NFL Season Preview Next Wednesday August 31 At 6:00 p.m.

GardenStateGurus Radio returns a week from today with out NFL season preview show at 6:00 p.m.

We'll break down Bodog's projected win totals for each team and give our predictions on whether each club will go over or under Bodog's line.

Listen to internet radio with GardenStateGurus on Blog Talk Radio

Jerry Reese's Free Pass Is Running Out

Despite a train wreck of an offseason, some media and fans are cutting New York Giants GM Jerry Reese some slack. Many insist that since the leader of Big Blue’s front office was at the helm just three years ago when the Giants won the Super Bowl, one sloppy summer isn’t justification for crucifixion.

While it’s true that Reese was presiding over the organization at the time of Super Bowl XLII, it’s not fair to give him all the credit for the team’s victory over the previously undefeated New England Patriots.

Reese succeeded long-time GM Ernie Accorsi - who retired after nine years in the position - just 13 months before the Super Bowl. He began working with the organization in 1994 and had served as director of player personnel for the previous four seasons, but Reese only became the true head-man of the front office in January 2007.

In his first offseason as the man solely responsible for transactions Reese drafted Aaron Ross, Steve Smith, Jay Alford, Zak DeOssie, Kevin Boss, Adam Koets, Michael Johnson and Ahmad Bradshaw, signed Kawika Mitchell and traded for Reuben Droughns and Lawrence Tynes. Reese also added Madison Hedgecock and Domenik Hixon during the season.

But Accorsi was the man responsible for constructing a far greater portion of the Super Bowl roster including Eli Manning, Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer, Jeremy Shockey, David Diehl, Shaun O’Hara, Kareem McKenzie, Chris Snee, Rich Seubert, Antonio Pierce, Gibril Wilson, Sam Madison, Justin Tuck, Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Matthias Kiwanuka, Fred Robbins, Barry Cofield, Corey Webster and Jeff Feagles.

As Director of Player Personnel Reese undoubtedly played a pivotal role in acquiring several of the team’s impact players at the draft including Manning, Umenyiora, Diehl, Snee, Wilson, Tuck, Jacobs, Kiwanuka, Webster and Cofield, but he should hardly be considered the sole architect of the title squad. Instead, Reese was a tremendous college scout and guiding hand that provided the finishing touches for an emerging team that bust through for a surprising victory.

Since the Super Bowl Reese’s work has yielded mixed results. In his four years at the helm, the Giants have a 40-24 record, a Super Bowl title, an NFC East title and no sub-.500 seasons. But the franchise hasn’t won a playoff game since Reese’s first season as general manager and it has experienced more than a few embarrassments both on the field and off it.

In the last three years Reese has added considerable talent at the draft in Kenny Phillips, Mario Manningham, Terrell Thomas, Hakeem Nicks, Will Beatty and Jason Pierre-Paul, but he’s also overpaid players like Michael Boley, Chris Canty, Rocky Bernard and Antrel Rolle and added mediocre stopgap solutions like Danny Clark, John Carney, David Carr, Deon Grant and Keith Bulluck.

Reese has bid adieu to many participants from the Super Bowl squad, ignored glaring holes on the roster, repeatedly antagonized one of the team’s biggest stars (Umenyiora), and his poor salary cap management resulted in the departures of key contributors Steve Smith and Kevin Boss via free agency in the last month.

Reese did make key contributions to the ’08 championship squad and he has done some good things over the last few years so he shouldn’t necessarily be lambasted for the team’s unsettling dormant summer, but his grace period is nearing expiration.

Only time will tell if Reese’s new penny-pinching ways and commitment to ceding jobs to young players will pay off, but it could easily blow up in his face. If it does, Reese’s get out of jail free card will lose what remaining value it has left.

Don't Blame Steve Smith For Leaving The Giants, Blame Jerry Reese For Letting It Happen

It’s tough to blame Steve Smith for following the money. Coming off complicated microfracture knee surgery, there’s no telling how much, how well, or how long Smith will play this season.

It was a foregone conclusion that he would get a one-year deal to re-establish his value along with the opportunity to test the open market again next summer. But as much as Smith, 26, wanted to return to the Giants, and by all accounts he was desperate to re-sign with New York, he would have been foolish to do anything but take the highest offer.

Smith, like all football players, has watched far too many promising young players disappear after injury and surgery, never to make another ripple on the NFL landscape, never again to earn the big bucks that have been such a huge part of the lavish lifestyle they've enjoyed for their first few years in the league.

Surely Smith is confident that he’ll come back better than ever, but he also must be realistic – and if he’s not being realistic, his agent is – and so he knew that he must cash in now, while he still has value.

Ideally Smith will miss just a few weeks of the season, put up Pro Bowl numbers and get his coveted long-term deal next offseason. But he’s only being smart and safe by taking the highest offer now. The Eagles offered $4 million, $2 million of which is guaranteed, which is believed to be far in excess of the Giants’ best offer.

Just a couple months ago Smith was one of Tom Coughlin’s most loyal soldiers, spouting off inflammatory tweets at Eagles running back LeSean McCoy. How this all unfolded was a shock to everyone, including Smith and if he had any other choice he likely would have taken it.

Smith is not the fool here, Giants GM Jerry Reese is. He’s fumbled through a train wreck of an offseason and just allowed quarterback Eli Manning’s favorite target to not only leave the organization, but to sign with the hated rival, the self-described “Dream Team,” the Philadelphia Eagles.

Reese and the Giants will insist that they were told by doctors that Smith might not play this year and might never be the same again, but indications are that this was all about the money.

Smith took the most he could get from a team that has added a steady stream of impact players this offseason, while Reese tried to untangle a poorly managed cap situation. Smith joined a legitimate Super Bowl contender, while Reese watched yet another key contributor leave for greener pastures thanks to financial constraints.

The brilliant roster construction of Reese’s Super Bowl XLII Championship squad is a distant memory and the only thing that fans will remember now is that Reese allowed Smith to become a member of the hated team that ripped their hearts out in the unbelievable season finale that eliminated the Giants from playoff contention.