N.Y. Giants: Jerry Reese Facing a Reality 'Chick

From the desk of:  DO IT FOR THE DUKE

That was then...

I got news for ya...

Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, and Michael Strahan

aren't walking through that door!

NEW YORK GIANTS: This game is largely a referendum on Big Blue general manager Jerry Reese.  Everyone finds out where Big Blue really stands Sunday afternoon.

For a few years previous to 2014, I started reading and hearing varying accounts to the effect how Bill Belichick should have replaced himself as GM in New England.

So ponderous were they, I nearly died laughing!

Therefore, let's talk truth, right here, right now.

Very simply, Robert Kraft hired Bill Belichick not only to be his head coach, but to become the Patriots' entire front office.  Since then, the New England Patriots have posted exactly one losing season (their initial one together back in 2000).

Moreover, the Patriots have only missed the playoffs twice in the first 15 years under Belichick.

In 2007, his team posted the first undefeated regular season of the 16-game schedule era. They've played in six Super Bowls, won four of them, and are obviously this year's defending champion (exactly 15 years after Robert Kraft, Bill Belichick, and Tom Brady won their first together).

As we know, Belichick and Tom Coughlin both served together under Bill Parcells.  Four years after Bill Belichick's career ended with the Giants, Jerry Reese's started.  Ironically, the Patriots only two Super Bowl defeats during the Belichick era came at the hands of Jerry Reese, Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning, and the New York Giants.

Jerry Reese indeed owns two Lombardi trophies, both at Belichick's expense.  Yet, each has their respective organization headed in opposite directions since the day they last met for a championship.

• With regards to personnel, Jerry Reese has failed to sustain what Ernie Accorsi started.  His overall draft results have been pedestrian at best - his salary cap management, even worse. 

• Whereas defense and the running game were once the Giants primary strengths, they are now the Giants primary weaknesses.

• The Giants literally haven't fielded an impact linebacker in decades.  They have six guys that between them can not generate a single sack, and a secondary as fragile and shallow as Donald Trump's ego. 

• Tom Coughlin is first and foremost a pass oriented coach.  Kevin Gilbride loved going long, but always tried maintaining some sort of balance between pass and run.  Under Ben McAdoo, the passing game has gone from long to short, which has statistically improved Eli Manning's efficiency.  The run, however, has become a mere afterthought.  They have four running backs whom they all use extremely ineffectively, and disturbingly infrequently.

Giants fans should be very clear about a few things regarding this team, and those Super Bowl teams.

First, both Super Bowl winners rushed the ball extremely well with Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw behind an exceptional offensive line.

Second, and more importantly, two huge reasons why the Giants twice beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl, (IMO), were Aaron Ross and Corey Webster.  They were shutdown corners for Steve Spagnuolo during the SB XLII run.  Then, many times during their XLVI season, former defensive coordinator Perry Fewell's system resulted in the secondary looking like Keystone Cops.  It wasn't until Fewell relented late in 2011 at the behest of his secondary, that Aaron Ross and Corey Webster were able to get back into man-coverage.  Once Fewell simplified his (stupid) plan, the pass rush helped the 9-7 Giants bull their way to another championship.

These guys couldn't bull there way through my tomato garden.

Old Rivals Meet Again

New England Patriots

vs.

New York Giants

FROM

Snoopy Stadium

THE SWAMP

I expect Tom Brady to relentlessly, and mercilessly attack the Giants linebackers all day long with crisscross patterns, wide receiver screens, and slant patterns.

Meanwhile, I expect Gronk to do anything he damn well pleases.  The Giants will be damned if they double or even triple cover him, and damned if they don't.  That said, Bill Belichick could just as easily have him line up, and help tenderize the Giants front seven with a strong running game - because they can - and Belichick would do it just to prove a point.

In any event, I expect the Patriots to dominate time of possession, and put up lots and lots of points.

In truth, I expect the Giants to play their worst game of the season.

