Giant Football Blog

Giants' big 4 out of control in many ways

They are the four biggest stars, the faces of the franchise, and they have sabotaged the Giants in crunch time, putting the season in full crisis alert and turning the locker room into a dysfunctional family. Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning, Tiki Barber and Michael Strahan were supposed to lead the Giants to the Super Bowl. Instead, it's a four-star failure, a Big Blue Mess. Coughlin has exhibited hypocritical leadership, Manning has regressed and is back to making rookie mistakes, Barber has become a lame-duck loose cannon and Strahan, even though he's hurt and hasn't played during the three-game losing streak that is ripping the team apart, managed to contribute to the negativity with a not-so-veiled criticism of Plaxico Burress followed yesterday by one of his typical locker room media rants.

It was a wild 45-minute media access period at Giants camp yesterday when Burress first defended himself against quitter comments Strahan made Monday on the radio, and then Strahan attempted to bully ESPN's Kelly Naqi. The reporter had asked Coughlin, Burress and other Giants what they thought of Strahan's comments by reading them verbatim, and Strahan accused of her of trying to divide the team. Continue

Giants' big 4 out of control in many ways

They are the four biggest stars, the faces of the franchise, and they have sabotaged the Giants in crunch time, putting the season in full crisis alert and turning the locker room into a dysfunctional family. Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning, Tiki Barber and Michael Strahan were supposed to lead the Giants to the Super Bowl. Instead, it's a four-star failure, a Big Blue Mess. Coughlin has exhibited hypocritical leadership, Manning has regressed and is back to making rookie mistakes, Barber has become a lame-duck loose cannon and Strahan, even though he's hurt and hasn't played during the three-game losing streak that is ripping the team apart, managed to contribute to the negativity with a not-so-veiled criticism of Plaxico Burress followed yesterday by one of his typical locker room media rants.

It was a wild 45-minute media access period at Giants camp yesterday when Burress first defended himself against quitter comments Strahan made Monday on the radio, and then Strahan attempted to bully ESPN's Kelly Naqi. The reporter had asked Coughlin, Burress and other Giants what they thought of Strahan's comments by reading them verbatim, and Strahan accused of her of trying to divide the team. Continue

Osi & Co. rush back

Just in time for the Cowboys, it looks like the cavalry has arrived. Defensive end Osi Umenyiora, linebacker Brandon Short and cornerback Sam Madison practiced with the Giants yesterday, and the team is hoping they will be able to play Sunday in the Giants' NFC East showdown with Dallas. That trio hasn't been on the field together since Oct.23, when the Giants won, 36-22, in Dallas. That day, Umenyiora injured his hip flexor and Madison strained his hamstring.

Getting them all back, Tom Coughlin said, "would be a boost to our team - not just our defense, but to our team. To be able to have not only the veteran experience but to have the quality of the players, I think our team will respond to the fact that these guys are ready to go." Are Umenyiora, Short and Madison really ready? Short, who practiced in limited fashion last week, said he feels better than he has since he suffered his quadriceps injury on Oct. 29. And Umenyiora, who said his hip "feels OK," said he had hoped to be back for the Giants' loss to Chicago three weeks ago, "but that didn't work out." Continue

Strahan targets female reporter in tirade

Michael Strahan, clearly anxious for someone to spar with after nearly a month out of action, turned into a Giant Bully yesterday in a rage-filled tirade directed at a female reporter. Kelly Naqi of ESPN was hit with a verbal salvo after she simply attempted to question Strahan about his radio rip-job of teammate Plaxico Burress, who Strahan said "quit" on a play in last Sunday's monumental collapse and ensuing 24-21 loss to the Titans in Nashville.

So it goes in a Giants world growing increasingly dysfunctional. This team insists it's not a fractured, self-indulgent bunch of malcontents who hate the head coach. And then, another day goes by and another controversy sprouts like weeds in the Giants garden. Continue

Sinorice may play this week

Each week, words and comments flow about Sinorice Moss. Then Sunday rolls around and Moss is nowhere to be seen. That is likely to change this weekend, as the rookie receiver actually appears on schedule to play in just his second game of the season. Moss made an instant splash in the spring mini-camps, and the Giants were intrigued about the new dimension the diminutive speedster from Miami could add to the offense. Moss, though, was sidelined all of training camp with a badly strained quad muscle and his impact thus far has been none-existent - one catch in one game, at Philadelphia on Sept. 17.

"If I progress this week, hopefully I get an opportunity to play, whatever I can do - special teams or on offense, or maybe doing something different," Moss said. "I've been feeling positive about it since I came back to practice. I'm progressing every day, doing what I have to do to get my leg stronger so I have enough confidence to go out there and run full speed and do what I have to do to help the team." Continue

No Shock to Giants

The chaos in the Giants' locker room yesterday overshadowed what would be big news in any other week: Jeremy Shockey's guarantee that the Giants will beat the Cowboys on Sunday. Few players offered an opinion on that yesterday. Those who did echoed Plaxico Burress, who said, "I don't have any thoughts on that." Shockey did not speak to the media yesterday. Bill Parcells has made sure every one of his players is aware that Shockey told ESPN on Nov. 20: "There is no way (the Cowboys) have a chance in hell to beat us when we play our football."

Parcells has publicly downplayed that guarantee. Yesterday, the Cowboys coach once again excused Shockey, saying "Sometimes these kids, they say things, it gets distorted and it gets out of context. I really don't pay a lot of attention to it." Continue

Strahan to Plax: You quit

Giants defensive end Michael Strahan has come down hard on receiver Plaxico Burress for his lack of effort in Sunday's 24-21 loss to the Titans. Burress failed to run hard on an overthrown pass from Eli Manning in the fourth quarter that was intercepted by cornerback Pacman Jones. Burress then made a half-hearted attempt at tackling Jones, who easily escaped for a 26-yard return.

