Dan Benton Posts

Only two days after leaving paradise, former Hawaii head coach June Jones wrote a letter to his friends listing several potential replacements.

However, in a letter to friends, Jones has mentioned several possible successors with local ties. They include New York Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride, Tennessee Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow, San Jose State coach Dick Tomey, Texas assistant coach Duane Akina and Hawaii linebackers coach Cal Lee.

If you're a fan of the New York football Giants, you're probably doing some sort of ritualistic prayer dance, hoping beyond hope that Gilbride gets his name called.

While the Giants offense was good enough to get them to the playoffs, the playcalling was consistently inconsistent and a major Achilles heel of the team all year. And although there were a few glimmers of hope, it's become blatantly obvious that Gilbride is not the right man for the job.

Could he be a good college head coach? I wouldn't bank on it, but I doubt any Giants fans would feel remorse for Hawaii if they took him off their hands.

And with that said, here's the Gilbride landing a coaching job in the Aloha State.

Although wide receiver Plaxico Burress missed every practice for the second straight week, it does appear that will start this afternoon when the Giants battle the Jets. And despite being at less than 100%, the 6-5 wideout matches up well against a much smaller Jets secondary. Expect him to put up some big time fantasy football numbers today.

In addition to Burress, the Giants will also see the return of running back Brandon Jacobs, who has not played since week one. And while Derrick Ward has been impressive in his absence, Jacobs is expected to receive the bulk of the Giants workload this afternoon.

Finally, the news on Osi Umenyiora does not seem nearly as positive. The defensive end who collected six sacks last week against Philadelphia missed two practices this week, and appears to be a game-time decision.

FanHouse is posting the top five current athletes for America's top 25 cities with the following criteria: 1) Who would a Miami sports fan say is his/her favorite athlete? 2) Would the player's name (or face) be familiar to locals who don't follow sports?

Find your city's top five: ATL | BOS | CHA | CHI | CIN | CLE | DAL | DC | DEN | DET | HOU | IND | LA | MIA | MIL | MIN | NO | NY | SF | PHI | PHO | PIT | SD | SEA | STL

5. Zach Thomas: When people have a conversation about the most dominating middle linebackers in the NFL, Zach Thomas' name is sure to come up. The seven-time Pro Bowler has spent his entire 11-year career with Miami and figures to eventually enter the Hall of Fame wearing their jersey. He barely beat out fellow teammate Jason Taylor for the number five honor.

4. Dontrelle Willis: Although he's having a down year, Dontrelle "D-Train" Willis is easily one of the most popular athletes in Miami and it's not because of his highly exaggerated delivery. He won the N.L. rookie of the year award in 2003 after posting a 14-6 record with a 3.30 ERA, at only 21 years of age. Willis and the Marlins also went on to defeat the dreaded New York Yankees in the World Series that year.
Sorry, No Photos

I realize any type of rankings should be taken with a grain of salt, but I couldn't help but laugh at Peter King's recent quarterback ratings.

While Eli Manning hasn't exactly established himself as a "franchise quarterback," he's certainly better than the 23rd ranking King gave him. To even claim that quarterbacks like Vince Young (Tennessee), Jeff Garcia (Tampa Bay), Jon Kitna (Detroit), Matt Schaub (Houston) and Michael Vick (Atlanta) are better than Manning is a joke!

Looking at the very statistics King used to make his rankings, you can see that Manning should be ranked higher than at least 10 of them. Breaking it down even further, he has more wins in the last two years than 16 of the quarterbacks ranked ahead of him, a better touchdown/interception ratio than 14 ranked ahead of him and more passing yards than 17 ranked ahead of him.

What is it about this guy that people just can't wrap their minds around? He wins, throws for a lot of yards, throws more touchdown than interceptions and has improved (in almost every statistical category) dramatically over the last three years.

According to Rotoworld, the New York Giants have officially re-signed restricted free agent linebacker Reggie Torbor to a one-year deal worth $850,000.

Torbor was free to sign [an offer sheet] with another team until April 20th, but he did not so much as draw a glimpse. Perhaps it was the tender that kept teams away, or perhaps it was his lack of development.

Torbor has progressed into no better than a special teamer since being drafted in the 2004 fourth round. He recorded 30 tackles last season.

While I agree that Torbor's development has been a bit slow, I think he is or will be more valuable than a special teamer. Given the Giants lack of depth at linebacker, he could prove to be very valuable next season.

Are you kidding me? That's really the only reaction I can come up with. When it rains, it pours. As if the Giants did not have enough injury concerns right now, things just got worse. The franchises leading Receiver Amani Toomer will miss the rest of the season with a partially torn ACL which was revealed in an MRI taken today. Rather than risk playing with the injury or putting it off, Toomer opted to have surgery to repair it as soon as possible.

He will now join Linebacker Lavar Arrington as a starter on the IR and join many others on a growing list of star injuries that does not seem to end. Toomer said earlier this week that had Plaxico Burress played he would have sat the Texans game out, but fought ahead because the Giants could not afford it. Over the last few weeks Toomer has fallen off the map and has been noticeably hindered by something. It's clear now what that is and why that was.

With Sinorice Moss still injured it is imperative for Tim Carter and Michael Jennings to step up big time. Eli Manning and the Giants need them now more than ever.

Fantasy Football is as popular as ever and players are always looking for the advantage. I am no different and I happened to draft Kurt Warner, so today I looked around to see where he ranked as a starter this week. It was not a surprise to see him ranked in the top five to start, but I was surprised to see him ranked as the "starter of the week" by Fox Sports.

Upon further review, Fox Sports was not the only place that had Kurt Warner listed the number one Quarterback of the week. This is a good sign for all Kurt Warner owners as well as for all Cardinals fans in general. The 49ers pass defense is not very good and the Cardinals passing offense has the potential to be fantastic.

My prediction? 20 of 30 for 315 yards and 3 touchdowns - No interceptions. Finally and most important, a Cardinals win. 38-13 and an ideal starts to the 2007 season.

That was probably not the situation fans and players envisioned for themselves going into the regular season, but the great thing about the preseason is that these games do not count. There will be no catching up to do right now as the slate is whipped clean.

The one thing I really had wanted to see was the Cardinals defense shutting down the Broncos running game, unfortunately that did not happen. The Broncos gained 187 yards on the ground on only 29 carries for a sickening 6.4 average per carry.

They were not much more impressive against the pass as Jay Cutler and Bradlee Van Pelt threw for 224 yards and 3 touchdowns. Jake Plummer did not play, which was something I was looking forward to. Once again Edgerrin James barely saw any action, getting no carries at all although he did catch two passes for 11 yards. Kurt Warner and Anquan Boldin did impress however and have my hopes up for a very good passing game this year.

On defense not many starters played or stayed in the game long and the reserves looked over-matched in almost every single aspect of the game. Cardinals fans should be praying for health this year because the second team and beyond will not be able to help this team win at all - At least not most of them.

Finally, the worse news of the day was Matt Leinart. Despite performing well when he was in the game (10 for 15, 125 yards and 1 TD), had to leave in the third quarter with what is now being called a sprained shoulder. An MRI is planned for today, but it appears to only be precautionary. If Leinart was the starting Quarterback he would likely sit out week one, but since that is not the case there is no real reason for Cardinals fans to worry. Not to mention the injury was not on his throwing shoulder. So barring any freak injury to Kurt Warner in weak one everything should be fine.

But now it is time to look ahead. Week one is around the corner and the Cardinals will begin to focus on the 49ers.