicago, wait until he faces the Eagles this Sunday.

When the Giants last beat Philadelphia in a Week 4, 16-3 victory, they struggled to put points on the board against a tough but banged up Eagle defense, ending the game with a scant 212 total yards. And that was when the Eagles were missing two playmakers in their secondary: cornerback Lito Sheppard and possible Hall of Fame safety Brian Dawkins, both out due to injury.

With those two back on the turf at Lincoln Financial Field, Manning will continue to feel the heat as he tries to rebound from an error-filled start last week against the Bears. Eagles defensive coordinator Jim Johnson employs a strategy that relies on blitzes from all different angles, with an ever-changing rotation of personnel thrown at the quarterback at unpredictable times.  read more »

Has the Giants’ coaching staff lost its faith in Eli Manning?

Following their 21-16 victory this weekend against the Chicago Bears, it may be hard to imagine that they’re considering taking the ball out of Manning’s hands.

But up until the 11-minute mark of the fourth quarter, that’s effectively what they did. The reasons for Coach Tom Coughlin’s lack of confidence were, once again, obvious: On the Giants’ very first drive, Manning picked up where he left off last week, attempting to force another pass down the middle of the field, resulting in an easy interception for Bears’ linebacker Brian Urlacher.  read more »

As the Giants pass the midway point of the 2007 season, they’re starting to understand their identity. In their 31-20 loss to the Cowboys, they learned they have a quarterback who can’t remember to watch the play clock and a secondary that can’t be left to cover star receivers without help.

Going forward, they’re figuring out that that the key to winning football games and competing for a playoff spot is a flourishing running game, the alleged glaring weakness at the beginning of their 2007 season.  read more »

The most important thing for the Giants, one supposes, is that they won.

Their sloppy, rain-soaked 13-10 win in London allows them to go into a bye week having extended their win streak to six, thanks to a hard-working running game and a hard-hitting defense.

But the way in which they prevailed over a truly bad Dolphins team made one continuing problem glaringly obvious: Eli Manning. Manning completed only eight of his 22 passes for a mere 59 yards. (Yes, 59 yards.)  read more »