Patriots claim TE Jake Ballard

[Ron Sellers]

Wow...based on those comments from Coughlin, I guess it really does just come down to "boy were the Giants stupid."

You simply do not waive any player you think has a future with your team while the roster limit is at 90! For heavens sake, that's a big part of what the new expanded off-season roster is about.

Even when you figure in the fact that unsigned draft picks now count against the roster limit, teams still have more roster spots available than they did two years ago.

It's one thing to waive a player like Brad Herman; it's a completely different thing to risk waiving a player like Ballard. If the Giants were counting on him so much for the 2013 season, then why take such a needless risk?

I have long considered their front office to be among the best in the NFL, but they uncharacteristically really dropped the ball on this decision.

 

[The Gr8est]

Wow...based on those comments from Coughlin, I guess it really does just come down to "boy were the Giants stupid."

You simply do not waive any player you think has a future with your team while the roster limit is at 90! For heavens sake, that's a big part of what the new expanded off-season roster is about.

Absolutely.

If Gronk's ankle was bad enough to cause him to miss the season, can anyone imagine BB waving him when the roster limit was at 90?


Or even at 53 for that matter?


An uncharacteristic mistake by the Giants who are normally a well-run franchise.

 

[Deus Irae]

The Patriots did the same thing to McDaniels when he was coaching in Denver, so I don't really see the issue here. Frankly, the ability to carry 90 in the camps makes the Giants' move seem foolish to me.

 

[Patriot_in_NY]

Wow...based on those comments from Coughlin, I guess it really does just come down to "boy were the Giants stupid."

You simply do not waive any player you think has a future with your team while the roster limit is at 90! For heavens sake, that's a big part of what the new expanded off-season roster is about.

Yup....... They did something really dumb, and got nailed for it......... and they have the nerve to be pissed us? Srsly.....

Gee, lets dangle a really talented TE out on the open market and risk anyone picking him up......... WHAT...... someone took him? Those jerks.

 

[patchick]

Yup....... They did something really dumb, and got nailed for it......... and they have the nerve to be pissed us? Srsly.....

Gee, lets dangle a really talented TE out on the open market and risk anyone picking him up......... WHAT...... someone took him? Those jerks.

To be fair, Coughlin didn't say a word against the Patriots...more like kicking himself, or whoever in the Giants organization pulled the trigger on the "calculated risk."

 

[The Gr8est]

To be fair, Coughlin didn't say a word against the Patriots...more like kicking himself, or whoever in the Giants organization pulled the trigger on the "calculated risk."

Even better is that I was reading a thread on JI yesterday where someone mentioned that Ballard had been waived and was wondering if the Rats should put in a claim. No one else picked up on that thought at all.

So now fast forward to today, and we find out that the Pats, who probably have the top TE group in the NFL, are the ONLY team to put in a claim on Ballard, while lesser teams, like the Rats, just sat their on their mangy, flea-bitten haunches, gnawing on moldy cheese, and allowing the far superior Pats to get even more superior.

Imagine the gnashing of little rodent teeth now in the fetid swamps of New Jersey.

 

[patfanken]

What I don't like is that Florio is doing his best to INFER that Coughlin is mad at the Pats for breaking some "unwritten rule", when clearly what Coughlin is mad about is the mistake made by his own FO. ESPN is also trying to create the impression that somehow the Pats have done something untoward in claiming Ballard. Ridiculous effort to paint the Pats as the "evil empire" in the minds of the national audience. Ridiculous....and mean.

 

[Clonamery]

What I don't like is that Florio is doing his best to INFER that Coughlin is mad at the Pats for breaking some "unwritten rule", when clearly what Coughlin is mad about is the mistake made by his own FO. ESPN is also trying to create the impression that somehow the Pats have done something untoward in claiming Ballard. Ridiculous effort to paint the Pats as the "evil empire" in the minds of the national audience. Ridiculous....and mean.

Ballardgate?

 

[The Gr8est]

What I don't like is that Florio is doing his best to INFER that Coughlin is mad at the Pats for breaking some "unwritten rule", when clearly what Coughlin is mad about is the mistake made by his own FO. ESPN is also trying to create the impression that somehow the Pats have done something untoward in claiming Ballard. Ridiculous effort to paint the Pats as the "evil empire" in the minds of the national audience. Ridiculous....and mean.