N.Y. Giants: Note To Fans, Remember Where You Came From

From the desk of:  DO IT FOR THE DUKE

 

The Man Who Rehabilitated Animal House

NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS: Before dropping blame for this season at the feet of Tom Coughlin and rushing to hasty judgment regarding his future, the general manager should be taken to task first.

Unless the Giants go 6-2 the rest of the way, they are assured of their worst record under Coach Tom Coughlin.  But this certainly wouldn't be the worst season in recent Giants history.  Or, did everyone forget Coach took over a 4-12 team from Jim Fassel, and had them in the playoffs two seasons later.

I think Jim Fassel continues to be one of the greatest x-files in Giants and NFL history.  Regarding Big Blue, let's face it, Fassel operated a Delta House, and he played Hoover.  My Giants fandom goes back to the late 70's, in the last days just before Ray Perkins took over.  After Bill Parcells left, I wallowed in self-pity, and immediately thought the Giants would never ever be good again.  Then Ray Handley happened and reaffirmed my worst nightmare.  Jim Fassel inherited some talent from the Dan Reeves days, and with GM Ernie Accorsi, turned the Giants into a contender again.  For that, I was very appreciative of Jim Fassel.

At the same time however, I knowingly turned a blind eye at his team's tremendous lack of discipline. His was the team that fought amongst themselves on the field in the playoffs against the Vikings and lost in embarrassing last-second fashion.  His was the team that looked like a deer in the headlights, and couldn't keep their (Sehorn) pants up in SB XXXV.  And his was the team that blew a 500-point lead against the 49ers in the playoffs, and lost on a botched last ditch field goal attempt.  Above all else, the team's propensity to pop-off at the mouth throughout the Fassel years was astonishing.

Coughlin took over and instantly sparked a rebellion.  By year two of Coach's dictatorship, the Big Blue doomsday clock had ticked two minutes closer to midnight.  Michael Strahan flat out hated him Coughlin and his five minute rule, and Tiki Barber infamously accused Coughlin of getting miserably outcoached after suffering a playoff blowout against the Panthers.  At that very moment, it appeared as if Tom Coughlin had just lost his locker room on national TV.  I admit, like Tiki, that game did not sit well with me either.  But at the time, Coughlin didn't care to be liked.  He was content with being feared.  Obviously, that came with consequences.  But for who?

After watching on TV and listening to Tiki Barber lash out at his coach through the media that night, one thing became very clear to me.  Tom Coughlin wasn't the one who needed to go.  Instead, I knew then, the Jim Fassel era finally needed to be purged once and for all.

On their watch, Jerry Reese and Tom Coughlin cut penalty flag magnet, Luke Petitgout, from the offensive line.  They then handed Tiki Barber's job to Brandon Jacobs.  Jerry Reese in particular told Michael Strahan to take a hike, and Jeremy Shockey was traded as far away from Eli Manning as possible.  Michael Strahan, to his credit, agreed to return to the team on Coach Coughlin's very certain terms, and became an important leader.

Since then, Coach Coughlin has evolved from the days of eliciting fear, to being respected.  Heading into SB XLVI, he was down right cuddly, telling his players he loved them.  Today, he is a little more soft spoken, but just as demanding.  Starting this year 2-6 certainly put the Giants in a very bad spot, but these Giants are not nearly as dysfunctional as the team Coach recovered nine years ago, and returned to NFL prominence.

Under Tom Couhglin, the Giants have been to the playoffs five times, including four years in a row, and of course, won two Super Bowls.  The Giants could have made it three Lombardy trophies, were it not for Plaxico Burress shooting the Giants attempt at a repeat in the thigh.  The Giants posted a 12-4 record in 2008 - their best regular season mark under Coughlin.  That season came at the exact mid-point of his tenure.

 

After long nights searching in basement archives, collecting and sifting through tons of raw data, viewing old footage, and conducting exhaustive interviews, I was painstakingly able to graph and present Tom Coughlin's career with the Giants using the latest state-of-the-art paper and pen technology known to mankind.