"It's a shame, because Plaxico is a great player and a good guy to be around, but at the same time you're judged by your actions on the field and you can't give up, you can't quit, because you're not quitting on yourself, you're quitting on us," Strahan said Monday on his weekly WFAN appearance. "We work too hard all together to have that type of stuff happen, and Plaxico is one of the guys who works hard. "I don't quite understand what his motivation is, or what his lack of motivation is in those type of situations. I'm pretty sure I'm going to try to see what it is and try to see if I can talk to him about it. "He's too great of a player to have people look at him and think he's a quitter. Don't be labeled as a guy who's a sometimes player, I-play-when-I-want-to type of attitude. He's too good for that." Continue

Maybe this is as good as Eli gets

In the three seasons since the Giants traded away their future in order to rewrite their GM's past, we have seen Ben Roethlisberger win a Super Bowl, Philip Rivers develop into a Pro Bowl-caliber quarterback, Tony Romo throw five touchdown passes in a game and Vince Young play like a seasoned veteran after only five pro starts. Either those guys are ahead of schedule or Eli Manning is way, way behind.In an era in which the learning curve for quarterbacks seems to be accelerated, Manning's career is stuck decidedly in neutral and may be slipping into reverse.

He is the one who was born and bred to be a quarterback. He is the one with the pedigree. He is the one whose father would have been great and whose brother has been for a long time. Roethlisberger, Rivers and even Young were gambles, but Eli Manning, Archie's kid and Peyton's brother, couldn't miss. Except so far, he has. He was expected to develop into one of the best quarterbacks in the game, but now, three years and 34 starts into his pro career, it always feels as if Eli Manning is the second-best quarterback on the field. Continue

Giants stand by their Manning

The fans have spoken, via e-mails, conversations, shrieks and pleas. Renounce Tom Coughlin and his pseudo-discipline and sideline gyrations, rid the Giants of him after three seasons. Stuff Eli Manning into a time machine, set the dial to 2004, and never make the trade that kept him out of San Diego, saving the Giants three years of suffering through his leadership-challenged little-brother act. Scathing only scratches the surface of the frustration-driven venom caused by the Giants absurdly blowing a 21-0 fourth-quarter lead in an inexplicable 24-21 loss Sunday in Tennessee. Continue

Pierce: It’s never been about Coughlin

Antonio Pierce has seen coaches come and go. A lot of them, considering he's been in the NFL for only six seasons. "They're all different," he said. "My first coach, Marty Schottenheimer, he was a great motivator. He got guys fired up, and we started 0-5 and finished 8-8. He still got fired. [Steve] Spurrier didn't motivate at all. And Joe Gibbs had his way of doing things, getting people motivated. "None of that stuff mattered. Coughlin gave maybe the best speech he's given us on Saturday night. And look what we went out and did."

Tom Coughlin is lucky to have guys such as Pierce on his side. Pierce needs no extra motivation from the coaching staff, and doesn't look for it. He only wants a good game plan and the rest is on him and his teammates. That was one of the messages of the players-only meeting Monday, hammered home by the team's veteran leaders. Michael Strahan, Tiki Barber, Pierce and Shaun O'Hara reminded everyone what happened during the bye week after the debacle in Seattle. Guys looked in the mirror and asked, "Am I doing enough?" Continue

Coughlin's in for career day

One month ago Eli Manning came out of the locker room and took the Giants right down the field against the Cowboys during a Monday night game in Dallas, and by the time the game was over, the Giants looked like the best team in their conference. Now, with the Cowboys coming into Giants Stadium on Sunday, everything has changed, for both teams. The Cowboys are the ones with a hot kid at quarterback and the Giants have gone sideways, and all of a sudden, a good coach and a good man named Tom Coughlin might not just be fighting for his job with the Giants but for his coaching life, at least in the pros.

The Giants have five regular-season games left, against the Cowboys at home, Panthers on the road, Eagles and Saints at home, Redskins on the road. If they can get healthy again, they can still win the NFC East, or win a wild card. But if it turns out that they are in some kind of free-fall now, because of the way they have lost to the Bears and Jaguars and Titans most of all, it is hard to see Coughlin making it to the end of a contract that was supposed to take him through the '07 season. Continue

Bill gives Cowboys a Shock

Jeremy Shockey's mouth has apparently fired up another old, grumpy head coach in Bill Parcells and added spice to Sunday's pivotal NFC East showdown between the Giants and Cowboys. Not that it needed any. Shockey told ESPN's Ed Werder last week that if the Giants play their game, the Cowboys have no "chance in hell" of beating them at Giants Stadium. According to Cowboys players, Parcells told them of Shockey's statement after they demolished Tampa Bay, 38-10, on Thanksgiving.

"We are not worried about anyone else," Shockey had said when asked if he was concerned about the Cowboys and Giants going in opposite directions last week following the Giants' 26-10 loss to the Jaguars. "No one's beat us. We only beat ourselves. And that is what we feel like in this locker room. No one is capable of hanging around when we play our game. People seen that when we played the Cowboys the first time. There is no way they have a chance in hell to beat us when we play our football. And that is the truth. No other team in this league." Continue

Coughlin, you Blue it

You walked into the Giant locker room yesterday and there was no open revolt, just the quiet seething. The players were angry with themselves, they insisted, and that was all they were going to say right now. They had been allowed to meet privately, after assuring the team's overbearing censor, Tom Coughlin, they would not say anything negative about him or each other. And now they weren't going to lay this crazy loss to the Titans on the coach, if only because that would get them nowhere.

"I don't think guys are quitting to the point where you can say he doesn't have control of this team," Antonio Pierce said about Coughlin. "He has a different effect on every player. Some guys might hate him, some guys might love him. "Let's put it like this," Pierce said. "It don't go uphill when the coach gets fired, it goes downhill. That's not something we should be talking about as a team. Continue

Players meet to clear the air

After the Giants watched tape of their epic Sunday collapse, the players politely asked the coaches to leave. For the first time this season, the team's unofficial leaders - Michael Strahan, Antonio Pierce, Shaun O'Hara and Tiki Barber - called their teammates together to focus everyone's attention on the task at hand.And it's not pointing fingers or wallowing. One player in the meeting told Newsday that the four players spoke openly and honestly, without pointing fingers. Eli Manning, whose struggles helped the Titans rally from a 21-0 deficit in the fourth quarter Sunday, did not speak.

