Giant Football Blog

It's Toomsday

Giants star Amani Toomer and his estranged wife led off the opening quarter in their bitter divorce contest in New Jersey court yesterday by meeting behind closed doors with the judge. Toomer and his wife, Dr. Yola Dabrowski, appeared in Hudson County Family Court for the first time in their bid to settle the yearlong fight that has seen nasty allegations of her aborting four pregnancies rather than have children with him.

The pair and their lawyers spent four hours behind closed doors hammering out the details of their split. At one point Dabrowski's lawyer, Tom Snyder, traded barbs with Toomer's attorney, Robert Penza, making fun of what Toomer had been harping on: the issue of money. Continue

Feely threatens to leave Giants

The start of NFL free agency comes Friday and Jay Feely is sure of one thing: He's headed to the open market. "I'm definitely headed to free agency," the Giants kicker told The Post yesterday from his Michigan home. "There's no doubt in my mind. That doesn't mean I'm not going to be a Giant."

Feely the past two years performed well for the Giants and he strongly wants to return. He just doesn't know if it will make financial sense for him to do so. Attempts last season at putting together a contract extension never resulted in a new deal, and the offer the Giants have on the table is far below what Feely considers market rate. Three veteran kickers - the Rams' Jeff Wilkins, Buffalo's Rian Lindell and Ryan Longwell of the Vikings- essentially have the same contract: five years, $10 million with a signing bonus (or guaranteed money) totaling about $3 million. If the Giants presented Feely with those numbers, he'd sign today. Continue

In a snap, Kuehl goes back to Blue

The Giants re-signed long-snapper Ryan Kuehl yesterday, three days before he would have become an unrestricted free agent. The 10-year veteran has been with the Giants since 2003, signing right after two bad snaps by Trey Junkin led to the Giants' playoff collapse in San Francisco at the end of the 2002 season. Terms of the new deal were not disclosed. (Daily News)

Strahan wants to plan for future

Michael Strahan plans to have a meeting in the coming days with new Giants GM Jerry Reese to discuss, among other things, the possibility of renegotiating or extending his contract and his long-term future with the team. Strahan has two years and $8 million left on his contract, but he's 35 and according to sources he wants to know how much longer the Giants want and expect him to keep playing. A person who has spoken with him recently described his future plans as "year to year."

He also likely will be asking for more money at the meeting, which also will be attended by his agent, Tony Agnone. With the salary cap having risen dramatically the last two years, Strahan is a relative bargain for the Giants. But given his age, and considering he's lost half a season to injuries (a torn pec, a sprained foot) in two of the last three years, the Giants have no interest in extending his contract. Continue

Giants would Lovie him

Could Lovie Smith be the Giants' coach in 2008? Don't laugh, because he might be available if the situation doesn't improve in Chicago, where it looks like he's heading toward a messy split. Smith is in the last year of a contract that makes him the lowest-paid coach in the NFL ($1.45 million), and negotiations on an extension have gone so badly that his agent, Frank Bauer, told the Chicago Sun-Times that it will "take a miracle" to get it done.

"Of course I don't like being the lowest-paid coach in the National Football League," said Smith, who reportedly is seeking $5 million per year. "Hopefully, in time, I can get a fair contract. There's not a lot else I can say. I've been told by management I'm wanted. To me, there's no reason why we can't get a contract done." Continue

Blue gives O'Hara its final offer

The Giants have given center Shaun O'Hara a take-it-or-leave-it offer and are prepared to let him become a free agent if he doesn't accept. GM Jerry Reese and assistant GM Kevin Abrams presented the ultimatum to O'Hara's agents at the NFL scouting combine Friday, just as the two sides had inched within $1 million of an agreement. That's not a lot considering the Giants' final offer, according to a league source, was a six-year, $21.6 million deal with about $7 million guaranteed. Continue

With Barber gone, Giants show interest in McGahee

The Buffalo Bills are using part of their time here at the NFL scouting combine this weekend to apprise teams that starting tailback Willis McGahee is available via trade, and it appears they have attracted the interest of at least one potential suitor.Jerry Reese, the first-year general manager of the New York Giants, acknowledged Saturday morning that his team has some interest in McGahee, a four-year veteran who has twice posted 1,000-yard seasons.