 

 

Over a (now) ten year run, Tom Coughlin's victory curve follows a very natural rise and decent.  The Giants went 6-10 in his first season, then went on to achieve double digit victories in four of the next six years.  By 2011, he managed to capture his second Super Bowl with an aging team on the decline. The Giants record tapered off these last two seasons, which brings us to the present.

 

The Giants are clearly in need of another overhaul.  That's not on Coach Coughlin.  Time stands still for no one, and in his tenth season, the top half of Big Blue's hour glass has just about emptied.  But in this immediate gratification society we now live in, I caution more than ever, be careful what you ask for because you just might get it.  Before dropping blame for this season at the feet of Tom Coughlin and rushing to hasty judgment regarding his future, the general manager should be taken to task first.

 

 

 

 

Mike.BTB

N.Y. Giants ~ BIG BLUE Apocalypse NOW

NEW YUCK! FOOTBALL GIANTS:
It's BIG BLUE Apocalypse Now!


The last game played by the New York Giants in the year 2010 was an unmitigated disaster.  This game was ruinous!....To their reputations, their season, their playoffs hopes, their Coach, their future and their fans.


It's as if they waited and waited, for the most recent one hour and eight minutes, late in this Football season, to don hooded capes and come riding in like the The Football Horsemen of the Ridiculous to unleash their ultimate and most calamitous lethargy upon the Land of Giants.

You might as well be reading this at the North Pole because the the compass needle of blame is spinning in all directions.


But first, a word from your sponsor (Me):

If you're a BTB reader and have been keeping up with my Giants' postings, you know most of my hang-ups with the G-Men this season have centered around Coach Kevin Gilbride, the health of our Offensive Line, the misuse of Brandon Jacobs and the overall running game.

I haven't berated Eli Manning for his never-ending interceptions and for the times he's looked absolutely amateurish.  I've had even less to say about the Defense this season, (odd, considering I'm a Defense First kinda guy), and I never chose to make an issue of our Special Teams, although I, with everyone, knew the Unit would sabotage us one day.

I haven't gone bonkers over all the turnovers (41 overall; 17 fumbles; and a career high INTs for Eli).  Actually I haven't gone over the deep-end (much) about anything other than the philosophical differences I have with Gilbride although some of these losses have been befuddling.

As a matter of fact, I tried my damnedest this season to stay positive, offer encouragement and exude confidence in my team.  I even dabbled in hyperbole but don't we all?  Phil Simms; 1986; and more recently 2007 references have all snuck into a posting here and there.

Week to week, different match-ups conjure different thoughts when I think about a game.  I don't try to over-analyze.  I just like to stick with what I think we need done and what works best for us with an appreciation for and adherence to Traditional Giant ways.

I'm not a Football expert.  I'm just a fan like you.  But I do take my previews a lot more seriously than I approach my reviews.  Outside of Brandon Jacobs and Gilbride, I really haven't singularly focused on anyone else...much.  But when I do have something or someone in mind, I mean it.


And now, back to our regularly scheduled posting:

In my Giants/Packers Preview Post I called on "four men" (the Def. Secondary unit) to play lead roles Sunday.  I felt the Packers couldn't rush the ball through plywood and that the Giants would contain their running game easily.  And the Giants did.  Green Bay only ran for 93 yards on 33 carries (minus Rodgers).  That's average (but the Packers owned them on third-downs with Kuuuuhn! ~ I get that).  So naturally, I thought that left Aaron Rodgers to throw the ball all night, which is what the Packers are all about.

Now, if I knew he was going to throw the ball all night, that means the Giants had to know he was going to throw all night, and that means Perry Fewell knew he'd throw all night.  So I said, Antrel Rolle, Kenny Phillips, Aaron Ross, Corey Webster, D.Grant and Terrell Thomas would have to be the key players for the Giants Sunday.