Neither did Plaxico Burress, who did get an earful from Tom Coughlin and Strahan about Burress' weak attempt to make a play on a pass from Manning that Pacman Jones intercepted to start the Titans' comeback. Burress compounded that by making a weak attempt to tackle Jones. Strahan did not speak to reporters yesterday, but he did question Burress' play during a weekly appearance on WFAN. "You can't give up, you can't quit. You're not just quitting on yourself, you're quitting on us," Strahan said. "We've worked too hard to have that type of stuff happen. I don't quite understand what his lack of motivation is in those situations. He's too great of a player to look at him and say, 'He's a quitter."' Continue

Eli unfazed

What, Eli Worry? There are plenty of Giants fans who would trade Eli Manning for Tony Romo or Philip Rivers or Ben Roethlisberger in a heartbeat today. But while Manning is in the eye of a tsunami that threatens to wash the Giants season away, he refuses to blink. "My teammates know this is not gonna affect me. We've been through tough times, I've been through tough times here before, and I'm gonna keep competing, I'm gonna keep going out there and giving my all and trying to make plays and just try to put this team in a situation to win," Manning said yesterday.

He has forgotten how to do that, and if he doesn't start remembering Sunday against the Cowboys, if he does not remember how a franchise quarterback is supposed to play and outduel the fearless Romo, then say goodnight to the Giants. In the meantime, his teammates Rally 'Round Eli - and Eli Rallies Round himself. I asked him if he thinks he is in a slump. "No, I don't think I'm in a slump," Manning said. "We just gotta figure out a way to win games." Continue

Plax shakes off critics

The way Plaxico Burress appeared to slow up on Eli Manning's first interception on Sunday, and the apparent half-hearted effort he made to tackle Titans cornerback Pacman Jones, made him the poster child yesterday for the Giants' crushing, 24-21 loss in Tennessee. Burress, though, had a response for his critics: "I didn't make the play," he said. "Get over it." He likely didn't relay the same message to Tom Coughlin when the coach spoke to the enigmatic receiver yesterday morning. Coughlin declined to say what the two discussed, other than to say, "It has been addressed."

Burress, though, took issue with the idea that he "gave up" on the play. He said he simply thought the ball was too badly overthrown for either him or Jones to catch. And once he realized he was wrong, he said he did attempt to make the tackle. He just missed. Continue

Blame starts and ends with Eli

Forget the Giants. When your reeling quarterback wrecks the game after you bend over backwards for him not to wreck it, you deserve every bit of New York's scorn and derision. Eli Manning, a 24-21 loser, could not put the dismembered Titans away, and in the end, at the end, he put the Giants away. When you blow a 21-0 fourth quarter lead to the Vince Young Titans, you have no killer instinct, and you do not deserve to call yourselves a Super Bowl contender.

If Manning makes a play, at a time when the Titans sent everybody except Elvis at Tiki Barber (25-82), if Manning converts a third down, or a fourth down, if Manning gets his team a field goal, the Giants survive. He was 2-for-7 for 13 yards and two picks in the fourth quarter. This was a collapse of unconscionable, unacceptable proportions, and The Good Ship Coughlin is sinking at a time when a man-eating Tuna is once again lurking in the NFC East waters. Continue

Giants stunned by sickening collapse

Line 'em up. Every awful, dreadful loss; every head-shaking, stomach-turning collapse. Every choke and embarrassment and mind-numbing defeat no one ever saw coming that suddenly rose up and sucked the life out of an entire franchise.

Light some incense and summon up the evil spirits that caused The Fumble back in 1978 and the historic San Francisco playoff collapse of 2002. Round up the hit-list of worst moments in Giants lore and then find room for the atrocity that was yesterday's 24-21 loss to the Titans at LP Field. "We're going to be sick about this one, forever," coach Tom Coughlin said. Continue

Shock rings true

Jeremy Shockey's left hand went numb before yesterday's game, when during warm-ups he caught an Eli Manning pass off the tip of his left ring finger. When he looked down, he could see bone sticking out the side and a bloody mess. But he never gave any thought to not playing in the game. "I told them to cut it off or whatever they had to do," Shockey said. "I was playing."

Shockey not only played, but he was the Giants' leading receiver with five catches for 39 yards in their 24-21 loss to the Titans, despite what the Giants called a compound dislocation of his left ring finger. Shockey said his left hand was numb for most of the afternoon, and admitted the injury was "pretty painful. "But I tell you what," Shockey said, "this loss hurts even worse." Shockey said the doctors pushed the bone back in place before the game, and stitched up the side of his finger. He had X-rays both before and after the game. Continue

Kiwanuka had win wrapped up - and let it go

Mathias Kiwanuka was there, with the game in his grasp. He had Titans quarterback Vince Young wrapped up, one big first-round pick pushing another back to sew up the game. What happened next, like a lot of what happened during the final 12:55 yesterday, defied explanation. Kiwanuka let Young go, thinking the quarterback had thrown the ball after Young pumped his arm; Young, shocked at his new lease on life on the fourth-and-10 play, scrambled for 19 yards and a first down with 2:31 left.The Titans tied the score at 21 less than two minutes later on their way to an improbable 24-21 win. And Kiwanuka pulled no punches on himself.

"I cost my team the victory," he said. "I had a split-second to make a decision and I made the wrong one."Kiwanuka was surely thinking about a roughing-the-passer penalty he received three weeks ago late in the fourth quarter of the Giants' 14-10 win over the Texans, when he hit David Carr just as the Houston quarterback threw the ball and was flagged for driving Carr to the ground. Continue

Giants collapse in loss to Titans

Vince Young and Adam "Pacman" Jones never gave up, leading a stunning Tennessee fourth-quarter comeback. The Titans cornerback intercepted two passes and had a 23-yard punt return that revived his teammates in the fourth quarter. Then rookie quarterback Young finished off an improbable rally from a 21-point deficit to a 24-21 win over the New York Giants Sunday. Young ran for a touchdown and threw for two more in the final 9:35 and finished with a career-high 249 yards passing. Rob Bironas kicked a 49-yard field goal with 6 seconds left to win it.