Like how they intimated that the Pats had something to do with a scoreboard malfunction in the AFCC game to cause the Ravens to miss a FG, or for hiring Josh McDaniel after Bill O'Brien committed to Penn State.

Par for the course for these media clowns.

 

[PatsSox363804]

What I don't like is that Florio is doing his best to INFER that Coughlin is mad at the Pats for breaking some "unwritten rule", when clearly what Coughlin is mad about is the mistake made by his own FO. ESPN is also trying to create the impression that somehow the Pats have done something untoward in claiming Ballard. Ridiculous effort to paint the Pats as the "evil empire" in the minds of the national audience. Ridiculous....and mean.

People just assume the Patriots are doing underhanded thing, largely because of the ESPN coverage. I just had to correct someone who said the Patriots must have broken an unwritten rule because all the other teams passed and I said "wait, so in your scenario the other owners and GMs are guilty of collusion and Belichick is in the wrong?"

 

[Patjew]

This just proves that BB really does own Coughlin! In your face, Tom!!


Ugh...

 

[WhiZa]

Maybe Giants management didn't think this through because they were enjoying their time at the white house?

 

[mcsully]

Giants head coach Tom Coughlin responds to questions about the Patriots claiming TE Jake Ballard

Coughlin irked at losing Ballard to Pats - New England Patriots Blog - ESPN Boston

“Discouraged is a minor description,” Coughlin said when asked how discouraging the news was when he learned of it during minicamp practice on Tuesday afternoon. “Very disappointing. I am not going to have a lot to say about that one, just the fact that we are disappointed. We are very disappointed.”

Coughlin was then asked why the Giants didn’t just keep Ballard on the 90-man roster and not risk losing Ballard on waivers.

“Don’t ask me those questions,” Coughlin responded. “I don’t have the answers for you. We are all disappointed. That’s all.”

The team expected Ballard to return healthy and make an impact in 2013.

“I certainly thought so, for sure,” Coughlin said. “So did everybody, the whole building thought that way. Everyone did. It is obvious it was a calculated risk and it didn’t work.”

Coughlin was asked if he was surprised that the Patriots claimed Ballard despite not needing a tight end.

“I don’t have any comment on that one,” the Giants head coach said. “Nature of the business.”

Coughlin said he does not think that other teams need to show a certain amount of professional courtesy knowing that the Giants were trying to make a roster move with an injured player who is not expected to play this season.

“I don’t think there is any question about that part of it,” Coughlin explained. “Whatever the options are based on what the rules are, based on the procedural circumstance, all is fair.”​

I recall a story going around a few years ago about how BB called Minnesota coach Childress and personally and requested they don't put a claim into Garrett Mills.. Childress scoff'd and took him.. (google it, some stories about it)

 

[RelocatedPatFan]

Like how they intimated that the Pats had something to do with a scoreboard malfunction in the AFCC game to cause the Ravens to miss a FG, or for hiring Josh McDaniel after Bill O'Brien committed to Penn State.

Par for the course for these media clowns.

Belichick must have used his Jedi Mind tricks.

This was probably answered, but for the Pats to get the claimed, wouldn't every other team (30) have to pass on him (due to draft order #1).

 

[Shed83]

Gronkballdezfell

Hernfellballowski

 

[Wolfpack]

The Giants were stupid to do what they did. I get so sick of the phrase "unwritten rules" - although I usually hear them more often in baseball than in football. They have no right to be mad at anyone but themselves.

 

[Palm Beach Pats Fan]

unwritten rules are not worth the paper that they are not written on

 

[Ring 6]

Hernandez is essentially a big slot receiver already, not much in the way of blocking, he is used almost exclusively as a receiver.

Really he does block quite a bit.
The point is that he is now a mismatch because he is too quick for LBs or Safeties. If you make him a WR covered by a corner he loses that advantage.

 

[Patradomous]

They Can have Jake back if we can get the penalty on the push off on Ellis Hobbs in the 1st quarter of the 2007 SB.

 

[Deus Irae]

unwritten rules are not worth the paper that they are not written on

That depends on the sport. The unwritten rules in hockey and baseball are very important. In football, not so much...