And they were key.  They were incredible even....; incredibly instrumental to Aaron Rodgers throwing for over 400 yards.  They were thee-key contributors to Rodgers' 4 touchdown passes on the night.  In that respect, they were brilliant.  In other words, the Giants' Secondary were complete failures with efforts so feeble against someone you knew would be throwing the ball upwards of 3 out of 4 plays.  The Jints got thoroughly undressed and at times looked like English ladies in their knickers chasing after Benny Hill with an umbrella.  Since we're still in the Holiday season, let's just say Ross, Webster, Phillips and Thomas and Rolle got lit up like a Christmas Tree knowing full well the Pigskin Ornament would be dangling in the air all night long. 

And this was not just the last two games.  I know many have forgotten by now the Secondary beat-down Peyton Manning laid on them against the Colts and an embarrassing display against the Titans.  Dallas wrecked our Secondary twice!.. - with Romo AND without him.  THEN came Philly.  THEN came Sunday versus Green Bay.

But that's just Sunday. What about the rest of it?

Let's get the stupid little stuff out of the way first before we get on with this.  The Giants have to beat the Redskins in Washington and the Packers need to lose to the Bears this Sunday in order for the Giants to make the playoffs.  There!  I'm done talking about the Packer Game and the playoffs.  If that's all you were interested in, you may slither back into hiding now.  See you in AUGUST!


But for My Trolley Riderz... Let's cut this open and make a BIG BLUE Bloody MESS trying to find the root of our ills.

COACH TOM COUGHLIN Is Caught In Maelstrom

But really, what is everyone talking about?  Topic One seems to be Coach Coughlin.  Is Coughlin really on the verge of losing his job?

On Day One when Tom Coughlin was announced as Jim Fassel's replacement by Ernie Accorsi, at his press conference Tom Coughlin expressed how much he abhorred injuries, penalties and turnovers.

INJURIES ~ If you can think back to those days, I think Coach Coughlin was taking jabs at suspected malingerers under the old regime.  That's my recollection.  Obviously the Giants have been decimated by countless injuries.  Outside of Steve Smith, we seem to have handled the ongoing crisis well.  I don't think we are in the position we find ourselves in,  is largely due to injuries.

PENALTIES ~ No penalty comes at a good time.  But Tom Coughlin's team is always among the League's lower-half penalized teams.  Jim Fassel's teams were consistently one of the most undisciplined teams in the League.

TURNOVERS ~ SHeeesh!  I'd be stupid to debate the fumbles with anyone.  Brandon Jacobs' fumble Sunday rendered anything I would have said a mute point.  But Eli's interceptions are a jambalaya of his own brain-cramps, Coach Gilbride's high-INT risk factor, high passes and tipped balls.

The over-talked about correction Coach Coughlin made to Tiki Barber's fumbling problems seems to have had a lesser effect on Ahmad Bradshaw.  Is that Coughlin's or Bradshaw's fault?  We know Coach demoted him for fumbling.  We know he told Ahmad how to hold it.  One thing Coach does is hold players accountable (while his predecessor ran a Country Club).  After that, doesn't the rest fall on the Running Backs Coach and the attention to detail and technique drills in practice?

The interceptions are trickier.  Some have been pure Eli folly.  Some have come from high Eli passes resulting in tipped balls and deflections.  Then there are the interceptions Coach Gilbride's passing game cries, begs, kicks and screams for.  But Coach Gilbride is for later.  Coughlin is topic here.

I will say Coach Coughlin needs to exert more of his own will upon Coach Gilbride and demand he adhere to the running game more, and in a drastically different form from which Gilbride is used to employing. The Pass Happy approach to glory is killing us!  So, if you want Coughlin fired based on turnovers, that's all I'm willing to give you to work with.

Moving on...

Coach Coughlin is the same Coach he was when he berated his kicker; Lawrence Tynes, on the field in Green Bay in January of 2008 as he was when he berated his punter; Matt Dodge, on the field in Green Bay in December of 2010.  His attitude, demeanor, character, expectations and approach to Football have not changed one bit since that night.  Your Head Coach hasn't changed but factors and conditions around him have.

First, I'll even share this with you.  I did not want the N.Y. Giants to make the playoffs during the 2006 season because that would have ensured Coach Coughlin would retain his job.  I wanted him fired then!  Now, I don't know what kind of creative names you can think to call me for changing from then, to defending him now.  But I am defending him, partly for the reasons mentioned above.