The Giants (6-5) lost their third straight and fell a game behind the Dallas Cowboys (7-4) in the NFC East going into next week's game in the Meadowlands. New York led 21-0 with in the second quarter. But the Giants didn't score again, and Jones got the Titans (4-7) into the game when he intercepted an Eli Manning pass with 12:55 left. (AP)

Coughlin: stay or go?

Tom Coughlin has worn out his welcome. Ernie Accorsi should have never comeback for  another year.This bunch of haphazard me players  have put the nail in Coughlin's coffin. Coughlin will never be a headcoach at this level again. Todays players will not follow him, maybe he can coach at the college level. If you have an opinion leave a comment.

Fault not only Manning's

Even with the short week between Giants games, it must have felt like an eternity for Eli Manning. His declining completion percentage, his leadership skills, even whether he should still be the Giants' quarterback - it's all been on the table since the Giants' ugly 26-10 loss to the Jaguars in Jacksonville on Monday night.Six days later, the Giants need to beat the Titans today to keep pace with the revived Cowboys and set up a game against Dallas for first place in the NFC East a week from today. And they need their third-year quarterback to return to the accurate passer and competent game manager he was in getting the Giants to 6-2.

"I'm not worried about Eli, because we've seen him play well. We know he can do it," Tiki Barber said. For Tom Coughlin, today is a chance for the entire offense to right itself. He had to put out another fire from a key member of the offense, Barber, who questioned the play-calling after the Giants fell behind early in Jacksonville. Coughlin put a lot of the last two games on Manning's shoulders, and not only didn't the quarterback come through, but the rest of the offense failed, as well. Continue

Give Hufnagel some credit for Giants' mess

The way I see it, the Tiki Barber brouhaha this week is significant at two levels. The first was taken care of by coach Tom Coughlin, who told Barber in no uncertain terms that his rant to the media about the use of the running game was unacceptable, that it should have been taken care of in-house. As a coach trying to keep order on his team, Coughlin had every right to be annoyed with Barber, even if the running back's complaints were valid.

But at a deeper level, Barber's lament is reflective of a larger, potentially more significant problem: a growing belief among the players that the problems on offense are not Coughlin's fault. It might lie with offensive coordinator John Hufnagel, whose play-calling repeatedly has come into question. Several people familiar with the Giants' situation have indicated that there is a pervasive frustration with Hufnagel's lack of creativity and his failure to call the right play at the right time. Continue

With Giants sinking, it's must-win time in Tennessee

Their quarterback is struggling, a star player is complaining about the coaching, the defense is getting pushed around, they're coming off a bad loss and the NFC East is suddenly in danger of slipping away. Haven't the Giants been here before? In fact, they were in almost exactly this spot just two months ago when they flew back from Seattle and headed into their bye week as a wounded team that appeared to be on the brink of chaos. Back then, their season seemed to be one loss from coming to an unfortunate, premature end. Everything about the Giants' situation looked as bleak as could be.

"And we came out of it," Eli Manning said this week. "And we started playing good football again." Can they do the same thing the second time around? We will start to find out this afternoon when the fading Giants (6-4) take on the Titans (3-7) in what looks to be one of the last easily winnable games on the Giants' killer schedule. They need desperately to win against the Titans because they're now a half-game behind the Dallas Cowboys (7-4) in a division race that two weeks ago they led by two games. Continue

Tiki, Tom must keep there yaps trapped

For better or for worse, Tiki Barber has put Tom Coughlin on the hot seat today, and himself on the hot seat. As we learned from the late Marilyn Monroe, some like it hot. You can pronounce the Giants dead if the star running back and the head coach do not like it hot, starting today against the Titans. The heat is on Coughlin to devise a game plan that will get Barber 25 touches, to take the heat off Eli Manning and Big Black & Blue. The heat is on Barber to give Coughlin and his teammates a Hall of Fame finish to his amazing career, to run his legs louder than his mouth, to put his money where that mouth is.

If you want to kill Barber for making the head coach look bad, for being the anti-Derek Jeter, go right ahead. If you want to kill the head coach for not allowing Barber to make him look good by giving him only 10 carries in Jacksonville, for being Don Coryell at a time when he should have been Woody Hayes, go right ahead. Continue

Coughlin and Tiki carry on

Tom Coughlin threw the book at Tiki Barber in a closed-door meeting earlier this week. Yesterday, the Giants' coach advised everyone to read it. His voice rising, his shirt collar tightening, Coughlin followed up the running back's public play-calling critique Wednesday with comments that gave insight to their private conversation.

"As far as us not being balanced and not running the ball, just check your records, just check the facts," Coughlin said. "Look at Tiki's numbers over the three years. Were they the same as they were before I got here? Just check that part out, too, while you are doing it." What Coughlin could have said is that he has given Barber the ball more than anyone. Under Jim Fassel in 2003, Barber carried 278 times. His high under Fassel was 304 in 2002. The last two years under Coughlin, Barber has had 322 and 357 carries, respectively, and is on pace for over 320 this year. Continue

Tik-ed off

Read between the lines and gauge the body language and it doesn't take Dr. Phil to figure out a family feud still lingers within the Giants. Forty-eight hours before the Giants put their playoff hopes on the line at Tennessee, head coach Tom Coughlin and his star running back Tiki Barber were still at odds over comments Barber made in the aftermath of the Giants' ugly 26-10 loss at Jacksonville Monday night.

