FanHouse Michael Boley

It's not that the Giants' three-game losing streak has gone unnoticed. It's just that, with all the excitement over everything the Yankees have been up to, New York sports fans have had other things on their minds. Yes, they're aware, vaguely, that the Giants' defense hasn't been able to stop the Saints, Cardinals or Eagles the past three weeks. And they have seen a headline or two about Eli Manning suddenly looking much more mortal than his contract and his championship pedigree say he should. But the panic meter hasn't moved too much over all of this, because New York is still one of the few American towns in which football can take a backseat to baseball. And for the past few weeks, for very good reason, New York has been a baseball town.

That all changes this weekend. The San Diego Chargers hit town -- another dynamic offense surely licking its chops over a chance to take its turn at the Giants' battered ego and secondary. If the Giants lose again, they're looking at a 5-4 record heading into their bye week, which would mean two solid weeks of tabloid and talk show debate on the issue of "What's Wrong With the Giants?"

Michael Boley averaged 82.5 tackles per year in his four seasons with Atlanta, and was a hot commodity on the NFL's free-agent market this winter. It's safe to assume, then, that he will eventually start proving he deserved the five-year, $25 million contract the Giants inked him to in February.

But he hasn't exactly gotten off on the right foot.

Boley had hip surgery on June 24 -- a procedure that came with an eight-to-10 week recovery period, putting his status for the start of the season in jeopardy. And now the NFL has taken the mystery out of Boley's Week 1 status, suspending the linebacker for New York's opener for violating the league's personal conduct policy.

The Giants announced in a press release today that linebacker Michael Boley had arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn labrum in his hip and is likely to miss 8-to-10 weeks as he recovers. That obviously means Boley won't be ready for the start of training camp, and it throws into doubt his availability for the start of the regular season. But the hilarious way in which the Giants constructed this press release was designed to make sure you know that they don't consider this a very big deal at all.

The release is titled "Giants Rookie Signings; Boley Surgery." The first three paragraphs announce the signings of third-round pick Ramses Barden and fifth-round pick Rhett Bomar. Then, out of nowhere comes the totally unrelated fourth paragraph:

With the draft approaching, we ignore projections and identify the dream scenario for each team in a series we call The Perfect Draft.

Last year the Falcons proved what an excellent draft and a couple of free agent signings can do to a previously awful team. First-round picks Matt Ryan and Sam Baker and second-round pick Curtis Lofton all became immediate starters while free agent signee Michael Turner turned into the team's best back since Jamal Anderson was in his prime.

There's less riding on this year's draft than last year's, but Atlanta needs to add depth to what's still a pretty thin roster. There is not nearly as much need for immediate starters this year, but there are still a lot of positions where the Falcons could use a talent upgrade.

UPDATE: It's official, and reportedly it's for five years and $25 million, with $11 million guaranteed.

Compared to previous free agency opening days, 2009 has been a relatively understated affair; no glut of cap-busting deals, or championship-hungry teams overreaching for once great players now getting by on reputation alone. Sure, there have been a couple huge deals -- both thanks to Dan Snyder, naturally -- but most teams have waded cautiously into the process, only pursuing players that fill an obvious need.

A perfect example: the Giants and linebacker Michael Boley. The two sides are close to agreeing to a five-year, $25 million deal, including $10 million in guarantees. Boley has been one of the best young linebackers in the league during his four-year career, even if most people outside Atlanta haven't heard of him.

With only one of their top four linebackers expected to play under his current contract in 2009, the Falcons have a lot of work to do this offseason. Apparently they are very close to getting one of their free agent linebackers back before he ever hits free agency.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution is reporting that the Falcons are near a deal with Coy Wire, the linebacker who came into the 2008 season as a backup but ended up earning a starting job by beating out Michael Boley.

Training camps are underway, the NFL season is a month off, and to get you ready for 2008, FanHouse previews all 32 teams, "heat index" style. We'll rate each club in 10 categories on a scale of 1 to 10, high score wins.

Quarterbacks: If he develops as expected, and if he doesn't have a hidden dog-fighting hobby, the Falcons have their franchise quarterback for the next decade at least. Matt Ryan will be the team's starting quarterback by the start of 2009 for sure. The question is whether he'll be stepping in to replace Chris Redman early this season. Considering how bad Atlanta will be, the likelihood is he'll be under center by Week Eight, when the Falcons come off their bye. Heat Index: 4

Running Backs: If there is one position on the Falcons' roster where they compare favorably to the rest of the league, it may be running back. Jerious Norwood has been one of the most productive backup running backs in the league over the past two seasons (202 carries, 1,246 yards with a 6.2 yard per carry average), and was expected to step into the starting role whenever Warrick Dunn aged out of the position. Dunn finally left town to head back to Tampa Bay, but Norwood will still be the backup, as the Falcons signed LaDainian Tomlinson's understudy, Michael Turner, to a big-money deal. Turner's resume is very similar to Norwood's--he's been a productive backup for three seasons (228 carries, 1,257 yards with a 5.5 YPC average) who is looking to step into a larger role. The two should complement each other pretty well, as Turner is a bigger, one-cut home run hitter with good speed, while Norwood is a shiftier, smaller back with blazing speed. Together, they could be an outstanding combo if they didn't have to run behind such a brutal offensive line. Heat Index: 7

New coach Mike Smith has the first major challenge of his young head coaching career.

Linebacker Michael Boley, one of the teams few stars, was arrested and charged with battery on Saturday night. No details on exactly what caused him to be charged had come out by Sunday night, but his arrest is the first significant legal troubles for the Falcons since Michael Vick became the best quarterback in the prison football season.

On a normal team, an arrest like this would be something to simply wait out, but the Falcons aren't exactly a normal team. With the Vick conviction still hanging over the team, it will put more pressure on the Falcons to deal harshly with Boley--if he's convicted.

But for now, we're left waiting for the police to release more details. It's something that must sound very familiar to Falcons fans.