If you really want to point fingers of blame, point them at Coughlin's staff.  If you think his Staff is just an extension of Coughlin and representative of his overall management effectiveness, you too can drop off now.  The following will just fall on deaf ears.  For some, only Coughlin's removal will satiate their thirst for Big Blue Blood.

Trolley Riderz!?  Are ya still with me so far?

The Giants lost it's ability to FINISH-Out games on Defense when Coach Spags took the Head Coaching job in St.Louis; when Michael Strahan retired and at Linebacker when we never replaced Kawika Mitchell's (albeit one year under Spags) impact while handily complementing All-Pro Antonio Pierce.

There it is.  Perry Fewell is light years ahead of Bill Sheridan, but he's not at Coach Spags' level.  Coach Coughlin even put heat on Defensive Coordinator Perry Fewell at mid-season, in-game and in full view.  Secure and confident coaches to that. 

The Secondary now is pretty much the Secondary then, if not better with a healthy Kenny Phillips and Thomas.  But we had one proven star linebacker (Pierce) and one linebacker Coach Spags turned into a "star" (Mitchell).  Antonio Pierce was always his own person, and so Michael Strahan took all them little young Pups like Osi, Kiwanuka, Tuck and Cofield and showed 'em how to play like a man.

And since we're on Strahan, don't forget, FIRST, Tom Coughlin was COACH enough to not only get Michael Strahan in line with the new regime, but Coughlin himself practiced a self-correction.  Jerry Reese and Tom Coughlin were the impetus of Michael Strahan's Swan-Song.  Let's get that straight!  They are the one's who got Micheal's head thinking correctly and differently from the guy who lead a band of Idiots in 1997 and who got spanked in 2001 and originated and co-authored THE LATE GAME MELTDOWN in 2003 against the 49ers.  Thank Jerry Reese and Tom Coughlin for Michael Strahan bringing that young Defensive Front along because for a while, he was a knucklehead.  He was our knucklehead and a great Giant.  But you might want to believe that Coughlin and Reese squeezed and wrung that Big Papa Leadership and New Attitude out of him and his 16 years of "individual" greatness.

But after digressing...., There it is folks.  There is your big difference between 2007 and 2010.  It's not Coach Coughlin.  He's the same guy.  What's missing is the best Defensive Coordinator we had since Bill Belichick; the retirement of a Hall Of Famer and never maintaining impact players at the Linebacker position.

You want an up-to-the-minute reason?  How's this?  TACKLE BETTER!

Offensively, Kevin Gilbride Coached that Super Bowl winning Giants team three years ago and we won that game in the end passing the ball to his credit.  I don't want him fired.  I just want him wiped, and re-programmed to think Running Game first.  We've been through all that before.  Coach Gilbride's Offense is Feast or Famine.  They either look unstoppable, or look like Sumo Wrestlers playing musical chairs.

Controlling the ball on the ground, dominating First-Down, managing the clock, being able to rely on the run game on Third-and-Shorts and keeping the other team's offense off the field is a defense in itself and would have been enough to beat the Eagles.  But when you routinely limit Brandon Jacobs to 8 or 9 carries a game, and average maybe 25 rushes from your backs per game, I'm sorry! ~ You're just managing to keep the other team in the game with questionable and plentiful pass play selections and incompletions that leave plenty of time left to get burned.

There is a reason Buddy Ryan punched Kevin Gilbride in the face when they were coordinators together in Tennessee.  Sometimes I want to punch him in the face too!

So this comes back to Tom Coughlin again.  Are the Offensive stalling(s) and interceptions more Tom Coughlin's doing or do they stem from Coach Gilbride, bad adjustments and him just being a Pass Junkie and Offensive Egomaniac with Eli sometimes taking remedial steps backwards?