The Thanksgiving holiday and a face-to-face meeting the two had Wednesday night failed to produce the "we're on the same page" mantra normally voiced when player and coach are at odds. Instead, Barber yesterday defended his comments that criticized the Giants' game plan against the Jaguars, while Coughlin expressed his displeasure with Barber's public criticism. Continue

Mckenzie: No need to worry

Right tackle Kareem McKenzie usually doesn't say much. He would rather lead by example. But he has whispered in the ears of some of his teammates this week, reminding them they play a kid's game and that it's counterproductive to worry about things they can't control.

"We just need to make sure we focus on going out there and having fun playing football," McKenzie said yesterday. "That's basically what it's all about. You can't go out there distracted and upset. You have to go out there and have fun. It's a game where you're going out there and you're matching wits with the guy across from you. That's all it really is. You can't make any more out of it. The main thing is to go out there and have fun." McKenzie admitted two straight defeats after a five-game winning streak is "unsettling." But he's confident his team can regain its focus. Continue

Blue must come up big vs. Titans

They just can't keep their mouths shut. They dare to question authority, to openly declare their discontent. And in this way, the Giants are more like a typically rebellious NBA roster than an obedient, robotic NFL team. We love them because of it. We love Tiki Barber, Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Shockey for all their passion and their insolence. But that doesn't make Tom Coughlin's life any easier. So now we have reached that magical tipping point Sunday in Tennessee - a potential three-game losing streak that would likely mark the end of the Coughlin regime as a viable reign of intimidation.

This is not to say the Giants are likely to lose. The smart money is on these guys to turn it around in Nashville, to rediscover a balanced offense and produce some on-target spirals. Eli Manning may never justify Ernie Accorsi's draft deal, but the quarterback is more than adequate to get the job done against the Titans. Don't even think about benching Eli. It makes no sense. Continue

Coughlin: stop griping, Tiki

Angered at yet another swipe at his decision-making and the competence of his staff, Giants coach Tom Coughlin on Wednesday night summoned for Tiki Barber and in no uncertain terms informed him his biting comments were wholly unacceptable. Barber earlier that day offered up detailed analysis of why the Giants failures in their 26-10 loss in Jacksonville centered mostly on the coaching staff's abandonment of the running game. Barber stated he felt "insignificant" after getting just 10 rushing attempts and 27 yards, added that the lack of use was "a slap in the face" and said it is a "cop-out" to point to his lack of production as a reason for junking the running game.

According to sources, the face-to-face meeting was a "straight-forward conversation." Coughlin told Barber his remarks were inappropriate and detrimental to the team. Of course, this is not the first time Coughlin saw fit to read Barber the riot act after what he perceived to be derogatory comments. Barber following last year's playoff loss to the Panthers declared that the Giants "in some ways were out-coached," which prompted a sit-down meeting between the head coach and the star running back. Continue

Holiday blues

There are moments on the field when Eli Manning may appear to be clueless, but that doesn't mean he is oblivious to the swirl of negativism currently hovering over him like vultures circling a rotting carcass. Surely, Manning sees those screaming back pages and hears the vitriol on the airwaves. He's been lauded and ripped, hailed as the savior and lambasted as a bust, all in the span of his 33 NFL starts at quarterback for the Giants. Mostly, the fact that he was a rookie or still young and inexperienced provided a cushion for Manning, a safe place for him to fall.

Nowadays, he's landed with a thud. The Giants head into Nashville to face the Titans on Sunday lugging in a two-game losing streak that has Manning's fingerprints all over the wreckage. His passes lack conviction, his body-language is devoid of confidence, his teammates are concerned. One New Jersey newspaper ran a cartoon of Thanksgiving with the Manning family, with Eli asked to pass the turkey. Of course, in the next frame the bird was flying through the air, out of everyone's reach at the table. Funny stuff. Continue

Barber makes points, but bickering should be stuffed

Tom Couglin has no reason to protect Tiki Barber. He's retiring after the season. He has every reason to protect Eli Manning. The rest of this season and eventually Coughlin's job may depend on it. The obvious solution for Coughlin, to paraphrase Keyshawn Johnson: Just Give Tiki The Damn Ball. Run him into the ground and let him run the Giants into the playoffs. Put the burden on Barber and take it off Manning, who can't handle it right now. The Giants need to get their money's worth out of Barber before he's anchoring some morning news show.

They all want the ball, of course. In this case, Barber has every right to be frustrated after getting only 10 carries in Jacksonville on Monday night in a game when Manning brought back memories of Dave Brown and Joe Pisarcik instead of Phil Simms and Y.A. Tittle. But just like when Barber called out Coughlin after the loss to the Panthers in the playoffs, saying, "In some ways, we were outcoached," he comes off now sounding too much like T.O. and every other spoiled athlete who doesn't get his way. Continue

Barber chop is open again

With the season heading south and his career now reduced to six regular-season games, Tiki Barber yesterday sounded the alarm, insisting the Giants will go nowhere unless he gets the ball more often as he vehemently derided the offensive plan of attack, which reflects directly on head coach Tom Coughlin. This was a calculated message in the aftermath of a 26-10 loss in Jacksonville in which he ran the ball a season-low 10 times for a paltry 27 yards. Tiki's warning as to the fate of the Giants? Run or Done. Barber methodically ripped into the offensive approach, stating his lack of use made him feel "insignificant" and was "a slap in the face."

He said it is a "cop-out" to suggest the Giants didn't run more because they weren't having success and cynically stated he's not on the scene to be "a cheerleader" or to be "someone who fades into the background." Barber did not single out Coughlin or offensive coordinator John Hufnagel by name but he sure got his point across when he said history shows that winning teams run the ball. Continue

Eli shrugs off critics

Eli Manning said yesterday that he is aware of the public criticism he has taken for his last two performances, but that it is nothing to be alarmed about. "That's just part of the deal," Manning said. "You're the No.1 pick, you're expected to play at a high level. That's what I've got to do." Asked what advice he has gotten from his brother, Peyton, he said: "Just hang in there, keep your head up, and it'll all work out."

