To Strahan or not to Strahan... that is the question.

[Danny White]

What is the better scenario for the Cowboys on opening night?

Going against a Giants team that includes an unmotivated, unprepared Strahan who's heart is obviously no longer in the game and has missed all of training camp but will still get playing time because of who he is?

Or...

Going against a Strahan-less Giants team that's relying on younger, less-proven players who may be more prepared and conditioned, but are less of a known commodity?

 

[Crown Royal]

With or without, the Giants have no shortage of pass rushers. That is the strength of their defense.

 

[miamicowboy21]

With or without, the Giants have no shortage of pass rushers. That is the strength of their defense.

Yes, but strahan is the emotional leader on the field. Everyone feeds off of his energy. Kiwanuka still needs to learn to be disciplined on his pass rush and not just go straight upfield. I'm sorry this defense isn't as good without strahan.

 

[TheCount]

You may have missed it, but without Strahan last year, the Giants D was pretty dreadful. I think anything that puts Eli in the position of having to be the emotional leader can only be a good thing... for their opponents, that is.

 

[Mavs Man]

And I thought Favre's on-again off-again retirement plans were detrimental to his team.

In the words of Monty Python - Strahan, GET ON WITH IT!

 

[TunaFan33]

You may have missed it, but without Strahan last year, the Giants D was pretty dreadful. I think anything that puts Eli in the position of having to be the emotional leader can only be a good thing... for their opponents, that is.

Yes, they lost alot of games sans Strahan, but there were MANY factors why they lost those games, the D was only a drop in the bucket, here are examples:

the Tennessee game-they had a 21-0 lead with 7 minutes to go in the GAME, and they all but self-destructed.(If Frank Walker hadn't punched Vince Young on 4th down, they would have gotten the ball back with this same lead)

the Jax game-mostly sloppy play on O killed them

the Eagles game-they had the lead going into the 4th qtr, too bad they couldn't do anything inside the red zone, otherwise, they would have won this game. Plus an early Brandon Jacobs fumble(after a nice run) turned the tide, they were controlling the LOS at this time

And lastly, against US-they dominated every phase of the game, but they self-destructed with bone-headed penalties(i.e. Plax and Whitfield committed stupid PF penalties that killed 2 potential drives), and if Kiwi had hung onto that INT early, this game would have gotten ugly early. Sorry guys, but the Gints gift-wrapped this game to us.

Yah-I know this sounds detailed minded, but even WITH Strahan's injury, they had every opportunity to run the tables nonetheless.

I WILL say though-Amani Toomer's injury was FAR worse-he always makes the clutch catch, he's Eli's favorite receiver, and his absense was largely the reason why they had Red Zone troubles late in the season.

 

[Danny White]

I guess this wasn't considered a "Cowboys" thread.