Eli?  Shall we?  Only briefly.  Eli left too many passes high this season.  Part of the reason goes back to Gilbride for repeatedly asking Eli to throw incessantly while he shelves the running game.  The rest of the problem rests with Eli himself.  Take a look at a Tom Brady pass.  On TV it looks like it's headed into the ground.  When you get the 2nd camera angle, all Brady's passes come in waist high or below.  It's as simple as that.

I'll ask you again...How is that Tom Coughlin's fault when these are the attention to details and technique issues the Offensive Coordinator and the QB Coach should be addressing and drilling in practice?

It's just like our Special Teams.  Before you go dumping on Matt Dodge like Coach Coughlin did, you have to ask why Jeff Feagles isn't on this team?  Is that Coach Coughlin's fault or Jerry Reese's fault, or just a matter of circumstance?  Did not Coach Coughlin advise the "young Punter" to kick the ball out of bounds?  Did not Coach Coughlin ask his Special Teams Coach Quinn to be alert to an On-Side-Kick?  A lot of people are putting the On-Side on Coach Coughlin's rap-sheet, but then what exactly is the Special Teams Coach for?  Doesn't that job live for a moment like that?

Is it Coach Coughlin's fault that Matt Dodge did by accident this Sunday against the Packers what he could not do by design against the Eagles, i.e;- Punting the ball out of bounds? - And there-by ruining two punts?

Look to all the coordinators and specialty coaches who haven't impressed their will enough upon their assigned players in practice before you go after Coach Coughlin's job with pitchfork and torches in hand. Why is there such a lack of attention to details such as Brandon Jacobs holding the ball like a loaf of bread, instead of the way we know Tom Coughlin instructs them to?  That reinforcement of the Head Coach's edicts falls on the 2nd level of coaching.  The grass may not necessarily be greener on the other side.  But if you still want to argue, because all these coaches are part of his staff and therefore an extension of Coughlin; - That's fair.  It's just not me and not my take.

If you're interested in firing someone; If that will make you happy, I have a suggestion.  John Fox looks like he's going to get canned in Carolina.  I don't know if he'd accept a lesser job than Head Coaching at this point, but if he's willing, John Fox should be our next Defensive Coordinator.

John Fox coached a tenacious Defense when he was here last.  Perry Fewell has been much better than Sheridan, and like I said he's no Spagnuolo.  I do think John Fox would be a better Defensive Coordinator than Fewell if he could return to the Giants.

So..., do we still want to fire Tom Coughlin?  Decide now.  Don't wait till after next week.  That's too convenient and would be a very knee-jerk reaction.  Mister Mara and the Giants have never operated like that and aren't about to start now.

But I'd like to know who everyone has in mind for a next Coach?  Is this all about Bill Cower? 

He shouts too and gets all mean looking doing it..  His chin pops out and he's been known to inadvertently spit once or twice per rampage.  Is that what you want to replace slamming clipboards on the ground and on-field Kicker-abuse with?

Look, we have a lot of talent on this team, especially when we can all be healthy together.  That's why this is all so frustrating for us.  But no one actually needs to be fired.

Jerry Reese is my guy.  I think he's proving to be an excellent GM.  If he can regain an impact Linbacker and a capable sidekick, that would go a long way towards finishing games on Defense.  This year's assemblage of Linbackers were respectable but just not impactful.  Perry Fewell has made a star of no one.  Coach Spags turned Kawika Mitchell into a cleverly disguised Beast.  I believe John Fox can turn this present Defensive cast into something down-right sinister.

On Offense.  We have a Philosophical Issue.  Thats's something they need to figure out face to face back in the office; not on the Football filed.  Gilbride is Coughlin's guy.  And like I said I don't want him fired.  I just want him to come under control and familiarize himself with the history of the Giants' success running the ball.  Coach Coughlin should insist upon this from his Coordinator.

So if you're asking me, that's what all this Coughlin talk is all about.  So let's just deal with Sunday for now, and take things from there. 

They have one more chance to fend off the galloping Horseman of the Ridiculous.  It's an outside chance to still make these playoffs but they'll need help this Sunday because they are suddenly out of control after once topping out at 9-4 and being masters of their destiny.  Another let-down against the Redskins next Sunday in Washington might be somewhat anti-climactic because in most circles, the Giants' Apocalypse has already decended upon them Now.