Meanwhile, Tiki Barber still believes in the Giants' struggling quarterback. But he thinks "his mechanics have started to fade away," and believes that has caused "panic" to set in."What I think is happening right now is that his mechanics have started to fade away a little bit so he's making bad throws," Barber said on "The Barber Shop," the Sirius NFL Radio show he hosts with his brother, Ronde, on Tuesday nights. Continue

Don't write off Eli and Accorsi

The wild, wild world of sports is chock full of nuts who traded a Babe Ruth for a satchel-full of bills, a Bill Russell for Easy Ed Macauley, and my personal favorite, Patrick Roy to Colorado for Jocelyn Thibault. And now it turns out I'm as wrong as the investments I've made on too many horses. The worst deal ever made, this side of Manchester United, according to a regular on these pages, was all those bodies, including Philip Rivers, the Giants sent to San Diego for Eli Manning.

How is it that a guy, who like Rivers can't spell his first name correctly - you know who you are, Filip - thinks a first-place team has the wrong young quarterback, the son and brother of other great quarterbacks. And a mom who was homecoming queen. Eli's first pass was probably to the other end of the crib. Maybe it's a New York thing. The world cheated us out of the AL MVP, and that last called strike to Carlos Beltran was another example of New York-hate. Give me enough time and I'll find a way to defend the Knicks. Continue

Umenyiora finally returns to practice

Osi Umenyiora took a small step back toward the playing field yesterday, participating in individual drills during practice. The defensive end had not put on a helmet since suffering a torn hip flexor muscle against the Cowboys on Oct. 23.

"It is good news," Tom Coughlin said before practice. "I'm not promising anything. I'm just saying he is going to do his individual work and then we will see how he reacts to that. And then we will see how he is [today]."Umenyiora is listed as questionable but has little realistic shot of playing Sunday against the Titans in Nashville. The same is true for fellow Pro Bowl DE Michael Strahan, who is listed as doubtful with a Lisfranc joint sprain in his right foot. Strahan did a little dance number in his street clothes in the locker room to show reporters how well he was feeling, although Coughlin said Strahan is at least a week away from being cleared for practice. Continue

Tom: Eli must take charge

Not every pro athlete who is cute and polite is a candidate for most valuable player. Which brings us today from Derek Jeter, snubbed superstar, to Eli Manning, lost youth. Manning was very nearly thrown under the bandwagon yesterday by his own coach. It was a long time coming, but Tom Coughlin examined the stat sheet and the game films from Monday night and could no longer pretend he saw much that was encouraging.

Each week, Manning's teammates shake their heads and wave their arms in disbelief, right down there on the field. Every week, Manning throws the ball long or short, or makes a couple of dumb decisions and turnovers that cost the Giants dearly. Coughlin says Manning will get better after a few days of game simulation in practice. Except that the situation keeps getting worse, not better, and now Coughlin sounds every bit as frustrated as his players. Coughlin sounds as if he has reached the end of his rope - or, more precisely, the season before his contract ends. Continue

Big Blue sticks with Manning

Tom Coughlin promised to spend some time the next few days trying to figure out how to fix his struggling offense and help his slumping quarterback. He sounded like he'll consider almost anything. But he will not consider a quarterback change. "No," Coughlin said yesterday. "I think what we have to do is get the improvement (and) get Eli back on track."

That won't be easy, considering how far off track Eli Manning looks right now, especially after he turned in his second straight awful performance in the Giants' 26-10 loss in Jacksonville Monday night. The slump for the 25-year-old quarterback is now six games old. And to find worse back-to-back performances than the ones he gave the last two weeks, you have to go back to the first four games of his rookie year. Continue

Pierce, just lead who's left

You would assume that Tom Coughlin's biggest worry right now is Eli Manning, who has shown definitive signs of regression the last several weeks, particularly in back-to-back losses to the Bears and Jaguars. But if I'm the Giants' coach, the first guy I walk over to in the locker room today is Antonio Pierce.

He's the guy who has to be set straight.Pierce's postgame comments have been lost in the Eli-driven hysteria gripping Giants fans, who are frantic about the quarterback's well-chronicled troubles. But what Pierce said Monday night after the 26-10 loss in Jacksonville should be almost as disconcerting as Eli's increasing inability to complete passes. Just a few of us were around the middle linebacker's locker when someone asked Pierce how he, as the leader of the defense, was dealing with all the injuries on his side of the ball. "We just need guys healthy," he said. "We just need our guys back." Continue

Huddle muddle

THE most critical huddle of the Tom Coughlin Era, necessitated by a season threatening to spiral out of control, was held yesterday morning, noon and night inside the Big Blue walls inside Giants Stadium, when an embattled braintrust searched frantically for a way to rescue Eli Manning.

Coughlin's franchise quarterback is regressing on his watch, which means now that the threat level has been raised to red, this is the time, this is the moment, when Coughlin needs to pound the table where offensive coordinator John Hufnagel and quarterbacks coach Kevin Gilbride sit, and immediately, if not sooner, implement the following two-pronged change of plan and philosophy, starting Sunday in Tennessee, to stop the bleeding, before it is too late. Continue

Grade this QB incomplete

It was not the kind of disjointed performance you would expect from a team that was losing its grip on the NFC East lead and was a mere two weeks ago thought of in the same class as the Bears. That looked like foolish talk last night as the Jaguars hung a 26-10 whipping on the Giants, ruining Tom Coughlin's homecoming.

After the game, Coughlin could be heard through the closed locker room doors, blistering his team for its lackluster performance. Manning and the Giants offense were pathetic and reached a depth that was unimaginable a few weeks ago.

Manning has slipped to the point where his frustration and that of the players around him could start to erode the team's confidence in him. In the last six games, Manning has thrown seven touchdowns and eight interceptions. Last night, he made some horrendous decisions that resulted in negative plays and when he did get the ball to receivers they dropped them. Coughlin was asked if he was concerned with Manning's play of late. Continue

Pierce: Injuries hurting

Antonio Pierce has a simple solution to fix the Giants' problems. "We just need our guys back," he said. "I'm not going to BS you. That's what we need."

