Tom: My plight 2nd to Hitler's

Tom Coughlin barely hung onto his job after the Giants collapsed in the second half of last season. He tried to make it seem he was oblivious when there was so much speculation he was about to be fired. Clearly, it had an impact, because yesterday he compared the barrage of criticism to what Adolf Hitler received.

It was a regrettable and politically incorrect comparison, but just putting himself in the same sentence as Hitler shows the strain Coughlin was under and the degree he felt despised. When he was asked at the NFC coaches breakfast by a football Web site reporter whether he paid attention to what was being said about him last season, Coughlin replied: "I hear some of it and I see it. You know (VP of communications Pat) Hanlon tells me about it, what's going on." Then, he paused, and said, "Hitler and then me, in that order. Unfortunate, but it is." Continue