Mike.BTB

Tiki Barber Fumbles, Again

Tiki Barber was the little Giants back who went on to do big things.  In hind-sight one of the biggest moments for this Giants franchise came recently when Tiki had a prototypical Football "heroic" afternoon of moments against the Redskins in what many consider the game that saved Tom Coughlin's job as Big Blue's Head Coach as it got the G-Men into the playoffs back in 2006; the year before they won the Super Bowl.


While running to Daylight, and gaining for 200 yards a game on the occasional great afternoon, even then there wasn't a microphone Tiki didn't want to disparage someone with, or a camera he didn't want to be seen pointing a finger with.

OK..., Tiki does not like Coughlin and the feeling is mutual.  We get that.  Tom is backhandedly credited with saving Tiki's career by teaching him how to hold on to the ball correcting Tiki's propensity to fumble. And as I brushed upon, Tiki had a brilliant day against the Redskins in the final game of the 2006 season to get Tom Coughlin and the Giants into the playoffs.  Tiki is likewise credited with saving Coach's job.

Here's the rub.  Tom Coughlin didn't get fired and won a Super Bowl the next year while Tiki hastened his career in media with an abrupt retirement from Football and denying himself his own Super Bowl ring.

Many times Tiki called out the defense after a game.  He called out his coaches after a game.  He called out anyone within earshot, without hesitation or remorse it seemed.  But no one was targeted by Tiki's slings and arrows more than Tom Coughlin.

Tiki hastened his retirement from the Giants and jumped right into his failing media career with both feet.  It's as if he quit Football with the sole purpose of criticizing the Giants.  The joke was on Tiki, obviously, proven to him out in the desert of Arizona.

That's enough of that...You're up to date now.

Antonio Pierce and Michael Strahan have spoken out earlier this week about a perceived lack of leadership on part of the Giant players. They both are working for the media now-a-days also.  What Pierce, Strahan and Tiki Barber all have in common together is they are all former Giants now working on the Opinions side of Football. What they all do not share together is the satisfaction of owning a Super Bowl ring.  However, owning one of those rings is not a Key to the City of sorts.  We get that, right?

So when Pierce or Strahan say something, two who have won a Super Bowl playing under Tom Coughlin; and don't forget it was Michael Strahan the conformist who adapted to Coughlin before Coughlin himself adjusted his manner..., when they say something, it's one thing.

When someone who makes no secret about his disdain for his former coach, who feels like he got squeezed out by said coach with the emergence of Brandon Jacobs, someone who feels like he outplayed his coach's acumen, ~ when someone like that, who retired one year too early to win a Super Bowl, and someone who critiqued the Giants incorrectly his whole season as a media rookie...; when someone like that intimates Tom Coughlin is losing his team, finds himself in a very precarious situation and is in danger of losing his job....,

I have a problem with that.

Tiki? ~ most players lift weights to get stronger.  Tiki Barber threw people under buses to keep in shape. Now he's trying to save his failed second life (literally and ...literally) by resurrecting his anthem about a bad coach.  Nothing has rang less hollow around here since a job guarantee made by George Steinbrenner to a manager in 1984.
It is ironic that Sunday night the Giants will be conducting their Ring of Honor ceremony.  Tiki Barber will be one of those honored.  As truly as he is one of the greatest offensive Giants ever, he will indeed be booed unmercifully Sunday night not because of his most recent roundhouses he threw at Coughlin, but because he burned every bridge while he was here, as he was leaving and ever since he left.

He did a lot of finger pointing around here.  And we just don't like that; not from someone who bailed out one year too early to lift a VINCE with the rest of his team mates. ~ And there-in lies the rub. It was always about Tiki, and then there was everyone else who didn't do their part that day or wasn't as good as him on another day.

So today, we don't really care what you say Tiki and Sunday Night the crowd will let you know very well how much you compromised yourself in the eyes Big Blue Fans.


It's a shame too.


Mike.BTB