"There is some talk about Willis out there," Reese said. "We'll investigate Willis. We'll investigate everybody out there with trade talks. We'll leave no stones unturned." The Giants are seeking to bolster a tailback depth chart thinned by the retirement of star Tiki Barber, and where two-year veteran Brandon Jacobs is now the nominal starter. The Giants feel Jacobs has a strong upside, but Barber's former backup has logged just 134 carries in two seasons. Continue

Tom tackles Barber's blitz

If Tom Coughlin drove Tiki Barber into retirement, he certainly drove him out in style. That was Coughlin's message yesterday morning when he fired back at his former running back for the first time since Barber accused the hard-driving coach of pushing him toward an early exit. Coughlin admitted he was "hurt" and disappointed by Barber's latest critical remarks.

Then Coughlin reminded everyone that his three-year tenure with the Giants coincided with the three best years of Barber's 10-year career. "That's what really disappoints me," Coughlin said between sessions at the NFL scouting combine. "And it hurts because I hold this player in high regard. And he has performed. The best years of his career have been under our tutelage and I'm certainly very proud of that." Continue

Coughlin: Don't blame me for Tiki's retirement

Tiki Barber said last week that Tom Coughlin helped push the Giants' all-time leading rusher into retirement and a new gig with NBC. Friday, Coughlin pushed back.

The Giants' embattled coach expressed disappointment with Barber's criticisms during a chat with reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, particularly with Barber's claim that Coughlin's grueling style was the deciding factor in the decision to retire."(That) bothered me," Coughlin said. "I was under the impression that he had a press conference to announce his new role at NBC and then to find out that he would turn around and talk about something like this -- I think to give the illusion that I had something to do with his retirement -- I don't quite follow it." Continue

Giants add Ryan to staff

The Giants yesterday hired Sean Ryan as their new offensive quality control coach. Ryan comes to the Giants from Harvard, where he spent the 2006 season as recruiting coordinator, running backs coach and head coach of the junior varsity. He takes over for John DeFilippo, who was the quality control coach the previous two seasons.

DeFilippo and Ryan worked together at Columbia University in 2003 and 2004, with Ryan working as the running backs coach and special teams coordinator and DeFilippo the quarterbacks coach. Prior to Columbia, Ryan spent two seasons as a graduate assistant at Boston College, where he worked primarily with the wide receivers. He's a native of Hudson Falls, N.Y. (NY Post)

Lesson in Tiki's leaving

It is more than a little distressing that here in the 21st century, too many of us still have a plantation mentality when it comes to our professional athletes. Too many of us want ballplayers, even the best and brightest of them, to say nothing more than "yes sir," and "no sir."

It is not racist, per se, but it is certainly classist. No matter how good they are or how much they get paid, they are the entertainers, the hired help. They are supposed to just shut up and hit the baseball, shoot the basketball or carry the football.Case in point: Tiki Barber. The other day, to kick off his new career as a television commentator, Barber made the perfectly reasonable observation that his former coach, Tom Coughlin, could be a tad inflexible. Continue

Tired of Tom

On his first full day as a retired player, Tiki Barber lobbed a hypothetical hand grenade yesterday during a news conference to announce his hiring by NBC. Barber several times suggested Giants coach Tom Coughlin set the wheels of his retirement in motion because of the "physical grind" through which he put players. Which led to an obvious question for the reporters who gathered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza along with the network's top news and sports executives.

If someone other than Coughlin had been his coach the past three seasons, might he still be a Giant rather than a correspondent for the "Today" show and an analyst for "Football Night in America"? "Possibly, but that's speculation," he said. "I don't know. I'm 31 years old. I'll be 32 this year, which is way past the average for my position." Continue

For Chad, no Giant return

Jerry Reese's purge of the Giants continued for a second straight day, when he severed ties with kick returner Chad Morton yesterday. Morton, who signed a four-year, $3.1 million deal last spring, became the fourth injury-plagued player the new GM has cut since Monday. He joins left tackle Luke Petitgout and linebackers Carlos Emmons and LaVar Arrington as newly minted free agents. Continue

Reese-toration plan calls for 'backer boost'

A day after making his initial imprint one to remember, first-year general manager Jerry Reese sounded confident the Giants are in solid shape to improve the roster via free agency. Getting rid of three starters with histories of injury problems - left tackle Luke Petitgout and linebackers LaVar Arrington and Carlos Emmons - means there are more holes for Reese to fill. It doesn't appear he is alarmed, and Reese sounds confident that when the NFL free agency signing period begins March 2, the Giants will be dealing from a position of strength.