After weeks of reciting the party line about all the Giants' injuries - how they're an opportunity for someone else, and how the team would be fine - Pierce became the first one to admit the obvious last night, after the banged-up Giants lost to Jacksonville, 26-10. The Giants were without two Pro Bowl defensive ends, a starting linebacker and a starting cornerback, a top receiver and their left tackle. No one has given a timetable on the returns of Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Brandon Short or Sam Madison. And Pierce didn't want to address the possibility that none would be back soon. "We just need our guys back," Pierce said. "That's all I'm going to say." Continue

Burress bombs with non-tackle

Plaxico Burress seemed to be in the middle of almost everything the struggling Giants offense tried in last night's 26-10 loss to the Jaguars, and much of what he was involved in didn't turn out right. Burress was the main target for Eli Manning much of the night but could only come up with five catches for 65 yards, including a couple of nifty jukes on a 25-yard touchdown reception. One notable play he didn't make came in the second quarter, after a 20-yard screen pass to Brandon Jacobs.

Manning rolled to this right and saw that Burress had broken free. But on the move, Manning got nothing on the ball, and it floated into the waiting hands of safety Deon Grant. An ugly play got uglier when Grant hit the ground, got back to his feet and was touched with two hands by Burress, who must have thought that would signal the end of the play. It didn't, and Grant sped 24 yards with the return to the Giants' 30. Continue

Eli and Giants on losing Jag

When the Giants seemed like they were losing another defensive player every week, they believed their high-powered offense would save them. But now it's Giants' high-powered offense that looks like it needs to be saved. Thanks to an offensive performance that Tiki Barber described as "pretty pitiful," the sliding Giants lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars, 26-10, at Alltel Stadium last night. They gained just 247 yards against a stingy Jaguars defense, including only 25 on the ground. And as a result, the Giants (6-4) are now locked in a tie with the Dallas Cowboys for first place in the NFC East, having coughed up their two-game lead in just two weeks. Continue

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Coughlin returns to Jacksonville

When Tom Coughlin walks onto the field tonight, he'll see a franchise he once built from the ground up. He was hired as the Jacksonville Jaguars' first coach in 1994. And in nine years there, he gave them quite a ride. But while Coughlin was unusually sentimental last week, he will not have time for such trivial matters when his Giants (6-3) face the Jags (5-4).

"I'm certain that at each stage walking on to the field and that type of thing, memories will come back into my mind," Coughlin said. "But I'm going to do the best that I can to contain those types of things. I do not want to be a distraction to our team." Perhaps that's because his current team has had enough distractions lately, thanks mostly to what is becoming their Injury of the Week Club. Since they last played a game - one they played without five starters already - the Giants learned they'll be without left tackle Luke Petitgout (broken leg) for at least another month, and that defensive end Justin Tuck (foot) is out for the season. Continue

Tiki has firm grip on ball

Figure that when the Jaguars are on defense tonight, they will set their sights on testing whether or not Tiki Barber, playing with a badly sprained right thumb, can keep the football secure. Barber said he's not concerned thanks to his new running style, holding the ball high and tight, with his thumb nearly under his chin and rarely exposed to defenders.

"And as soon as I get contact, my other hand comes up and I run with my legs," said Barber, who during the 2000 season played despite a broken left forearm. "Really, the only issue right now is swelling. But I will forget about it after this week." The injury occurred on the fourth play of last week's 38-20 loss to the Bears. Barber ran for 21 yards before he was thrown down by defensive end Adewale Ogunleye. He landed awkwardly on his right hand, but only missed a few plays and finished up with 19 carries for 141 yards. Continue

60 minutes of shock & awe

Thiswas immediately after Jeremy Shockey finally had his breakout game inside the Georgia Dome, finally was not shackled by an evil ankle. A big smile creased Brandon Short's face on his way to the bus when I asked him about Shockey catching two touchdown passes that day and ruining the Falcons. "The Renegade is back!" Short said. Alas, The Renegade was not back. Someone - Tom Coughlin, offensive coordinator John Hufnagel, quarterback Eli Manning - needs to wake up and remember the devastating impact, both physically and psychologically, that The Renegade can have on the other team. Because if there was ever a time to unleash The Renegade, it is now, when half the defense is held hostage by trainer Ronnie Barnes, when Manning needs help to shake off a troubling slump so the Giants can hold off the Cowboys and Eagles in the NFC East.

The Giants have no chance tonight against the Jaguars, no chance to get near that Super Bowl they have been talking about since the spring, unless they remember Shockey was drafted to terrorize opposing defenses. It is simply inexcusable, absolutely mind-boggling, a crime against Giant-kind, for Shockey to be ignored the way he was against the Bears, when Manning kept throwing to David Tyree on third down. Continue

Giants' Mann on the spot

ELI Manning wanted this stage. He wanted to play here. He forced his way here, because he didn't want to play in San Diego. He wanted Tom Coughlin. He wanted Madison Avenue, because Broadway will forever belong to Joe Namath. It means he signed up to bring a Super Bowl here, to New York, to the Giants.

So no one here wants to hear any excuses. No one here wants to hear that Eli isn't Peyton, and never will be. Because it doesn't matter whether your last name is Manning, or Simms, or Brown, or Todd or O'Brien. If you are anointed the franchise quarterback, just get your franchise to the Super Bowl and win it.

No one wants to hear this is only your second year as starter. No one wants to hear a carnivorous Bears defense kept you from slinging in the rain last Sunday night. No one wants to hear dependable Amani Toomer is lost for the rest of the season. No one wants to hear you were under siege once you lost your trusted left tackle, Luke Petitgout. Continue

New GM might be a family man

When John Mara and Steve Tisch begin their search for a new general manager after the season, they will consider at least four in-house candidates and possibly a few more from outside the organization. One name will be very familiar.