"I believe with free agency there are times that call for an aggressive approach, and then there are times when you when you have to be patient," Reese said in an e-mail message to The Post. "We have the ability to be whatever the situation dictates." Continue

GM's risky business

Jerry Reese didn't need much time to start discarding the broken-down team Ernie Accorsi left behind. The pressure is on Reese to reshape the Giants on the run, get them deeper into the playoffs than a wild-card loss and avoid a fourth straight season of debilitating injuries. He started yesterday by cutting three veterans, including the starting left tackle, one of the hardest and most important positions to fill with a quality player.When he was promoted to general manager on Jan.16, Reese said he was "sick" that the playoffs were still going on and the Giants were out of them.

Clearly, he was not going to be content taking the same team back into training camp that turned a 6-2 start into a 2-6 nightmare finish. He inherited Tom Coughlin, who was given a one-year extension less than one week before Reese was given his new job. So, if the team was going to be contructed in Reese's image, he had to start carving up the roster, whichwhich has been decimated by injuries four years in a row, especially in the second half of the season. Continue

Giants cut Petitgout, Arrington, Emmons

The Giants began the annual pre-free agency rite of paring the roster and adding salary-cap space today with an almost shocking set of cuts. Linebackers Carlos Emmons and LaVar Arrington, as well as left tackle Luke Petitgout, all starters at the beginning of the season, were all sent packing.Bob Whitfield has retired.

Arrington, the starting strong-side linebacker, had his season curtailed by a torn Achilles' tendon. And Petitgout was felled by a broken fibula and high ankle sprain. Emmons, who started the season at weak-side linebacker, also missed four games due to a strained pectoral muscle. But he returned to play the final six games, including the playoff loss to Philadelphia, in place of Arrington on the weak side. (Journal news,NFL network)

Tiki enjoys Hawaii trip

Weeks before heading to Honolulu, Tiki Barber said jokingly that he planned on attending Pro Bowl practices drinking a Mai Tai. It probably won't come to that this week, but he might come close.

Barber was adamant about enjoying himself to the hilt as he prepared for the final football game of his life. Sure, his Giants career ended Jan. 7 with a 23-20 playoff loss to the Eagles in Philadelphia. No doubt, that's how Giants fans will remember Barber's swan song. He'll never again put on a Giants uniform, but Saturday night he will don the jersey of the NFC squad and compete in the Pro Bowl at Aloha Stadium. Continue

Pierce headed to Pro Bowl

Antonio Pierce finally is going to the Pro Bowl. The Giants' middle linebacker, who believes he has played at a Pro Bowl level in each of the last three seasons, is on his way to Hawaii for the first time after Chicago Bears middle linebacker Brian Urlacher pulled out of Saturday's game. Pierce, the first alternate, will be a reserve on the NFC squad. Seattle's Lofa Tatupu will start.

Pierce, a six-year veteran, had a career-high 137 tackles this season with one sack and one interception. He'll join retiring running back Tiki Barber as the only Giants in the game. Tight end Jeremy Shockey was selected, but decided not to play due to an ankle injury. Continue

Peyton: Eli can be super

As Sunday night was blending into Monday morning, Eli Manning was going at it with big brother Peyton, hugging and celebrating - but mostly analyzing. The Bears safeties, Eli observed, were holding their looks to the very end, trying to create as much confusion as possible as Peyton was doing his maestro-like gesturing at the line of scrimmage. "He sees things like a quarterback," Peyton said yesterday, moments after receiving the MVP trophy the day after guiding the Colts to a 29-17 victory over the Bears in Super Bowl XVI. Continue

Strahan a fan of English accent

It will be an unusually long trip for a regular-season game when the Giants play in London in October, but there should be no worries about the Giants getting knocked out of their regular routine. "We'll just set Big Ben back five minutes," Michael Strahan said. "That'll keep everybody on schedule."

Tom Coughlin will have the opportunity to do that on Oct. 28 when the Giants play the Miami Dolphins in the first NFL regular-season game ever played outside of North America. The game, which was officially announced yesterday and reported in the Daily News last month, will be played at the new Wembley Stadium at 6 p.m. London time (1 p.m. in New York). The Dolphins will be the home team, and both clubs will have their bye the following week. Continue

London calls Giants

The NFL will make it official today that the Giants-Dolphins game in the fall will be played in London instead of Miami. The game is expected to be played at Wembley Stadium, and will be scheduled for either late September or early October. Both the Giants and the Dolphins will have a bye the following week.

The announcement is expected to be made at new NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's first State of the NFL press conference today. When it's over, the league will hold an international press conference, which will be attended by Giants quarterback Eli Manning, defensive end Michael Strahan and treasurer Jonathan Tisch. Continue