Chris Mara, the Giants' VP of player evaluation, is not only interested in taking over for the retiring Ernie Accorsi, but he also might be one of the most qualified candidates on the team's short list. He has served 14 years as a Giants scout (1979-93), ran a well-respected independent scouting service for eight years (1994-2001) and was the GM of New Jersey's Arena League franchise for two years (2001-02) before taking over his current role. Continue

Eli struggling to keep his focus

Eli Manning was talking about the team and not himself when he assured anyone who would listen that there will be no negative vibes lingering tomorrow night in Jacksonville after the 38-20 drubbing administered by the Bears that ended the Giants' five-game winning streak. After all, Manning's club hasn't lost back-to-back games this season. "We have lost games before and that's all it was," Manning said. "We lost a game. It was a big one, but you come in this week, you have a great week of practice, you have your focus."

If ever a player needs to listen to his own advice, it's Manning, coming off a shoddy performance that generated the fourth-lowest quarterback rating (a microscopic 28.3) of his career. With injuries robbing the Giants of vital players all over the field, it is on defense where the defections are most severe and it is on offense where pressure is mounting to pick up the slack as they head into tomorrow night's contest against the Jaguars. Whether Manning is up to that challenge is debatable; he has slumped badly this season after a torrid start. For the first time, his completion percentage for the season has dipped under 60 percent (he's at 59.4), and in the past four games he has barely completed half his passes (50.4) to go along with an unseemly balance sheet of four touchdowns and four interceptions. Continue

Roots not lost on Kiwanuka

Mathias Kiwanuka rarely hung out with his teammates after football practice in high school. Instead, he and his older brother and sister would meet his mother at one of the office buildings she cleaned in Indianapolis. They would empty trash cans, mop floors, clean toilets - do anything they could to help her before she went on to her next job as a nurse on the overnight shift at a nearby hospital.

Late-night workers who saw the family then couldn't have known that Mathias was the grandson of the first prime minister of Uganda. Nor could they have predicted that one day he would start at defensive end for the Giants.Yet Kiwanuka, who has the seal of Uganda tattooed on his back, has been driven from an early age to make something of himself - to honor both the legacy of his famous grandfather and the unconditional love of his immigrant mother. Continue

Teammates try to take some heat off Manning

Eli Manning gave himself a rough assessment off Sunday's loss to the Bears, and Tom Coughlin didn't cut his quarterback much slack. But Manning's receivers, to whom he was off-target most of Sunday and too often in the previous two games, gave their quarterback a break. With the NFL's interceptions leader, Rashean Mathis, looming in the Jaguars' secondary Monday night, Manning needs to improve quickly."We all need to help him out, rally around him," Plaxico Burress said Friday. "We need to get him in a position to feel comfortable. If he gets hit, gets rattled early, that kind of throws things off for everybody."

Burress and David Tyree each had four catches Sunday, but Jeremy Shockey had only one and Tim Carter (who started in place of injured Amani Toomer) had none. The offensive line suffered its first serious injury of the season when Luke Petitgout was lost with a broken leg; Bob Whitfield, his replacement, allowed two sacks that resulted in fumbles. Continue

Plaxico talking about Giants this week

Plaxico Burress had only nice things to say about the Jacksonville Jaguars' cornerbacks yesterday, unlike what he said about the Bears' corners last week. Apparently he realized that his trash-talk was pointless when the Giants' offense has so many problems of its own. "Right now we can't really talk about anybody," Burress said. "We just need to get ourselves together first before we assess anybody else right now." That may sound like a harsh criticism of the 10th-best offense in the NFL, but it has been performing far below the Giants' high standards for at least the last three weeks. In fact, heading into Monday night's game in Jacksonville between the Giants (6-3) and the Jaguars (5-4), Big Blue's explosive passing attack has slipped all the way to 17th in the league.

To Burress, the Giants' leading receiver with 35 catches for 558 yards and five touchdowns, that ranking is unacceptable. "Things are not happening the way that we want them to," he said. "Everybody knows that we have the talent on this offense to go out and put up numbers, make plays and be very exciting and do spectacular things. But right now it seems like we're just doing the basic things, just trying to complete passes and get first downs. Continue

Legree will beef up defensive line

Two years ago, the Giants placed five defensive ends on injured reserve. Now that they're without their top three ends because of injuries, they've turned to one of the few who stayed healthy for most of 2004 -- Lance Legree. The Giants placed Justin Tuck on injured reserve yesterday, one day after announcing the second-year end would undergo surgery on his foot. In Tuck's place, the team signed Legree, who played for the Jets last year but was cut in February.  Legree played well at end and tackle for the Giants in 15 games two years ago and had a career-high 36 tackles. Last year, he had three sacks with the Jets.

"Lance was the highest-rated player that we could bring in and so we did," coach Tom Coughlin said. Legree, listed at 6-1, 300 pounds, will focus on end for now because the Giants are without starters Michael Strahan (foot) and Osi Umenyiora (hip flexor). Strahan is listed as out for Monday night's game against the Jaguars, while Umenyiora is doubtful. With both players out of action, defensive tackle William Joseph made his first career start at end against the Bears last Sunday. Continue

Should have passed on Eli

Tom Coughlin was talking yesterday about using the overwhelmed Bob Whitfield at left tackle again on Monday night in Jacksonville, a desperate move. He was complaining about his passing game in Sunday night's game and he was still trying to figure out what to do about all the injuries and his paper-thin roster.

And every one of those problems might have been eliminated if Ernie Accorsi hadn't made the Eli Manning trade back in April 2004 that now appears to be a terrible deal for the Giants. It is looking like a long-term back-breaker, in what is supposed to be the Giants' breakthrough season, Accorsi's farewell tour. It was the biggest trade in Accorsi's career, and quite possibly his worst.

Sometimes it takes more than a few seasons to figure out these things, and maybe the final judgment call doesn't come for another five years. But right now, midway through Season 3 of the Manning era at the Meadowlands, this was not just a bad idea by Accorsi. It appears to be fatal. Continue